Do you avoid Matinees?- Page 3

[D2]

Posted: 8/6/13 at 10:35am

Wait a minute, gchris is dating After Eight?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/6/13 at 10:36am

"He is worse than me with the Blue hairs."

Your continued use of that ageist phrase shows that you have, indeed, been carefully taught.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 8/6/13 at 10:37am

D2, I just snorted a little bit. Haha!

"I don't care what age you are."

Except, based on other posts written just this morning, you do care what age they are. Because you attack the blue hair oldies. Somethin' ain't computin' here.

[gchris11]

Posted: 8/6/13 at 10:37am

He is a silver fox, he uses the term also.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/6/13 at 10:38am

I bet he does.

[tazber]

Posted: 8/6/13 at 10:40am

A silver fox with a black card!

[D2]

Posted: 8/6/13 at 10:41am

^^That would not be After Eight, then.^^

[gchris11]

Posted: 8/6/13 at 10:42am

^^^ LOL

[After Eight]

Posted: 8/6/13 at 10:42am

"BLue hair one: I don't get it?
Blue hair two: Yea, and she is not even that pretty. "

Ha, ha. By George, they got it, all right. More than most people here, that's for sure. Hail to the Blue Hairs!

"Not what I want to hear at the emotional climax of a show. "

What, you don't want to hear the truth? When do you want to hear it, then?

"I am not being agist or anything"

No, you're being ageist.

[delongpre]

Posted: 8/6/13 at 10:43am

I sometimes avoid matinees when I am concerned about having busloads of kids and seniors in the audience. I have a kid and a senior mother who enjoy shows, but YES groups of them will change the energy of a show. Contrary to what one of the commentators here said, the audience energy does drive a show.

For high energy shows like Wicked, the actors might get wiped out early in the day and deliver the evening show at a lower level. I wouldn't say it makes the show worse, but rather it changes the energy of the show. I could imagine that some would reserve their high energy performance for the evening, choosing to put less strain on the voice in the afternoon show.

I saw nothing wrong with the original poster's message. What WAS horrible was the lashing he got in the responses. Why not create a thread for arguing and leave the discussions to those who want to discuss without attacking.

[wonkit]

Posted: 8/6/13 at 10:44am

Because of my commute, and my work schedule, I attend matinees 95% of the the time.

1. I have never perceived that the cast is holding back or reserving their energies because it is a two show day. If they can't handle 2 shows in a single day, they probably aren't successful on Broadway. Amy Morton In VIRGINIA WOOLF looked like she needed a transfusion by the end of the matinee, so she sure didn't phone it in.

2. The age range does tend to skew older in matinees, but the audience is greying in opera, ballet and theater generally so it is not like you won't have elderly patrons at all performances. Hearing issues tend to be annoying but also generally get solved pretty quickly in my experience, if the ushers and the people in the party handle it properly.

3. I DO have an occasional problem with school groups at matinees. Sometimes they are a wonderful, expressive totally engaged audience. And sometimes (as in my matinee of CINDERELLA) the chaperones don't seem to notice that some couples treat it as a make=out session. Awwwww.

4. I have had problems with tourists who do not speak English - but this has actually happened to me more often at evening performances. A good loud SHHHHHH has worked with one exception, when I had to ask the house manager to speak to the couple behind me at the intermission.

I do see an edge of agism in some of these posts. watch over the next twenty years, and see if a new group of elder theater lovers shows up, or watch the arts fade away. It is possible.

[suestorm]

Posted: 8/6/13 at 10:47am

well my little sis has a blue streak in her hair, maybe he was yelling at her, she is a pain with the texting

[gchris11]

Posted: 8/6/13 at 10:52am

After Eight, I should sent you to theater with my BF's friend He hated the show also. We could stick you 2 in a box like Statler and Waldorf and you 2 can heckle away. I would actually pay to see that, now that the leads are replaced in ONCE.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 8/6/13 at 11:42am

I didn't say the audience DOESN'T effect the performance, I only said BLAMING the audience is wrong.


