Laura Benanti chides people for not applauding
Laura Benanti chides people for not applauding
#1Laura Benanti chides people for not applauding
Posted: 5/20/16 at 12:05am
https://twitter.com/LauraBenanti/status/733481232722460673
I do not like this. One is not entitled to applause. People paid a lot of money for their ticket. If they are not moved the applaud, they shouldn't have to.
Can you imagine any of the great Broadway stars of yesteryear like the Merm making a video like this one? Neither can I. I have more feelings about this, but I will leave it at that.
By the way, I'm a Benanti fan, but I do not like this video at all.
Updated On: 5/20/16 at 12:05 AM
aaaaaa15
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/31/15
#2Laura Benanti chides people for not applauding
Posted: 5/20/16 at 12:11am
I agree with her, they should applaud. They don't have to stand up or cheer but it's courtesy to applaud in a theatre. It's gonna make the actors feel awful if they look out and see people who clearly didn't appreciate their performance.
Updated On: 5/20/16 at 12:11 AM
#3Laura Benanti chides people for not applauding
Posted: 5/20/16 at 12:12am
That really turns me off her and sadly she comes across as a spoiled little girl. If the audience aren't feeling it, so be it.
Well I didn't want to get into it, but he's a Satanist.
Every full moon he sacrifices 4 puppies to the Dark Lord and smears their blood on his paino.
This should help you understand the score for Wicked a little bit more.
Tazber's: Reply to
Is Stephen Schwartz a Practicing Christian
aaaaaa15
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/31/15
#4Laura Benanti chides people for not applauding
Posted: 5/20/16 at 12:13am
I also don't know why we have to compare modern day actors to actors from decades ago. No, I can't imagine Ethel Merman posting a video like this on Twitter or calling out cellphone use because those things didn't exist when she was performing. I have no idea if she would be the type to do it now or not and neither does anyone else really.
#5Laura Benanti chides people for not applauding
Posted: 5/20/16 at 12:19am
aaaaaa15 said: "I agree with her, they should applaud. They don't have to stand up or cheer but it's courtesy to applaud in a theatre. It's gonna make the actors feel awful if they look out and see people who clearly didn't appreciate your performance.
"
But you don't know for a fact that they didn't applaud, it might have been nothing more than subdued. For her to call them out is nothing more than unprofessional and rude.
Well I didn't want to get into it, but he's a Satanist.
Every full moon he sacrifices 4 puppies to the Dark Lord and smears their blood on his paino.
This should help you understand the score for Wicked a little bit more.
Tazber's: Reply to
Is Stephen Schwartz a Practicing Christian
aaaaaa15
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/31/15
#6Laura Benanti chides people for not applauding
Posted: 5/20/16 at 12:20am
rosscoe(au) said: "But you don't know for a fact that they didn't applaud, it might have been nothing more than subdued. For her to call them out is nothing more than unprofessional and rude."
She specifically said they didn't clap 'if you're not going to clap...'
Mr Roxy
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
#7Laura Benanti chides people for not applauding
Posted: 5/20/16 at 12:21am
She is wrong. I admit it is disrespectful for audience members to walk out when the cast is taking their bows.
Poster Emeritus
#8Laura Benanti chides people for not applauding
Posted: 5/20/16 at 12:24am
I thought it was funny, but that's me. Everyone takes this a different way. The point I find is that the least you could do after someone is bearing their soul on the stage is to put your damn hands together and clap. It's about respect. You may not like it, but you have to respect that those actors are doing work on that stage. And if she feels like she's not getting respect, I think it's her right to say so. Lin calls out people for doing **** in the audience all the time, even specifically describing them in his tweets. So I think she can do whatever the hell she wants.
But that's just my two cents.
Broadway Forever2
Leading Actor Joined: 3/7/16
#9Laura Benanti chides people for not applauding
Posted: 5/20/16 at 12:31am
Mmmm I have no problem calling out stupid people on their phone because that **** is annoying but calling them out for not clapping seems a little much.
I get it can be disheartening for the actors though so I kind of get it. When I did theatre in high school and college when people didn't laugh when they were supposed to or there was silence after a song it does kind of throw you off but I mean maybe the audience isn't feeling it.
#10Laura Benanti chides people for not applauding
Posted: 5/20/16 at 12:32am
Nowadways, everything seems like a Laura Benanti witch hunt around here.
They/them.
"Get up the nerve to be all you deserve to be."
#11Laura Benanti chides people for not applauding
Posted: 5/20/16 at 12:33am
Maybe not the most professional move to call out the audience for not applauding, but also... what kind of a**hole doesn't applaud?
#12Laura Benanti chides people for not applauding
Posted: 5/20/16 at 12:34am
LEAVE LAURA ALONE!!!!!!!! 
Mr Roxy
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
#13Laura Benanti chides people for not applauding
Posted: 5/20/16 at 12:35am
Probably the same idiots who talk, eat or use their cell phones during a show.
Poster Emeritus
#14Laura Benanti chides people for not applauding
Posted: 5/20/16 at 12:44am
Laura needs to chill the fuck out. Some people are not going to "feel" her performance.
No one is obligated to clap.
#15Laura Benanti chides people for not applauding
Posted: 5/20/16 at 12:46am
Maybe they weren't feeling it. The show isn't earth shattering. Get over it. They paid money and as long as they aren't disruptive, then they don't owe anyone anything just like the actors don't owe you a stage door.
