Have you ever seen a musical on Broadway that didn't get a standing ovation?

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 3/23/24 at 4:17pm

Discuss

[Kad]

Posted: 3/23/24 at 4:45pm

It's been a decade or so, but I don't recall Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson receiving one the few times I saw it, aside from the closing.

[baritonewithtenortendencies]

Posted: 3/23/24 at 5:39pm

Y'know I think that the ubiquitousness of standing ovations is a very American thing. In much of Europe, even in Britain, it's a lot more common for shows to not get standing ovations. Some shows are so spectacular and huge in scale that it's hard not to give them a standing ovation, but here in America we give standing ovations to middle school shows. Freaking middle school plays. And people throw around absolutely absurd compliments. I've had people tell me that community productions I'm in are better than the Broadway productions. It's weird because generally Americans are the mean ones but for some reason we all stand when we clap. 

[dramamama611]

Posted: 3/23/24 at 6:21pm

I think the middle school kids SHOULD get standing ovations.

 

I really wish we could go back to desevered standing o's instead of it being the norm. Personally, I won't stand if I don't think it's warranted and that usually means I don't get to see most of the curtain calls. Sigh.

 

[BCfitasafiddle]

Posted: 3/23/24 at 6:40pm

The only time in my life was at Almost Famous. Not only no standing ovation, but it was probably the quietest and tamest audience I've ever been apart of. And the curtain call was essentially a rock concert moment. Incredibly awkward when there's no noise in the house and everyone's walking out or still seated. That was a rough night of theatre IMO.

[Falsettolands]

Posted: 3/23/24 at 6:54pm

Godspell 2011.

[WearSunblock]

Posted: 3/23/24 at 8:05pm

Weirdly enough, because the audience was really into it AND it was a great performance, but nobody stood when I saw Avenue Q on Broadway.  I really wanted to, but I was too nervous to stand on my own back then.  (I could not see the mezzanine, so I'm not sure if people stood up there, but nobody stood in the orchestra.)

[Jarethan]

Posted: 3/23/24 at 9:19pm

I have been seeing shows since the mid-sixties.  The first standing ovation I ever saw was for Lansbury in Mame.  No Channing in Dolly, no Streisand in Funny Girl, no Zero for Fiddler or Kiley for La Mancha.  The next one was for Katherine Hepburn for Coco (were they standing for her performance in Coco or for her movie career).  The next one was for Christopher Plummer in Cyrano, and after that Lansbury in Gypsy.  I saw Sweeney With her 4 times and she never got a SO.  Verdon and Rivera didn’t get one the several times I saw Chicago.  Robert Preston and Mary Martin didn’t even get one on opening night of I Do! I Do! And James Earl Jones never recieved one the three times I saw The Great White Hope or Fences.  Bottom line: they were very rare.  
 

I refer to the ridiculous period as reflecting the American Idolization of Broadway.  I really think the constant SOs on that show led us to where we are.  People can disagree, but I really think it is a serious possibility.

PS — Hepburn got an SO every time I saw her live, regardless of how bad most of the plays she appeared in were, e.g., A Matter of Gravity, Weat Side Waltz, and I think something else but can’t recall.  Again, standing for the mega-movie star in her renaissance period.

[Zeppie2022]

Posted: 3/23/24 at 9:42pm

"Head Over Heels". Lots of people left after Act One and the crowd at the end just silently walked out of the theater during curtain call.

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 3/23/24 at 9:43pm

Most shows don’t deserve one.

[BentleyB]

Posted: 3/23/24 at 9:47pm

In the 70’s the only two that I remember getting standing ovations and people going crazy, was the original casts of A Chorus Line and Annie.  Pippin, Chicago, Grease, The Wiz, Sweeney, and so many others did not.  And to this day it amazes me what gets standing ovations, but to go into that someone will say I am ‘precious” or look foolish that I will remain seated if I truly hated the show or performance.  

[Mr. Wormwood]

Posted: 3/23/24 at 10:21pm

A couple times I've been in a section that didn't stand even though other areas did. For example, last summer at NYNY, I was in the balcony and there was no standing ovation up there even though I could tell people in the other sections were standing.

[Jarethan]

Posted: 3/23/24 at 11:08pm

BentleyB said: "In the 70’s the only two thatI remember getting standing ovations and people going crazy, was the original casts of A Chorus Line and Annie. Pippin, Chicago, Grease, The Wiz, Sweeney, and so many others did not. And to this day it amazes me what gets standing ovations, but to go into that someone will say I am ‘precious” or look foolish that I will remain seated if I truly hated the show or performance."

Interesting.  I saw ACL 3 or 4 times in its first 4 months, and it never got one.  I saw Annie on opening night and there was no SO.  So, they probably happened occasionally.

i do remember one other show from the mid-seventies that got SOs every time I saw it.  The SOs were specifically for John Cullum in Shenandoah.  That’s the other thing…in all but one case I can think of, no one stood until the lead came out for their bow.  In The Producers, for example, despite all the acclaimed performances, not a single person stood until Lane and Broderick came out.  This standing up when the dancers of a show with rotten choreogtaphy take their bows is so stupid.  Crowd mentality…one shill stands up and it’s all over.

[jagman106]

Posted: 3/23/24 at 11:13pm

The standing O is a rather recent phenomenon that gained momentum around the mid-late 90s. Certainly they are the norm throughout the 21st century to date. In the 70s and 80s, standing Os were reserved for truly outstanding shows or performances. I recall standing Os at Evita and 42nd Street. The only time I've ever been part of a standing O at the end of Act 1 was for Jennifer Holliday in Dreamgirls. 