I've seen lots of matinees, and lots of evening shows -- I've never noticed a discernable difference in cell phones, talking or anything else. Have I had poorly behaved groups or elderly behind me? Sure, but it doesn't take root in the time of day.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/6/13 at 12:51pm

Wait a minute, gchris is dating After Eight?

Ho!

[Patash]

Posted: 8/6/13 at 1:03pm

My favorite matinee lady discussion of all time at the intermission of Proof: "I still don't get the title". "Well, see the father may not really be there -- he might be a ghost or something and he's really dead. But they have to look through his stuff upstairs for PROOF that he's really dead."

[Patti LuPone FANatic]

Posted: 8/6/13 at 1:38pm

I don't avoid matinees. That seems kind of silly, to be quite honest. As a matter of fact, in 2012, I attended both the afternoon and evening matinees of "Chicago." I loved it. Also, when I do travel to NYC, I love to see an afternoon show and then see an evening perf. I don't really consider if a performer has more or less energy in a matinee. I figure they do their best in either matinee, that's what they are paid for. I don't know to what extent a cast perf is affected by the audience's energy. It makes to sense to say that a show cast gets some sort of "boost" when the audience is really "into" the show. If the opposite happens, well I don't know. I'll try to ask a couple of acquaintances who can answer that question, from first hand experience. I would think that a cast would do their best, even in the face of audience apathy. But, if they do get bummed out over it, it just shows that they're human.
P.S. Gchris: In other words, I saw the same show on a Sat. at 8pm and them both shows the following day.

Updated On: 8/7/13 at 01:38 PM

[gchris11]

Posted: 8/6/13 at 1:41pm

"I attend both the afternoon and evening matinees of "Chicago." I loved it."

???? WTF ????

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/6/13 at 1:49pm

Minor threadjack, I once went to a midnight matinee of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Back on topic, we should all be so lucky to make it to seniordom.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 8/6/13 at 1:54pm

Im just happy anytime I see a show. I don't care when it is.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 8/6/13 at 1:58pm

Not to mention multiple cell phones ringing, the "What did he just say?", the ringing from the hearing aid they forgot to turn off, the "I don't like these seats Harvey, we are too close".

I can't think of an evening show in recent memory that didn't feature all of this.

[Mike Barrett]

Posted: 8/7/13 at 9:10am

I'm with Bettyboy. Anytime to see a show is great. But to answer the question, most shows I see are on tour. Tour shows usually have a 5 show weekend which is very hard on the actors. We always buy Saturday matinee tickets and I really haven't noticed a difference in performance. When I saw Memphis with Bryan Fenkart as Huey, he didnt seem to have any less energy then if I would have seen him at an evening show. And Huey is a very challenging role. On broadway, I see absolutely no difference. It's New York, there's always people coming to see you. They always give it their all. Although sometimes on your if its a city where it's either not heavily populated or not very interesting, sometimes the performances are less energized. I've never had that happen but it does happen I'm sure.

[suestorm]

Posted: 8/7/13 at 9:18am

i must say, i have seen a lot of shows the last 3 years, alot of them on the weekend matinees, and i must be lucky cuz i can only remember a couple of phones going off.

the police sirens coming into the theater from the outside seems to be more of a problem. not sure what if anything you can do about that other then make sure they arent using the sirens excessively and who is going to police that?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/7/13 at 9:45am

"We always buy Saturday matinee tickets and I really haven't noticed a difference in performance. When I saw Memphis with Bryan Fenkart as Huey, he didnt seem to have any less energy then if I would have seen him at an evening show."

But you can't know, if you have nothing to compare those performances to.

[Renart]

Posted: 8/7/13 at 9:56am

By coincidence I was just in Manistee yesterday morning. US 31 runs right through it so it's hard to avoid unless you know the back roads, which I don't. Happened to drive past the community theater (9 to 5, Peter Pan, Rocky Horror this season). Seemed like a nice little town. But I guess everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion.