Audience Having a Bad Time?

[Hot Pants]

Itonlytakesajourney said: "A recent one for me was Mean Girls. It could’ve largely been my distaste for the show, but the jokes landed tepidly and the audience’s laughter was hit or miss. The cast did their absolute best with the material given, but I felt the audience wasn’t really into it."

As a fan of the movie, I don’t care for Mean Girls as a musical at all. However, aside from Barret Wilbert Weed(I don’t think she’s necessarily that bad, but she doesn’t do much for me, and I think she’s sometimes a bit too overindulgent), I have a lot of respect for the cast. They work their butts off trying to make the absolute most of a very poorly written show. Fey’s new jokes don’t ever come anywhere close to being as good as the ones from the movie, and the score truly is awful. It’s horribly generic and at times feels so amateurish. Honestly, I fear that Tina Fey is losing her touch, because pretty much all of her most recent projects are very unimpressive.

[jbird5]

I went to one of the last performances of a Gentleman’s Guide and a man had brought his mother. He told her it had won the Tony. She replied “It did?”.

Alice by Heart definitely. There was a talkback after the show that was greeted by uncomfortable silence. It was numbingly bad.

The Arden Theater production of Annie Baker’s “John”. I was practically alone on my side of the theater during Act 3. Without Georgia Engel it just doesn’t work.

[phantomcrazy14]

I only remember two shows of late.

At MTC's Saint Joan the audience thinned a little during intermission and me and my friend were determined to stick it out. During Act II people started to get up to leave mid-performance and it started a ripple effect where every ten minutes or so you'd see someone else scuttle out without returning. Then, when you thought it was over and that awful final scene started multiple people around us let out sighs or groans which then resulted in some shared chuckling. It was quite a weird atmosphere, I felt bad for the actors. 

 

Then at Gettin' the Band Back Together, I had more fun watching the audience. Either zoned out or people having the best reactions. The girl in front of us wound up shaking her head and putting it in her hands as if she was giving up. 

[David10086]

I remember seeing "SUMMER" last July at a Sunday matinee, and watching the audience around me. It seemed so many members weren't paying attention to the story itself, yet everyone came alive once the music started. In between the music, people were even getting up to leave (bathroom? phone call?) at times, but then everyone returned once the music started.  So, overall, they would have better enjoyed going to a Donna Summer 'tribute concert' than to watch a musical on her life.

[rockeratheart]

I second all the reactions to ALICE BY HEART. I saw a Saturday evening performance and it was clear 30 minutes in that everyone just wanted to leave.

This also wasn't a Broadway production, but my all-time favorite audience reaction was to the Public's JOAN OF ARC: INTO THE FIRE. Prior to curtain, everyone in the theater was buzzing because it was David Byrne's follow-up to the fantastic HERE LIES LOVE. It was also days after the confirmation of Jeff Sessions as Attorney General and "Nevertheless, she persisted" was written on the scrim, a timely reference to Mitch McConnell's chastisement of Elizabeth Warren on the floor of the Senate (eye-rolling now, but at the time it was a bold and culturally relevant choice given the subject matter). It felt like the place to be.

I remember that the show opened with a long (15-20 minute?) production number that covered the whole first two-thirds of her life. Jo Lampert as Joan was very energetic and the ensemble was clearly working hard, but the song sounded like a bad first draft and it was impossible to tell what was going on; it was a mess in every sense of the word and it just wouldn't end. At long last the song abruptly ended and the company huddled together at the center of the stage, arms raised in what was supposed to be victory (I believe they had just won a major battle, but it was impossible to tell what the hell had just happened) and… silence. As the company held their poses, nobody in the theater clapped. Not one single person applauded. After a long 3 seconds (the company was still holding), the woman next to us who had a friend in the show stood up and started applauding wildly, calling for an encore. At this, a handful of audience members gave two or three pity claps, but the vast majority of us were still in shock. And it only went downhill there.

I’ve seen a lot of shows that the audience clearly did not care for, but this was maybe the only time I’ve ever experienced a unanimous rejection of what was on stage.

[Pashacar]

^Yes! JOAN OF ARC: INTO THE FIRE was one of the most fun experiences I've ever had in the theatre. The audience had the same experience you describe through the first 15-20 minutes, and once we realized what a disaster this was going to be, seemed to collectively pivot into an engaged hate-watch mode together. As some of the wilder choices were happening on stage, audience members were turning to one another and making eye contact, like, "Can you believe this is really happening?". I have to say, it was a damn good time.