Since the time that Standing Os became "fashionable," I can recall three shows that didn't get a standing O when I was there: Dance of the Vampires, A Tale of Two Cities, and Women on the Verge...

[dearalanaaaa]

Posted: 3/23/24 at 11:28pm

I don't think there was a standing ovation for "Walking with Ghosts" the night I saw it. So many people were asleep, it was probably a comp night because even I had a comp,and it was a terrible and meandering show. I don't even remember the ONE MAN who was the main speaker's name. I think he was Irish and talking about his family but other than that it was so forgettable.

[Jmuep2]

Posted: 3/23/24 at 11:39pm

There was no standing o when I saw Bad Cinderella

[Shubert Alley Cat]

Posted: 3/23/24 at 11:44pm

Cry-Baby

The ten of us in the Mezz didn’t stand.

[RUkiddingme]

Posted: 3/24/24 at 12:27am

I blame Blood Brothers - they had that counting standing ovation marketing campaign. 

[BentleyB]

Posted: 3/24/24 at 12:48am

jagman106 said: "The standing O is a rather recent phenomenon that gained momentum around the mid-late 90s. Certainly they are the norm throughout the 21st century to date. In the 70s and 80s, standing Os were reserved for truly outstanding shows or performances. I recall standing Os at Evita and 42nd Street. The only time I've ever been part of a standing O at the end of Act 1 was for Jennifer Holliday in Dreamgirls.

Since the time that Standing Os became "fashionable," I can recall three shows that didn't get a standing O when I was there: Dance of the Vampires, A Tale of Two Cities, and Women on the Verge..."

The afternoon I saw.”War Paint” something was definitely off and people could feel it and no one stood for it. Only 2 shows I have seen SO during an act was Something Rotten and Hello Dolly!.  The only at intermission was Wicked and Funny Girl (not with Beanie.)

[LuckyDipster]

Posted: 3/24/24 at 6:46am

I agree that the standing ovation has become almost part of a performance now in the same way that music artists have planned encores at the end of gigs.  However, I'm almost always happy to stand for a show or a performer, especially if it is someone I am a very big fan of.  It means a lot to me to be able to see them do their thing, so yes, I will gladly give them the S.O. even if the show itself isn't necessarily worthy of one.  We also have to consider people who rarely go to the theatre or may be attending for the first time.  That experience in itself is very exciting and makes people want to express that feeling by standing.

[Jarethan]

Posted: 3/24/24 at 12:34pm

RUkiddingme said: "I blame Blood Brothers - they had that counting standing ovation marketing campaign."

It was well after Blood Brothers.  Another show that advertised that was the Lansbury Gypsy.  That was 49 years ago.  On the one hand UGH!  On the other, I enjoyed the mediocre shows 50 years ago more than I enjoy them today.  At least 50 years ago, you could hum half the score as you left the theatre...unlike today, when I can rarely hum one.  I know I sound like a lyric in Merrily (which I love), but it's true...enjoyable songs make up for a lot of other sins in a show.

I do hate standing for most shows I see...this constant standing has cheapened the impact of an SO.  The first one I ever saw was absolutely thrilling, especially since I was very young and loved the show.  I thought recent SOs for Harmony and Almost Famous and SIX and PV the Sondheim musical (forgetting the name right this minute (the latter two which I really enjoyed) were hard to justify, at least in the context of what SOs used to mean.

[SisterGeorge]

Posted: 3/24/24 at 1:03pm

Not only have SOs become ubiquitous in the US after every type performance (musicals, dramas, concerts, ballet, magicians, comedians), but increasingly there are a few audience members who inevitably stand up any time a singer in a musical holds a high note for more than tree seconds. At Tommy recently, not only did a woman in front-center Orchestra jump up mid-show for an SO, but also turned around to manically encourage the rest of the audience to join her. And like witless lemmings, much of the rest of the Orchestra section did.

[Phantom4ever]

Posted: 3/24/24 at 1:03pm

I've been to many performances of Rent later in its run when it only received a few rows of standing ovation; same for Phantom. Often what would happen is people in the back would get up, and then the people in the front didn't notice that people were standing. 

The very first time I saw Les Miserables on Broadway in December 1998, I was shocked by the rock concert vibe of the audience, hooting and hollering after every song, and of course enthusiastically jumping to their feet at the curtain call. When I went again a few years later in 2002, I had become quite the Eponine fanboy, and when she came out for her bow I leapt to my feet. Not only did the rest of the audience not join me, but people looked at me confusedly and a few people even whispered to the seatmate and rolled their eyes at me. I was shocked that nobody else was standing but I wasn't about to sit back down lol. 

Nowadays it seems similar to getting up when the seatbelt sign goes off at the end of the flight. You know you still have to wait to get off the plane, but it's just nice to stand up and stretch your legs. 

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 3/24/24 at 1:37pm

Here Lies Love? Likely, because the crowd was already standing. LOL.

[sinister teashop]

Posted: 3/24/24 at 2:00pm

Yes, most of them before 2002. I remember noticing that the standing ovation started to get built into the curtain call post 2002 with lighting shifts, orchestrations, etc. I agree that it was influenced by American Idol, etc. But it was also part of the destination tourism shift of the newly renovated Times Square district and its attendant "luxury event" ticket pricing. It spilled into everything including concerts, dance, etc. The absence of a standing ovation now signals either that the show was really bad or it is not pitched primarily to tourists. 

Updated On: 3/24/24 at 02:00 PM