Nasty drunk at Follies. Sunday night May 6.

[DAME]

Posted: 5/7/12 at 3:26pm

So last night we were seated in row G all the way to the side. They were great seats. Two rows directly in front of us there was a drunk and possibly drugged individual. He looked like a old Steve Buscemi. He was seated by himself. The two seats next to him were empty. However I am not sure but the two big guys seated behind him might have been there with him. The show starts. This man starts conducting with his hands. When Victoria Clark enters he starts applauding and turns around and starts motioning to the rest of the audience to applaud. After the prologue.. when the overture starts he starts his conducting in full force. All the while making faces and making some kind of loud groans. The two big guys behind him shoosh him down. He was quiet till the mirror number. Then the conducting started again and then full out singing. Someone yelled at him to shut up. He yelled back " I AM HERE TO HAVE A GOOD TIME". The two guys behind him shooshed him up again. He remained quiet but spent most of act 1 turning around and studying the crowd. Then at some point he got up and made aloud exit from the theater. During intermission some of us are commiserating and talking about " did you see that weird man". The two guys behind him are not there. We thought maybe they had all gone home. Act 2 starts. He tumbles in late to his seat and the two guys behind him follow. He again groans something and the two guys behind him shoosh him. And then the Loveland sequence begins. He is back to conducting with full force and groaning. And this time he is adding jerky head movements to the whole thing. Audience members in my section start yelling for him to shut up. Someone yells " that he should leave" One of the two guys behind him slaps him on the head with his program. He did quiet down during loosing my mind but started sobbing during the song. At curtain call he lept to his feet and started yelling bravo and brava. He ran to the side of the stage and was extending his hands up in the air as if asking to be lifted up ( like a baby). No one on stage looked his way. So weird.

[EatTheBrownie]

Posted: 5/7/12 at 3:28pm

He enjoyed the show. Apparently you didn't. Let him have his fun. He paid a lot for a really good seat.

[DAME]

Posted: 5/7/12 at 3:30pm

I enjoyed the show. I actually loved the show. And he didn't pay a lot of money. Those side seats are discounted. And believe me if I was the one seated directly behind or on front of him I would have removed him very early on. That way I would have gotten my moneys worth.

Updated On: 5/7/12 at 03:30 PM

[Huss417]

Posted: 5/7/12 at 3:33pm

"He enjoyed the show. Apparently you didn't. Let him have his fun. He paid a lot for a really good seat."

EatTheBrownie. I hope you are joking? I would have had an usher to his seat the first time he started up.

Updated On: 5/7/12 at 03:33 PM

[EatTheBrownie]

Posted: 5/7/12 at 3:35pm

"I hope you are joking? I would have had an usher to his seat the first time he started up."

Since when is giving a star entrance applause cause for usher interaction? Since when is trying to get an audience to join in applause cause for usher interaction? Since when is conducting from one's seat cause for usher interaction?

The only thing that could be of complaint was any talking he did during the performance. And that DOESN'T include his "bravoing" at any moment, which is completely appropriate if he felt that anyone's performance deserved it.

[DAME]

Posted: 5/7/12 at 3:38pm

He was talking. He was groaning. And he was obviously on something. The conducting was with very loud expressive hands going all over the place. This wasn't a enthusiastic audience member. This was someone in his own world. The grunts and groaning were very loud. Oh and he was singing at times. Full out. Oh and he also kept turning around looking to see how many were looking at him. I actually felt sorry for him. Poor thing.

Updated On: 5/7/12 at 03:38 PM

[EatTheBrownie]

Posted: 5/7/12 at 3:40pm

Maybe it was Stephen Sondheim.

[ABB2357]

Posted: 5/7/12 at 3:42pm

Sounds like my former boss! I think he's a subscriber.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 5/7/12 at 3:43pm

I don't know what's funnier, DAME's description of the audience member's behavior or the fact that some of you just fail to see what EatTheBrownie is and fall for the bait he dangles in front of you.

[DAME]

Posted: 5/7/12 at 3:46pm

I see what EatTheBrownie is. Except.. he had the "special" brownie.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 5/7/12 at 3:47pm

Ya just can't take that Marc Shaiman ANYWHERE these days!

[EatTheBrownie]

Posted: 5/7/12 at 3:49pm

Exactly. Her description of this man describes a lot of theatre composers to a "t".

Stop complaining. He wanted to "have a good time". Clearly, that bothered you.