[LizzieCurry]

This thread is taking me back to 2007 when Jersey Boys was having its first sit-down in San Francisco. The 1st national and then 2nd national played at the Curran, and maybe halfway through the second engagement, a fairly long extension was announced. I saw it many times at the Curran, and during that first wave was the first time I ever saw the Curran 3/4 full for Jersey Boys (and this was the first and second productions outside Broadway). Things picked up when the holiday cast came in (the majority of whom went to the Las Vegas sit-down), but a fidgety, quiet audience for JB is just awkward.

[jbird5]

I saw an early preview of Into The Fire before they cut the (2?) virginity test scenes and Jo Lampert’s C*NT wifebeater. As if they were what was wrong with the show. They mercifully cut Mare Winningham completely.

Saint Joan was a slog but I thought the cast was great except for CR. Totally miscast. And I loved her in A Doll’s House Part 2.

[rockeratheart]

jbird5 said: "I saw an early preview of Into The Fire before they cut the (2?) virginity test scenes and Jo Lampert’s C*NT wifebeater. As if they were what was wrong with the show. They mercifully cut Mare Winningham completely."

I was (un?)fortunate enough to also catch the multiple (fairly graphic) virginity tests and the wifebeater. And Mare Winningham's song at the end of the show still makes me laugh. She's an incredibly talented actress, but that finale was bizarre. I think they were attempting something similar to the HAMILTON epilogue, but completely missed the mark.

[Kad]

They didn't cut the Mare Winningham role... she just dropped out of the show. 

The repeated "Have faith, be strong" seemed more like pleading to the audience than Joan's mantra. 

[YvanEhtNioj]

When I saw Oklahoma! this year, almost half the audience left at intermission. 

[EllieRose2]

Were they older patrons? Perhaps expecting the same old Oklahoma!? Just curious. 

[YvanEhtNioj]

EllieRose2 said: "Were they older patrons? Perhaps expecting the same old Oklahoma!? Just curious."

The majority of the crowd were older. They had no issue expressing their feelings DURING the show, either. 

[EllieRose2]

Ooh? How so? 

[YvanEhtNioj]

While the show was going on, a lot of the older people around me were complaining out loud "this is horrible.." "what is this.." etc..

[EllieRose2]

Damn, that is rude.

[BenjaminNicholas2]

OOTI's audience was also quiet for me.  I think there were a lot of TKTS folks there who ended up with the seat rather than coming in knowing anything about it.  They did clap wildly for Alex Newell's vocal gymnastics, which while impressive, didn't make me feel the audience wanted to connect to the show otherwise.

OOTI is a show full of absolutely beautiful music and a sob-inducing ending.  I was a mess, but a lot of the audience around me were checking their watches.  

[BenjaminNicholas2]

Re: OK

I had some of the same loud audience members as well when I saw it.  

While I didn't enjoy it, I kept quiet, clapped and then left when it was over.  I found it funny watching people across from me, trying to stay awake and not get caught sleeping (as the audience is very well lit for a large portion of the show).

[dangeresque49]

(Insert Clever Name) said: "At cats a majoraty of the audience was asleep or on their phones before the end of act one

I probably would be but that is why I don't pay actual money to see cats. 

 

[JuneJune]

Jarethan said: "JuneJune, curious as to how your audience reacted to the Act 1 closing number. i was really disappointed, as I have come to expect big Act 1 closing numbers to be showstoppers, which it was not. I knew the audience was not into the show at that point, because of the really tepid applause (all the numbers had tepid applause, to be honest). "

I agree, other than the quick change (and not the music that was going on during it, just the fact that Santino got changed so quickly), nothing about the number felt like a showstopper. I was a bit dissapointed too. However, the theatre was full of thunderous applause and whistling that even lasted a few seconds after the lights came back on. I think some of the center orchestra towards the front were even standing.

But my section just gave a dry clap or two. Yet, despite them seeming like they were having a bad time, no one left during intermission. 

Though, for the show's finale itself I think almost everyone was caught by surprise because we didn't realize the show ended. Though from the first set of bows came an almost immediate standing ovation. (Again, not from my section though. They really only stood up when the dancing started back up.)