Rude Theater Goers

[JayElle]

Posted: 6/19/17 at 11:29pm

Can't anything be done with the increasing number of rude theater-goers.  Specifically, those who can't disconnect from their phone, taking pics or videotaping during the show, constant chatters who think they are the only ones in theater, etc.

At Sunset Blvd, this tall woman wore a hat similar in design to those worn by catholic cardinals (biretta).  I warned the usher about it who insisted "I'm sure she'll remove it."  No.  SHE WOULDN'T TAKE IT OFF, despite complaints from those behind her who couldn't see.  A man was screaming at her during intermission and she flipped him off.

During War Paint, the woman next to me starting videotaping the opening number.  Shocked, I said, "you can't do that.  Didn't you hear the announcement?"  She put the camera away.

I know Glenn Close, Patti LaPone, Hugh Jackman stopped their shows at rude behavior.  This isn't a $15 movie.  With shows at staggering $800 (Hamilton, Dolly) or even those that are $100+, it's frustrating as hell.

I wonder if anyone out there is seeing this as much as I do.  Disgusted.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 6/19/17 at 11:38pm

I agree with you entirely, but it's been discussed to death on this board, and unfortunately no number of BWW threads will help the issue.

At the risk of sounding morbid, it's worth noting that the constant accidental phone rings and chatter will probably start diminishing over the next few decades, if you catch my drift. 

[JayElle]

Posted: 6/19/17 at 11:48pm

I'm relatively new to this. The chat I saw was from 2014.  The rude folks I saw were 20 - 30 somethings. I went to Come From Away and a couple of senior started chatting at various scenes.  I asked them to stop and they did.  But the younger folks take a "who gives a damn" attitude.  At one theater I asked the "youngster" (20ish) to put her phone away as she texted.  Her boyfriend said, "who do you think you are?"I responded, "a theater-goer who's fed up with inconsiderate and rude behavior.  Shall I get the manager to remove you?"   She shut off the phone.

 If I didn't like a show, I leave.  These folks don't seem to care. They envision they're the only folks in the theater.  The theater person who gives out headphones said they're now seeing people taking 3 seat cushions so they can sit high in their seat to avoid heads in front of them but they're blocking those behind.  He said they had to limit it to one cushion.

Unreal.

[hork]

Posted: 6/19/17 at 11:59pm

You're my hero, JayElle. I want to sit next to you at shows, so you can quell all the bad behavior around me, since I'm usually too afraid. Although, I did recently tell two teenage boys sitting behind me and talking loudly to shut up, and they did. I still felt like a jerk, though, and I hate that feeling.

[uncageg]

Posted: 6/20/17 at 12:06am

There is a very long thread discussing this. It pops onto the 1st page a lot. You may want to go post there as it is an ongoing discussion.

I read through that thread and I notice that peopld complain about bdhavior but do nothing about it. If someone near me is on their phone, filming or taking pictures, I say something to them. It is distracting me from enjoying the show.  I honestly think that if more people say something and tell their ushers, we might find it happening a bit less. But that won't happen. So many times I have heard people complain at intermission that a person was on the phone next to them but they said mothing. I had 4 rude intoxicating woman next to me at HONEYMOON IN VEGAS that I complained about and they were thrown out of the theater during the performance. Also, a lot of shows don't make annoumcements which baffles me.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 6/20/17 at 12:07am

Your experiences are valid, and there definitely are plenty of millennial who are rude in the theatre. I won't deny that for a second. But in the VAST, VAST majority of cases I've witnessed (and believe me, I've seen a LOT of rude theatre-goers), the perpetrators have been either elderly (usually guilty of chatter and accidental phone rings) or baby boomers (usually guilty of using actively using phones during the show). Again, not denying that there are exceptions, but in my experience, 19 times out of 20, it's not the young adults. 

Updated On: 6/20/17 at 12:07 AM

[JayElle]

Posted: 6/20/17 at 12:23am

I don't feel badly telling someone to shut up.  I believe that if they are rude, I will be too.  If they don't listen, I get even more aggressive.  

