Bad Theater Behavior

[Sorry-Grateful]

I caught a performance of On The Town this weekend (wanted to see it again before it closes). Sitting in front of me was a woman who bought 2 packs of M&M's from the aisle vendor. She proceeded to crinkle, shake, and rummage through the M&M's packaging throughout the entire first act. It was incredibly loud and disruptive for everyone in our general vicinity, and many people were glancing back and giving her death stares throughout, but she did not curtail her candy rummaging. 

 

Towards the end of the first act, a woman next to M&M lady leaned over and whispered to her, "Could you stop that. It's distracting." M&M lady scoffed loudly as if this woman had just insulted her mother. She began to deliberately rummage her candy packing louder to piss off this woman (and everyone else) even more. There was no mistaking it. She began making a show of crinkling and rummaging through her packs of M&M's in some brazen act of defiance to theater etiquette and basic human decency. I swear, she even began to chew more loudly (I think with her mouth open bout couldn't see for sure). 

 

Needless to say, I was repeatedly drawn out of the show because of this one woman. For the life of me, I cannot fathom why someone would deliberately buy crinkly wrapped candy in a theater in this day and age where the "wrapped hard candy" example of bad theater etiquette is cited so frequently it's become a cliche. And why would a theater sell candies that come in loud, crinkly packaging? This seems contrary to the supposed goal of a theater company, which is to provide an enjoyable, distraction-free space to watch a performance that will compel the audience members to want to return again and spend more money. If the Lyric is going to keep selling these sorts of candies, I don't think I'll want to see another show at the Lyric.

[VintageSnarker]

"And why would a theater sell candies that come in loud, crinkly packaging?"

I blame the theatres. I know they want to make money with concessions but surely what they earn can't be worth how much it ruins the experience for everyone else. I don't think many people ask for their money back because of M&M's but it might affect the good word of mouth you could have gotten. 

I will never forget the man with M&M's at Doctor Zhivago. I could smell the peanuts as he chewed. 

[ksilver117]

Sorry-grateful, I had the exact same experience at On The Town. I was there last Thursday (8/27), front row, and there were two adult women with two young girls behind us. As soon as the show had started, they started opening and rustling bags of candy while discussing events on the stage. It happened the entire first act, and about 80% of the second act. I swear they must have gone through 7-8 bags of M&Ms that they were passing around, making even more noise than needed. No amount of death stares and shushing or requests to be quiet helped for more than five seconds. The kids I can forgive, because they're kids. The two adults though shouldn't be allowed back in a theater. It doesn't help that it seems like the Lyric has chosen to sell their concessions in particularly loud packaging.

Between that and the two young girls constantly asking their adults "Is that Misty?" it was torture. Absolutely loved the show, but would have had a much better time without that situation.

[LizzieCurry]

Ugh. I really think theatres could do well selling candy in fabric hipster-y designed little bags and charging the same price.

[mpkie]

For the talking couple next to me who didn't even bother to whisper but apparently must have thought they were watching a movie in the comfort of their own living room... after the 5th offense in the first half hour, I gently tapped the lady's arm, smiled politely and put my finger over my lips. She said sorry... and I smiled again at her to show her I was being polite. They, thankfully, only committed the offense one more timed during the remaining 2 hours.

I waited until intermission to gently let the lady next to me on my other side know to be careful with her loud plastic bag, and tried to repeat multiple times that I wasn't trying to be rude, wasn't trying to start anything, and I knew she wasn't trying to make noise on purpose. She got SUPER defensive and seemed annoyed at me for calling her out. It was awkward for me, being an extremely shy person, but I stuck to my guns. The plastic bag kept rustling even after she had finished retrieving items from it. She tried to call me out for coughing... even though that happened for two seconds and I muffled into my sweater LOL. She swapped seats with her companion. But guess what! No more crinkling after intermission! PHEW!

As for the food noise issue, theaters shouldn't sell snacks at all, at least to be consumed during the show, and certainly not drinks with ice. They are clearly just being greedy.

[ChiTheaterFan]

When I went to curious incident they wouldn't allow the drinks to be served with ice because it distracted the actors. I think it's fantastic. Some other patrons were SUPER annoyed. 

 

I posted this story before but I think it was in a different thread. (Apologies if it was this one.). A few years ago I went to see How to Succeed in Business with Daniel Radcliffe. We were on the aisle and there were some teenagers next to me--maybe 14 or 15--there by themselves. In the finale number they tried shoving past us. They wanted to get out to get to the stage door, but the show wasn't even done!  Now leaving before curtain call to beat the rush is one of my pet peeves. The actors can see you. Well I told them "this isn't a movie. those people up there just worked their butts off to entertain you for two and a half hours and you will stand here and applaud for them until the curtain call is finished."  They were dumbfounded but they sat there and politely applauded, and I let them run past us as soon as it was done.  I was pretty proud of myself because usually I just sit in silence and think annoyed thoughts. 