Eta Carlos we posted the same thing PR minds in synch!!! Lol
#16Laura Benanti chides people for not applauding
Posted: 5/20/16 at 12:49am
Hellob said: "Maybe they weren't feeling it. The show isn't earth shattering. Get over it. They paid money and as long as they aren't disruptive, then they don't owe anyone anything just like the actors don't owe you a stage door.
Eta Carlos we posted the same thing PR minds in synch!!! Lol
I love when PR minds are in sync....were fierce!!!
#17Laura Benanti chides people for not applauding
Posted: 5/20/16 at 12:53amCindersGolightly said: "Nowadways, everything seems like a Laura Benanti witch hunt around here.
"
Not at all!! I love her. I saw her in Gypsy, and I think her twitter is a lot of fun.
However, this video is really off putting. Guess what, doll? If people not applauding is an ongoing problem for you in that show, maybe it ain't the audience, if you catch my drift.
She does not come off well here at all but rather entitled.
aaaaaa15
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/31/15
#18Laura Benanti chides people for not applauding
Posted: 5/20/16 at 12:56am
lovebwy said: "However, this video is really off putting. Guess what, doll? If people not applauding is an ongoing problem for you in that show, maybe it ain't the audience, if you catch my drift."
Right I'm sure the problem is that her Tony nominated and critically lauded performance is not good enough for people to put their hands together for 10 seconds.
#19Laura Benanti chides people for not applauding
Posted: 5/20/16 at 1:07am
I don't think she's talking about people who visit the theatre often - who know the "rules", so to speak, of the space. I think it's mostly for the tourist types - who I have been seated next to and sometime will not clap (this happened when I saw She Loves Me). It's really bizarre when performers are giving their all with a song like "Will He Like Me?" and the tourist only claps when Jane Krakowski does a split.
I understand perhaps she was so upset by this issue she felt she had to make a video but it does seem a little whiny. Especially since the people following her on Twitter are not exactly who she's talking about. Maybe she should make a video about bows. If you have time to see a show, you have time to stay for bows. Period.
Personally, I always clap for a performer unless something is so egregious (by which I mean they blatantly don't care) they don't deserve it. The only time I have not applauded at a performance was Al Pacino in China Doll, where he obviously didn't know his lines or care about the play (this was at least three weeks into previews and the play was basically frozen since the first performance).
"Sticks and stones, sister. Here, have a Valium." - Patti LuPone, a Memoir
#20Laura Benanti chides people for not applauding
Posted: 5/20/16 at 1:12am
Umm. I just watched that video. Maybe it's supposed to be a joke but I don't see it. I actually think it is unprofessional. I think applauding is earned not entitled. Same with standing ovations. I think it should only be done if you think it is deserved. It's supposed to be a compliment. If the audience is not feeling it so be it. Maybe the show sucked. Better work harder the next time. I was interested in seeing this show but now thinking twice about it if she is acting like that.
Not to be confused with Dave19.
Updated On: 5/20/16 at 01:12 AM
aaaaaa15
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/31/15
#21Laura Benanti chides people for not applauding
Posted: 5/20/16 at 1:13am
Sally Durant Plummer said: "Maybe she should make a video about bows. If you have time to see a show, you have time to stay for bows. Period.
Personally, I always clap for a performer unless something is so egregious (by which I mean they blatantly don't care) they don't deserve it. The only time I have not applauded at a performance was Al Pacino in China Doll, where he obviously didn't know his lines or care about the play (this was at least three weeks into previews and the play was basically frozen since the first performance)."
Someone tweeted her about old people leaving during bows and she said she didn't mind that as she could understand them not wanting to get trampled on.
I agree with your perspective. People should clap as long as they think there is effort being put in, even if the performance is not to their taste. It's similar to how you treat people in retail/wait staff. Their service may not be up to your personal standards but if you can see that they're trying then they should get 'thank-yous' and a smile. I somehow doubt Laura Benanti was giving a half-hearted performance.
Wilmingtom
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/18/11
#22Laura Benanti chides people for not applauding
Posted: 5/20/16 at 1:19am
I agree with Benanti. Applause in the theater is a long-held custom which has nothing to do with the audience members. It's about acknowledging the actors' efforts, whether you like them or not. You wouldn't go to a dinner party and spit the food out if you didn't like it. It's just boorish behavior.
#23Laura Benanti chides people for not applauding
Posted: 5/20/16 at 1:23am
Spitting out food would be closer to booing than not clapping. Saying you're not hungry is more equivalent
Updated On: 5/20/16 at 01:23 AM#24Laura Benanti chides people for not applauding
Posted: 5/20/16 at 1:26am
Hellob said: "Spitting out food would be closer to booing than not clapping. Saying you're not hungry is more equivalent
"
Agreed. Booing is rude in my opinion, but I don't think the audience is expected to applaud if they don't like the show. Applauding is showing appreciation not out of courtesy. If you don't appreciate the show then don't applaud. Maybe the performers will work harder to get applause from the audience the next time.
Not to be confused with Dave19.
#25Laura Benanti chides people for not applauding
Posted: 5/20/16 at 1:28am
I can't see the video and can only presume what might have been said so can't comment on that.
What I can comment on is that 'these days' with many baring there all, words AND body, on anything that can be printed or filmed is totally out of hand-every thought and action MUST be kept.
Progress maybe, but pen pals,letter writing and waiting for the post allowed for judgment to be contained due to lack of the 'instant'.
A memory--my first visit to a Broadway theatre--the end of the show and it seemed as if I was the only one left applauding as the majority were rushing for the aisles.
I thought, 'how rude are these New Yorkers' but was later told they were all rushing for the subway. Might be true but usually there is always another train.