[gallerygirl]

Posted: 6/20/17 at 12:24am

In my experience it's the well-dressed, middle aged, face-lifted Upper East Side ladies who spend the entire performance checking their phones every five minutes. There's not much one can do when they're sitting in the center of the orchestra looking at their photos and you're staring down on them from the mezz. My companion at one performance bolted downstairs during the curtain calls and was waiting for the offenders as they left the theatre. He very politely thanked them for ruining the show for him with their damn phones and they slunk away, suitably chastised. But it is disheartening that the ushers seem to have given up on monitoring this sort of nonsense.

[JayElle]

Posted: 6/20/17 at 12:27am

I agree that elderly can be disruptive. At the Wednesday matinee, getting up mid-act for a bathroom break and then not finding their way back.  Chatting like all hell.  But the difference b/w the elderly and youngsters (20-30+) is that the elderly will stop if you jump on them.  The youngsters flip the bird or tell you to blow off.  I've told 2 elderly at Sunset Blvd to "be quiet please; save it for later."  They did.  They're afraid of confrontation.

Bottom line, the theater needs to stop this even if it means warning at the beginning of show that anyone with a cel on will be removed.  No guts tho.

[Shubert Alley Cat]

Posted: 6/20/17 at 12:51am

Just got back from a theater trip to Chicago.  At four of the shows - ALADDIN, HAMILTON, SPAMILTON, and SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE - the audiences were very attentive with no issue.

But, damn, at the tour of KING AND I, the audience was horrid - perhaps collectively the worst I have ever encountered.  Here are just a few things that had me fuming:

1.  Elderly Asian gentleman across the aisle from me during Act 2 ( there was a decent amount of empty seats and he moved to this one during the Intermission) starts turning his phone off and on and taking photos of every key scene.  Even his grandkids who were seated right in front of him kept turning around and looking at him, but nope, they did not say STOP F*CKING DOING THIS.  I also cannot believe the usher could not see this happening as the old asswipe kept holding his phone way up in the air to take the photos.

2.  Aforementioned empty seats - teens pitting their feet up on the damn seats that were empty in front of them.

3.  Phone rings at least three times during the final emotional scene.  Took me right out of the show.  Had to be an oldie fiddling to get it shut off.

4.  Before the show there were elderly women berating the poor usher in the loge/balcony about the fact there were no railings along the aisles going up to the seats.  I don't know a theater that has such railings to hold.  These women I guess believed the usher was also the architect of the freakin theater.  This was a thing in Chicago -  why so many with mobility problems are buying seats in the loge/balcony instead of on orchestra level?  Jesus.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/20/17 at 6:09am

Many NY  theatres have railings in the nezz and bacony.  Most do, I believe.

 

Why do they but tickets there? Because many senior citizens are on a fixed income.

[mc1227]

Posted: 6/20/17 at 7:01am

I was very suprised recently that there was no announcements at Sunset Boulevard regarding cell phone use.  Some theaters seem to have given up which is disturbing to me.  

[JayElle]

Posted: 6/20/17 at 9:13am

Perhaps it's time for picketing the theater as a RESIST RUDES to get action!!  Or maybe the cast should just stop the show.  If it worked for Glenn Close, it should work for all.

[godlessondheimite]

Posted: 6/20/17 at 9:33am

When I saw Hello Dolly, the woman next to me--a grown-ass woman-- sang along the entire time, even though an usher told her to shut her mouth during the overture. Yes, she was singing along to the overture. Whenever I glared at her, she would just shrug like "I can't help it! Fish gotta swim and I gotta SING!" I rage just thinking about it. She had a teenage daughter, she should know better.

[LYLS3637]

Posted: 6/20/17 at 9:40am

godlessondheimite said: "When I saw Hello Dolly, the woman next to me--a grown-ass woman-- sang along the entire time, even though an usher told her to shut her mouth during the overture. Yes, she was singing along to the overture. Whenever I glared at her, she would just shrug like "I can't help it! Fish gotta swim and I gotta SING!" I rage just thinking about it. She had a teenage daughter, she should know better."