 

I truly think most people aren't deliberately being rude--they're just so clueless about etiquette and how their behavior impacts other people. (Of course the people who deliberately continue crinkling their candy wrappers to piss you off are not in that category.). I think most people, if you politely tell them they're being rude or bothering you will be pretty mortified and will stop. 

 

But maybe that's too optimistic?

[LizzieCurry]

Once I saw Jersey Boys with a friend who, though he liked theatre, didn't see it very often. He bought a bag of Swedish Fish before the show and was going to eat them during. That was fine; they're chewy and don't crunch or anything. But I said kind of off-handedly something like, "You're going to not make noise with that bag, right?" And it just hadn't dawned on him that that could even happen. He's not a rude person. So he took all the fish out, put them on his shirt, and happily (and quietly) gnawed away during Act 1.

[dfrillsnedit]

This past Saturday, I attended the 8pm performance of Les Mis. Me and my mom made a special effort to attend to show, knowing it would one of Ramin's last in the production. We used TodayTix, and got surprisingly fantastic seats for a decent price. We even were seated on the aisle, which is great for my mom's knee issues. From all accounts, this sounded pretty perfect, right? No. This dream of a theater experience was almost ruined by a family behind us that just so happened to not given a hoot about the theater, much less Les Mis itself. 

I could tell the group behind us was not the typical theater bunch. They were dressed as casual as humanly possible, sandals and beach ready shorts, with jersey t-shirts. The son looked especially unamused, and was shaking his leg even before the first note of the show. Then the lights went down, and it got worse from there. 

I heard a crinkling noise behind me, and if you know the seating at that theater, the space between seats is very close. Someone was opening a bag of food - I suspected candy, as that is the usual theater food, and didn't think much of it. But no, it wasn't candy, but Chipotle. Yeah, that's right, these people brought in smelly Mexican food into the theater, and everyone in our section could smell it clear as day. 

But if you thought that was the worst of it, no. They were also talking, pretty loudly, THE ENTIRE SHOW. Some moments would be less audible than others, and some of them would even be singing along with the show (which honestly I forgave a bit, since lord knows I've done that in the past, and I've seen Les Mis enough times to know it word-for-word) They even were close to shouting certain names of characters at each other, possibly cause one member of the group couldn't hear? I don't know.

Then came Intermission and Act II. The group had left their seats during the 15 minute break, and didn't return as Act II began. I took in a sigh of relief, hoping they left the theater. But to my disappointment, that wasn't the case. The group eventually returned, and not just at any scene, but in the middle of "On My Own". And not only did they come in during a crucial scene, THEY WERE LOUDLY TALKING right as Brennyn Lark was singing her heart out.

At that moment, you could tell that our entire row had enough of their foolery, and in unison turned around and shushed them to shame. After that point, I didn't hear much from the group, but at the end of the show as I got up, I noticed they had disappeared before curtain call, and in their wake, left a paper bag and a used sauce cup on the floor of their seat. Disgusting. 

Summary: I hate what Broadway theater-goers are slowly turning into. 

[LizzieCurry]

I've noticed the Imperial ushers can be super lax. More Belasco-like militance, please!

[ChiTheaterFan]

Horrifying. That's not even appropriate movie behavior. 

[SushJoya]

I recently ventured out to see Les Mis to catch Kyle Jean-Baptise (fantastic performer, RIP) and nearly got stuck next to a tourist who REEKED of cigarette smoke. I know I know, its a free country - if you want to damage your lungs have at it. But I didn't spend all that dough to practically bathe in it myself. Luckily the house manager was able to reseat me. And I ended up with a better view of the stage!

[mmFan]

I'm amazed that the ushers do not say anything to these awfully selfish people that have no respect for the actors or those around them who paid $$$ to enjoy a show.  Not blaming the users of course, but they should at least say something to them.

[LizzieCurry]

I saw this: https://twitter.com/sandy_moffat/status/639888279706423296
and this: https://twitter.com/JonBoydon/status/639887717120233472

And was wondering, how often is the house management questioned/reprimanded/taken to task when the cast starts complaining on social media? It certainly doesn't make the staff look good.

[VintageSnarker]

WOW. Echoing Chi. That's not even appropriate movie behavior and those actors can't see you.

