Bad Theater Behavior- Page 26

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/20/17 at 8:23am

I speak up when they are near me....people that talk, kids that kick the back of my chair, as well as phone users.   

However, this isn't going away.   People have no sense of propriety ANYWHERE: the movies, theater, restaurants.  Hell, people can't just BE with the people they are out with for FOMO.    People have decided "documenting" their lives is more important than living it.  Creating the memory is far more meaningful then filming or posting about it.

[WaffleOnWheels]

Posted: 6/20/17 at 12:34pm

My favorite "bad theater behavior" story comes from none other than WICKED.

I had never experienced the show before, and was looking so forward towards the staging and the signing combinedin Defying Gravity.

Just as Elphaba went to belt "It's me", this little child stands up in front of me.

Fine. She's a little, maybe 7 year old kid, and I understand how Defying Gravity could be overwhelming.

But, the problem comes with this child's parents.

They stand up, in front of my view, completely blocking the stage, talking and trying to get the child to sit down. 

Now I'm mad, and am so distracted by this, that I totally miss my first Defying Gravity experience. 

Good times.

[¿Macavity?]

Posted: 6/20/17 at 6:26pm

I saw the new Annie revival with Miranda Hart in London on June 4 and found it hard to enjoy the show. I found the show to be very well done -- it had an interesting new Matilda-like puzzle piece set design -- but the children in the audience were not well behaved. My seat was kicked almost non-stop throughout Act 2 and kids kept getting up and running through the aisles and then, of course, their parents would come running after them, it was appalling. They would also get up and fidget in their seats, which would make a dreadful squeaking noise.

Then there was the woman that sat next to me and would scream not whoop but scream after every single number. No, not after every number, slightly before the end of every number so that I couldn't hear it end properly, which really bothered me.

That night I felt a bit like Miss Hanningan with my dislike for children, which sounds awful, I know. I usually think children are great and should go to the theatre, but not until they're ready, which can be anywhere from eight years old to 40 years old, in that woman's case.

[hl29]

Posted: 6/21/17 at 10:42am

At Hello, Dolly last night, an older patron in the balcony apparently missed the MANY, MANY signs and notifications that Donna Murphy was performing, as she does every Tuesday night now. When Donna first appeared, the woman jumped out of her seat and started SWATTING the usher with her playbill, yelling "I WAS LIED TO!!". After a few minutes of making a scene she announced she "WOULD NOT STAY FOR THIS!" and stormed out. It was shockingly rude. 

(I'm not even going to get into the amount of texters around me throughout the entire show!!)

Updated On: 6/21/17 at 10:42 AM

[Marianne2]

Posted: 6/21/17 at 10:52am

hl29 said: "At Hello, Dolly last night, an older patron in the balcony apparently missed the MANY, MANY signs and notifications that Donna Murphy was performing, as she does every Tuesday night now. When Donna first appeared, the woman jumped out of her seat and started SWATTING the usher with her playbill, yelling "I WAS LIED TO!!". After a few minutes of making a scene she announced she "WOULD NOT STAY FOR THIS!" and stormed out. It was shockingly rude. 

(I'm not even going to get into the amount of texters around me throughout the entire show!!)

 

"

I was up there too and missed that. And the texters. I was in the front on a side though. Maybe that makes a difference. I couldn't believe the people leaning on the balcony to see. They were centered, so they weren't in my way. But, of course sitting on an end, I had to help late seaters come in after intermission in my row. I was embarrassed because there isn't a lot of leg room in those seats. 

[PatrickDC]

Posted: 6/21/17 at 12:08pm

This doesn't qualify for rude behavior but it can be annoying. At the CABARET tour in Seattle last Friday, I had a great view because the two seats in front of my friend and me were empty. Right at the start of intermission a tallish couple plop themselves down in the seats. She turns to him and says all giggly "Better view, huh?" I can't be too upset since it's the luck of the draw if someone tall sits in front of you, but it's a bummer that people don't stay in their assigned seats. 

[EthelMae]

Posted: 6/21/17 at 12:23pm

Read the last few comments here and I get upset and I wasn't even there! I don't know what the answer is, if there is an answer. I've done my share of telling people to stop texting, stop talking, stop rattling, etc. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. What is really unnerving is when the situation gets turned around and you are suddenly at fault for telling them to be quiet, etc. They can even get threatening making you feel you are in some sort of danger. So you're taken out of the show, heart racing and afraid you might be stalked or worse after the show.

Lime I said, maybe there isn't an answer.

[Phantom4ever]

Posted: 6/21/17 at 12:39pm

My only solutions to dealing with bad theater behavior are that I do my best to stay calm and ignore the distraction.  A few years ago, someone taking out their phone for ten seconds to see why it's vibrating would have sent me into a fit.  Now, I just let that kind of thing go.  I do my best to wait until intermission and then I ask an usher to confront the person. I also make a big deal out of finding the house manager when I see aggressive ushers to thank them for enforcing the rules.  The other thing I do is sit as far up as I can.  Sometimes I even sit too close because it seems that the fewer people who are around me, and the closer i sit, the fewer distractions I get.  