 

If I'm ever arrested, it'll be because I slapped the $hit out of someone who did this.

[BroadwayCritic1]

Posted: 6/20/17 at 9:48am

When I saw Hamilton (NYC) in November, a woman also started singing (and almost dancing) with every song. I asked her to stop and she wouldn't;  and then I asked her again and she finally quieted down.  But if you are in the middle of the row in the middle of the orchestra section (or any section) -- what can you   (or any usher) do to stop this disruptive behavior?

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/20/17 at 12:36pm

godlessondheimite said: "When I saw Hello Dolly, the woman next to me--a grown-ass woman-- sang along the entire time, even though an usher told her to shut her mouth during the overture. Yes, she was singing along to the overture. Whenever I glared at her, she would just shrug like "I can't help it! Fish gotta swim and I gotta SING!" I rage just thinking about it. She had a teenage daughter, she should know better.

 

"

Because being able to procreate automatically gives one common sense or courtesy?  Bwahahaha!

 

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 6/20/17 at 12:45pm

I have no problem telling people near/next to me to put their phones away or stop talking during the show. My biggest issue is frequently when this happens one or two rows away from me—when I can see or hear it happening, but would have to reach through and disturb other theatergoers in order to stop it. I never do that because I don't want to be that person, but the onus ultimately falls on the people closest to the offender(s). Everybody else in the theatre feels helpless.

[BuddyStarr]

Posted: 6/20/17 at 1:47pm

We don't hesitate to tell people to be quiet.  I have probably done it in almost every show I see.  The worst was during Pippin.  I was at a matinee and second row center.  A woman two rows in front started to take pictures with her phone.  That blue glow was so distracting.  I excused myself from the person on the aisle seat and walked up to the woman and told her to put it away, photos were not permitted.  At intermission I told the usher and he came down and re-enforced what I had said.  Some of the people around me apparently had no clue.  I seem to be constantly telling women who are together to be quiet because they feel like it's a girls night out and they can talk about their weeks activities with the lights out.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 6/20/17 at 1:52pm

PThespian said: "It is also frequently impossible to pinpoint who the offender is. 

When I was working in the mezzanine at Miss Saigon last week someone's phone went off four times in a row. 

I could hear it was coming from the Rear Mezzanine, but I didn't see any light from it. "

I was at Mormon when a flash flood alert came on and the handful of people who still had their phones on, of course, received the message. I heard an usher pacing around behind me going, "Who has their phone on?!" but I guess no one took out their phone soon enough for him to see who it was. And at that point, there were probably way too many people to track down. At least it wasn't during a particularly quiet scene.

If there's an intermission, I do my best to find an usher to point out offenders, and it usually works. In particular, it worked with a drunk family (an entire FAMILY) in the front row at Jersey Boys a few years ago. They enjoyed multiple sippy cups of wine and I could tell halfway through Act 1, Act 2 would not be good if I didn't alert an usher to what was going on. They ended up saluting Nick Massi during the sit-down (?!), but did get talked to at some other point, so I guess it wasn't as bad as it could've been.

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 6/20/17 at 2:32pm

LYLS3637 said: "godlessondheimite said: "When I saw Hello Dolly, the woman next to me--a grown-ass woman-- sang along the entire time, even though an usher told her to shut her mouth during the overture. Yes, she was singing along to the overture. Whenever I glared at her, she would just shrug like "I can't help it! Fish gotta swim and I gotta SING!" I rage just thinking about it. She had a teenage daughter, she should know better."

 

If I'm ever arrested, it'll be because I slapped the $hit out of someone who did this.

Ha. That fish thing is a hilarious way to put that helpless expression some people wear when you call them out. But I'm with LYLS3637. In my experience it's always been older theater goers but then I haven't seen Wicked in years and I haven't seen Hamilton. I don't get the motivation. You can sing along to the album at home. Do you want to prove that you know the lyrics? It's a revival or a jukebox musical. We all know the lyrics. Be quiet.