[mmFan]

We were just in NY for the weekend and also got to experience the bad behavior.  During the second act of Matilda, there was a father with his 2 kids...and right in the end of When I Grow Up, the dad opened his potato chips.  Boy are they loud and very distracting.  I love that song and yet heard the potato chips instead of the music.  I glared back at him, but don't think he noticed.  At least it didn't last too long...but still.

[Hairspray0901]

Last night I went to Finding Neverland (which I loved!). Before the show, my friend and I were seated in our seats when a Grandmother and grand daughter sat behind us. About 10 minutes later, the girls parents arrived. They were speaking very loudly so we basically overheard their entire conversation (they appeared very wealthy and they seemed to think they were above everyone and anything). Well, the Mother (probably late 30's - early 40's)  says to the daughter "Honey, are you going to sing along?" and the 5 year old daughter says "No Mommy, remember what happened when I did that at Wicked? I got in trouble.." and the mother then says "Oh! That didn't matter. If you want to sing, you can sing!!!" I turned around and glared. The grandmother (probably late 60's/early 70s) then says to the mother "that will probably distract the other patrons" and the mother then says "ok fine. well, honey, if you want to sing, just sing softly!" 

About 7 or 8 songs into the show I hear the daughter singing [loudly]. I turned around and went "shh!". The mother and grandmother then start arguing because the mother wanted to say something to me for shushing her daughter and the grandmother said something along the lines of "she shouldn't be singing". At intermission, they were contemplating moving the daughter to the aisle seat so if she wanted to sing, she wouldn't distract my friend and I. They didn't move. The daughter hardly sang. Great.

So, this may make me appear as a grouchy theatre goer for being annoyed that a 5 year old was singing. Most would probably think it's "cute".  What annoyed me MOST was that the MOTHER told her to sing!!!!! The daughter knew it was wrong but the mother allowed it!!! I couldn't believe it. They had no respect for the people sitting around them. I paid to hear the performers, not her daughter sing in my ear behind me. Ugh.

[Caitiecait92]

I go to the theater a lot and I have noticed the bad theater behavior. When I went to see Once the amount of cell phones going off in the middle of the show was uncalled for. Every 5 minutes another phone would go off.

Then I went to see MoTown and my seats were located at the end of the row. I cannot tell you how many people were getting up in the middle of the performance. It was such a distraction. At one point the people next to me decided they  needed to get up so basically me and my guest sat in the aisle for 5 minutes while people situated themselves because I did not want to be a distraction to the people behind me. And again the cell phone use was out of control! The ushers did nothing about it.

At Jersey Boys I'm happy to say the ushers did control the use of cell phone. If a cell phone was out the people were reprimanded by the ushers. 

Again all very distracting and for the amount of money we paid its uncalled for.

[mailhandler777]

Matilda on Sunday. The kids around me were well behaved. The 2 teenaged girls in front of me were not. Talking, rummaging through bags, eating chips. Also leaning forward in their seats(we were in the balcony in the 3rd last row) which you don't have to do up there. The older people in back of me were complaining they couldn't see because the 2 girls leaning forward. Thank goodness both parties left at intermission.

 

Later that night at Wicked the girls in back of me wouldn't stop talking no matter how much I glared at them. The dude in front of me had the worst BO.

 

Another time at Matilda I was in SRO and it was the ushers I had a problem with. Talking loudly in a group right beside me during the show. The same show during My House a ladies phone starts ringing loudly. Everyone was telling her to turn it off including 2 of the noisy ushers and I ended up missing the whole song(which is my favorite song in the whole show). 

[VintageSnarker]

This isn't bad theatre behavior but I was at an amazing concert last night (possibly the best one I've ever been to) that was almost ruined by the people next to me. They talked to each other throughout the opening act, occasionally yelling out their displeasure that the headliner wasn't going on yet. Then when the headliner did go on, in spite of the crowded room, the loudest woman in the group proceeded to fling her body around like Elaine Benes with no concern for anyone around her. Finally, there was a very loud different group who yelled periodically (but in an encouraging way) while the headliner was on, eventually pushing their way to the front of the stage. Both groups were in their late 30's to 40's. I bring it up as a defense of younger patrons and a question about whether alcohol should be served if people can't handle it.

 

That said, the Finding Neverland thing is another thing entirely. The girl's mother should have been teaching her proper theatre etiquette, not encouraging bad behavior. You can sing along with the album at home. Don't you want to go out to listen to the professionals sing it? If people are really desperate to have a sing-along maybe they should have specific performances for that as they do with sing-along movie screenings. As long as everyone agrees that that's what they're going for, it won't be disruptive for the people who are trying to enjoy the show without extra backing vocals.