[Marianne2]

Posted: 6/21/17 at 12:48pm

It's interesting how at Hello, Dolly! they don't allow bottled water in the theater because of the crinkling of the bottles. They also don't serve drinks with ice. But, they serve candy that you can crinkle the packaging. It was also slightly odd how they made the cell phone, pictures,  and video announcement at intermission and not before the show.

[Miss Jezebel DuPree2]

Posted: 6/21/17 at 1:14pm

JustAnotherNewYorker said: "Mister Matt said: "I get it that they have a job to do, but they don't have to go trudging up and down the aisles during the performance.

I couldn't agree with you more.  The theatres should just employ snipers with night vision scopes and laser sites.  

 

"

 

Laser pointer would not be the worse idea

 

 

"

or a TASER!!

[JayElle]

Posted: 6/26/17 at 2:22pm

I DON'T GET IT...  Why do people bother paying tons of $ to see a show and then ignore it?

Wedesday, June 20, I went to Bronx Tale.  Thirty-five minutes into the first act, the usher brought a customer to our 5th row.  Aside from the seating being incredibly disruptive, she then took out her phone to read texts, not to mention she had on so much perfume, it would've gagged a maggot.  I chewed her out at intermission. 

I had a stage seat for Great Comet.  I finally understood how cel phones could be distracting to performers on stage.

 

[quizking101]

Posted: 6/26/17 at 2:54pm

PatrickDC said: "This doesn't qualify for rude behavior but it can be annoying. At the CABARET tour in Seattle last Friday, I had a great view because the two seats in front of my friend and me were empty. Right at the start of intermission a tallish couple plop themselves down in the seats. She turns to him and says all giggly "Better view, huh?" I can't be too upset since it's the luck of the draw if someone tall sits in front of you, but it's a bummer that people don't stay in their assigned seats. 

 

"

I take some umbrage with this only because there is the possibility that they asked the usher to move their seats prior to taking them, especially with a "tallish" couple. I'm 6'7 and very few theatres are built to fit someone with my long legs and frame (including many regional theatres).

Sometimes the seats are considerably better than the ones I purchased. If that's the case, so be it. Many times they can't accommodate me so I have to suck it up.

[karissa3]

Posted: 6/26/17 at 3:35pm

Phantom4ever said: "My only solutions to dealing with bad theater behavior are that I do my best to stay calm and ignore the distraction.  A few years ago, someone taking out their phone for ten seconds to see why it's vibrating would have sent me into a fit.  Now, I just let that kind of thing go.  I do my best to wait until intermission and then I ask an usher to confront the person. I also make a big deal out of finding the house manager when I see aggressive ushers to thank them for enforcing the rules.  The other thing I do is sit as far up as I can.  Sometimes I even sit too close because it seems that the fewer people who are around me, and the closer i sit, the fewer distractions I get.  

 

"

I totally agree with this! Also, is it not weird to talk to an usher? I felt nervous about doing that for some reason. I was at Miss Saigon last Friday and this group of 4 or 5 tourists showed up almost 5 minutes late. We had to stand up and miss a few minutes of the show because the lady had the nerve to just stand there in front of everyone and ask for a Playbill while we were all waiting for them to sit down. About five minutes after they had sat down they started talking quite loudly to each other.. and this didn't stop. The girl right next to me probably pulled her phone out 4 or 5 times to text, all before intermission!! I seriously was getting so boiled up inside that I finally just had to tell myself that ignoring was going to be the only thing that would help.. but even at intermission I wasn't sure what to do. I wasn't sure if they even spoke English, and I thought it might be weird to go track down an usher. But I love this thread because it's good to know I'm not the only one and that it's normal to be bothered by this kind of behavior!!

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 6/26/17 at 5:59pm

Why in the world would it be "weird" to go find an usher? You're helping them do their job if you alert them to terrible audience members. They can't be everywhere.

[godlessondheimite]

Posted: 6/28/17 at 11:11pm

Saw Hello Dolly again and sat next to two people who had their phones out. The usher shone a light in their eyes and they got offended. Then in the second act they started singing along to Hello Dolly. I said "Are you f*cking singing?" And they smiled proudly and said "Yep!"

[yaoqian]

Posted: 6/28/17 at 11:58pm

I saw wicked tonight and a lady (maybe college age?) behind me was SINGING ALONG with Popular and Defying Grafity. How old are you??? I know you know the songs well enough to sing it, chill, I did not pay for the ticket price to come listen to you karaoke. I tried turning around and giving her "the look", as you would call it, a couple of times but unfortunately it didn't work. Totally ruined my experience for those two songs! I just don't get why do people who know the songs well enough to obviously be a fan of the show still don't know basic theater behavior such as please do not sing along during the show makes me mad all the time

[godlessondheimite]

Posted: 6/29/17 at 12:05am

yaoqian said: "I saw wicked tonight and a lady (maybe college age?) behind me was SINGING ALONG with Popular and Defying Grafity. How old are you??? I know you know the songs well enough to sing it, chill, I did not pay for the ticket price to come listen to you karaoke. I tried turning around and giving her "the look", as you would call it, a couple of times but unfortunately it didn't work. Totally ruined my experience for those two songs! I just don't get why do people who know the songs well enough to obviously be a fan of the show still don't know basic theater behavior such as please do not sing along during the show makes me mad all the time

 

"

They want the experience to be all about them, how much fun THEY'RE having, how much THEY know the show. They get so indignant when people call them out on it. I can't fathom how they don't know they're in the wrong.