[nealb1]

Posted: 5/7/12 at 3:49pm

I'm so surprised that the ushers didn't speak to him, or tell him to leave.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 5/7/12 at 3:50pm

Yes DAME dear. It's that special 420 recipe courtesy of Ms. Alice B.
Except this one was left in the oven a bit too long. OVERBAKED. TOASTED. EXTRA CRISPY with a fair share of "nuts" thrown in for good measure.



Updated On: 5/7/12 at 03:50 PM

[castlestreet]

Posted: 5/7/12 at 3:53pm

The night I saw Mazzie in Next to Normal we had a drunk/high couple next to us- we were 2nd row center- again all through the first act they were beyond obnoxious- so at intermission they go out and get more to drink. Now remember- no Orchestra pit at the Booth- so we are literally 5 feet away from the actors on stage- for the first two scenes of ACT II they start making fun of Mazzie and Daniely on stage and mocking them out loud- no one is doing a thing and the people around us are getting very tense. Just when I was about to say something the person I was with reached over my lap, grabbed the guy by the leg and said "if the two of you don't shut up and sit still for the rest of this show we are going to have a big f***ing problem". For the rest of the show they didn't move a muscle.

It also probably didn't hurt that my friend kinda resembles Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs- but it was one of my all time favorite moments in a theater and Mazzie winked at us from the stage.

[DAME]

Posted: 5/7/12 at 3:53pm

Neal.. The ushers that theater always disappear right after the show starts. I had seen the show a few times before.. So I took the incident as something to remember the evening by. Will be back to see the show again a few times during the run.

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/7/12 at 3:56pm

Oh, good!

I'm glad to hear PJ made it to L.A. for the show after all!

[EatTheBrownie]

Posted: 5/7/12 at 4:01pm

"for the first two scenes of ACT II they start making fun of Mazzie and Daniely on stage and mocking them out loud"

Well, that's to be expected. Marin can't sing pop music or belt and Daniely's vocal affectation is a cross between Sean Connery and a mentally handicapped person... They deserve all the ridicule they can get for their poor excuses of performances in Next To Normal.

"Just when I was about to say something the person I was with reached over my lap, grabbed the guy by the leg and said "if the two of you don't shut up and sit still for the rest of this show we are going to have a big f***ing problem"... but it was one of my all time favorite moments in a theater and Mazzie winked at us from the stage."

This is just whole other can of worms. Your companion could have been arrested for grabbing these people. He has NO RIGHT to EVER touch anyone regardless of how annoying they are. You're lucky they were intoxicated because that could have ended in a messy lawsuit. Secondly, you have no right other than to ask politely for them to stop talking. Anything more than that must be directed at an usher or theatre management. You have no right to threaten another audience member.

Clearly if one of your favorite moments ever in a theater involves assaulting and threatening other audience goers, you have no business attending Broadway shows.

[mar6411]

Posted: 5/7/12 at 4:02pm

CarlosAlberto - you are so right. Thanks for the dose of reality.

[castlestreet]

Posted: 5/7/12 at 4:06pm

Not for nothing Brownie, but when you do go to the Ushers or Theater Management, their usual response is "there isn't a lot we can do about it".

Case in point- this past March during a trip to Phantom on Broadway, there was an entire block of extremely rude people talking out loud, talking on their cell phones, texting, and arguing with each other during all of ACT I- several people around us, including myself went to not only the ushers, but also the Head of House- their response- "We'll keep an eye on them, but they are sitting in the middle of the row, so it would be kinda of hard to do anything about it during the show!"

Lighten up!

[EatTheBrownie]

Posted: 5/7/12 at 4:08pm

"Lighten up!"

And you still have no legal right to grab or threaten them. Both things are illegal. One is assault. The other is a threat.

[theaternut]

Posted: 5/7/12 at 4:18pm

Next time just call the cops. They will arrest them for public disturbance.

[EatTheBrownie]

Posted: 5/7/12 at 4:23pm

"Next time just call the cops. They will arrest them for public disturbance."

Enjoying a public performance is not cause for arrest. There are no signs in the theater that say no clapping, no talking, no anything. There is no announcement like there is in movie theaters.

And in regards to him being intoxicated, the theatre sells alcohol to be enjoyed on premises. So, he can't get arrested for that either.

But you CAN get arrested for assault!

[BroadwayFan12]

Posted: 5/7/12 at 4:25pm

People, don't feed the troll.

[Huss417]

Posted: 5/7/12 at 4:25pm

"I don't know what's funnier, DAME's description of the audience member's behavior or the fact that some of you just fail to see what EatTheBrownie is and fall for the bait he dangles in front of you."

I see that now but it was the first post so was giving the benefit of the doubt. But it only takes the one time for me. :)