[LizzieCurry]

When Beautiful performed at Summerstage, I appreciated Hoda (who hosted) saying that although you can't sing along at a show on Broadway, but that it would probably happen there, with a tone of encouragement. Personally, I don't like to sing in public, but I was glad people were given a venue to do it outside the theatre AND that etiquette was reinforced.

[MoDance0934]

Back in December, I saw Matilda. I was beyond excited because I've been dying to see the show. My boyfriend (now ex) and I had wonderful seats in the orchestra. We were anxiously waiting for the show to start... but maybe 5 minutes before the pre-show announcement, a family of 6 sits themselves right in front of us. Mind you, 2 of the family of 6 were kids. Probably five years old? I kept thinking "they better behave themselves...".... NOPE! They were squirming around in their seats, they were talking extremely loud and even stood up on their boosters at one point. I was so tempted to say something to the parents but I didn't want to be THAT guy. At intermission, the parents loaded them up with snacks to get them to "calm down". That wasn't such a smart idea, since the parents gave them sour patch kids and cookies. Intermission ended and the kids couldn't get a hold of themselves. They were putting their hands up, moving around in their seats and complaining about their boosters pretty darn loud. We couldn't take it anymore. I tapped the father's shoulder and told him that he needs to get a grasp on his children. They finally calmed down but I could tell that these kids wanted no part of the show.

 

Moral to the story: Don't take five year olds to broadway shows... unless they behave themselves

[yankeefan7]

I was at "Something Rotten" and "Hamilton" last weekend and there was no bad behavior around my seats thankfully. The only thing I will mention is this old fashion guy who wears jacket and tie to shows is amazed that men were at these shows in cargo shorts and t-shirts.

[MX888]

Saw 'An American In Paris' yesterday and unfortunately, the wonderful performance was marred by such bad audience behavior! There was a guy trying finish his meal (salad?) - he was still trying to shovel every last bite into his mouth even as the show began. Constant crinkling/rustling of bags of all types and ice jostling around the mid to rear center orchestra area.  So many late comers (some came over 30 min late!) and ushers walking back and forth with their flashlights! UGH. At one point an usher rushed to the front center orch area - looked like he was trying to see if any one was filming? I don't know if the person was caught but just saw Max Von Essen's tweet that he noticed 2 girls filming and basically ruined his number for him.  

 

You had many people leaving and returning to their seats mid-performance! There was also this 1 guy who got up with about 40 min or so left in the show (distrupting 2 other people who had to get up).  He came back with a large sippy cup in hand. Really? The show was almost over - was a drink THAT necessary?  At least I used Audience Rewards points for my ticket - hopefully the next time I see it, there'll be less distractions!

[SushJoya]

Tonight at the start of Aladdin's second half I had to repeatedly (and I mean repeatedly) ask the woman next to me stop playing her game of Candy Crush or Bejeweled or whatever it was she was playing. I mean seriously!?!?

[Crazy NooNooHead]

When my mom and I saw Kinky Boots, the people next to us kept talking, checking their phones, and playing Candy Crush. They also kept giving the actors the thumbs-up during some of the numbers. My mom said something to them at one point, but they didn't stop. I think she looked for an usher at intermission but couldn't find one.

 

Someone brought Chinese food to The Audience and ate it before the show. Luckily they either put it away when the show started or finished all of it in time. (At least, I think they did...the smell went away.)

 

Someone sitting in front of me kept texting and taking pictures/video during An American In Paris. Her phone stayed away for most of the second act, but then she recorded the finale.

 

When I saw The Book Of Mormon a few months ago, two people showed up late, kept shouting "TURN IT ON!" at the end of "Turn It Off," and talked through a good chunk of the first act. I was going to say something at intermission (which I never do because the only confrontation I like is the song in Les Mis), but someone else beat me to it and they stayed quiet for the rest of the show.

 

I sat near arguing couples for both Hand To God and Wolf Hall, but both couples stopped when the lights went down and resumed their arguments at intermission. Phew!

 

I wasn't there for this one, but my dad and (I think) a few of his friends saw The Winslow Boy in October, and they were sitting near someone who kept crinkling a plastic bag. If I remember correctly, it was a bag of chips, which of course would add more to the noise, but again, I wasn't there. At one point, he and a few other people yelled at her to stop, and they just happened to do so at the same time. She stopped.

[c0113g3b0y]

When I watched Wicked in Singapore, this little girl sitting right n front of me was complaining in a volume just above a whisper to her mother about needing water. just when the overture was starting. And her mother ignored her and never told her to keep quiet. So I kicked both their seats and glared at both of them, prompting the mother to tell her daughter to shut her trap.