[Addipia94]

Posted: 6/29/17 at 10:05am

Wow, some people have had horrible experiences, which is such a shame considering how much shows cost these days!! I agree with what a few others have said, in that, now I prefer to sit fairly close to the stage. Not to be closer to the actors/action exactly, but because I find the music and everything is louder and it drowns out surrounding distractions. 

Despite this, I had my first bad theater experience last weekend when I saw Bandstand. I was sitting up in the mezzanine (first row), and this girl sitting next to me kept complaining during the whole show how much she hated it. She kept making noises out of disapproval, clapped at unnecessary times or even waved her arms as to show how upset she was with whatever was going on in the show she didn't like. At intermission I really wanted to say something, but her boyfriend beat me to it. He told her he was really enjoying the show and she needs to stop. She just wouldn't stop complaining. 

At that point, I wondered why she didn't just leave? Also, props to her boyfriend for dealing with that behavior and bringing someone to a show that clearly does not appreciate the experience. I get it, we don't have to like every show we go to. But if it's that bad you can't contain yourself, please leave and let the rest of us enjoy the show without your negative energy. 

[EM55]

Posted: 6/29/17 at 10:40am

Addipia94 said:

At that point, I wondered why she didn't just leave? Also, props to her boyfriend for dealing with that behavior and bringing someone to a show that clearly does not appreciate the experience. I get it, we don't have to like every show we go to. But if it's that bad you can't contain yourself, please leave and let the rest of us enjoy the show without your negative energy. 

 

"

Props to her boyfriend for saying something, that is when it is the worst, when YOU are with the person who is disruptive! I went to a couple of shows with a new friend, we didn't know each other well and hadn't spend much time out together and they were just awful in public! Laughing at inappropriate times, singing along, rustling in pockets, knocking over drinks on the floor (and no they weren't drunk and unfortunately neither was I). I kept turning to the people around us and mouthing sorry and called them out at intermission, they said I was being a drama queen. It was embarrassing. I was ready to put it down the first time to a lack of theater ettiquette but they were rude at the stage door, and then we went to dinner and they were crass and rude at the restaurant. Needless to say I started phasing out the friendship. We had really very little in common in general, and it just wasn't worth the embarrassment. I can't abide not knowing how to behave like a respectful adult in public when you are clearly an adult!

 

[Harriet Craig]

Posted: 7/30/17 at 7:24pm

This is preaching to the choir, but still a gratifying read:

Please Just Shut the Hell Up at the Theater & the Cinema

[Margo319]

Posted: 7/30/17 at 7:28pm

Wow, I would have told that horrible girl to get up and get the hell out of the theater.  That behavior is worthy of security literally throwing her out on her ass.  Wow.

Bad theater behavior.  The Panic at the Disco fans at Kinky Boots.  They are horrendous.

[deathofacatler]

Posted: 8/2/17 at 10:19pm

This thread is an oldie but a goodie! I was at Miss Saigon a few weeks ago and this family of 4 came in the middle of the heat is on and then checked their phones constantly during the show, even during the very serious parts. The seats they were in weren't exactly cheap either! Right now, it's just a question of why would they pay to sit in the dark.

[SarahNYC2]

Posted: 8/2/17 at 10:25pm

I honestly do not think they should allow late seating. I get that things happen to delay getting to the theater, but if you are paying all that money for tickets-figure out a way to get the theater on time. Unless the subway has a major breakdown that is broadcasted there is no excuse.

[schubox]

Posted: 8/2/17 at 10:28pm

SarahNYC2 said: "I honestly do not think they should allow late seating. I get that things happen to delay getting to the theater, but if you are paying all that money for tickets-figure out a way to get the theater on time. Unless the subway has a major breakdown that is broadcasted there is no excuse.

 

"

I've noticed more and more shows are saying they don't seat late, but aren't following through. Saw DEH a few weeks ago, tickets said no late seating, sat 4 people in the second row two songs in. It was incredibly distracting 

[staticradar]

Posted: 8/3/17 at 7:09am

Went to see Great Comet a few weeks ago and sat in the Banquette's and was really enjoyed the show.  However, there was a lady next to me that was just extremely off putting.  From the moment the show began she took off her shoes and put them up on the banquette in front of her and I really don't understand people that would even think to do this.  This isn't your house, this is a theater and I doubt the people in front of her appreciated having her feet near their heads.  Not to mention I really didn't like her feet right next to me either.  What goes through people's head that think this is okay behavior in a Broadway theater?