Bad Theater Behavior

[denali.fire]

Who's going to support them when the dog dies?

[vanbrig]

Is that a serious question or snark?

[LxGstv]

At Mean Girls tonight the staff was trying to speed people up in the bathroom stalls in the men’s room so that women could use it... by constantly knocking and rattling the doors... incredibly annoying and quite frankly intrusive...

[denali.fire]

So I guess they were the real mean girls!

[morosco]

Went to the theater tonight and not one cell phone went off but everyone seemed to have on a smart watch which would light up intermittently. Darkened theater full of electronic fireflies.

[HunterK]

I am glad someone brought this thread back to life. I was at Mean Girls tonight and was in the center of the orchestra front row. The 2 seats next to were empty until "Meet The Plastics" (15 minutes in)...this couple stumbled in, not even waiting for us to move or get up and fell over each other on top of their seats, I swear..fell into the wall of the pit. Half of the casts heads turned and the fun was just beginning. They finally sit and are laughing and truly smell of hard liquor..believe me this one I know. The male was larger and sat next to me. He took up both armrests and opened his legs as far as they could go. It was like the middle seat on an airplane. Now I paid my money for my seat and to see this show, I wasn't going to let this go on. After about 5 minutes, I start to move my arms to the armrest and open my legs about an inch, I turn and look and the guy is DEAD ASLEEP! Finally I pushed enough to wake him and he moved a little and back to nap he went. At intermission they both left, the woman on the other side of them was complaining that the female was passed out drunk as well and almost falling out of her seat. He assumed they left because 5 minutes into ACT 2 their seats were empty. What do you know..right after "Stop"..there they were, carrying drinks and hoping over us. Not 10 minutes later the man is snoring. I look over and his lady companion has he damn foot on the orchestra pit wall! I am sorry but this is disrespectful. I could see the actors watching all of this, and if I was a betting man I would put my money on Barrett directing her middle finger to them multiple times! At bows, they were the only 2 people not standing in the theatre. When we were leaving they were still sitting.

I don't understand paying $150 to get drunk and sleep through a show. I know I could have asked an usher for help in Act 1, but I didn't want to start anything, especially when alcohol was involved. I am just shocked at how people treat going to a Broadway show nowadays! 

Ok rant over!

[Here I Am]

Wow Hunter, none of what happened to you tonight is okay! You probably should have told the house manager. I will never understand spending all of that money and then not watching the show...

[dramamama611]

While that certainly sucked, drunks have happened forever. And any and everywhere. It happening at a theater isnt new, either. It certainly isn't indicative about people "nowadays".

[Christoph]

The whole cell phone thing is completely out of hand.  I see people at the theater texting or whispering into them constantly over the most mundane nonsense as though every brain fart is of such importance that it must be shared immediately no matter the surroundings. 

I have only run into the bad smell issue that another poster mentioned once.  We had a man sitting next to us who honestly smelled like he had eaten straight cloves of garlic by the ton and was having acid indigestion to boot.  He kept belching.  Not loudly, but the stench was enough to scorch the nostrils and it went on all night.  I thought maybe I was oversensitive, but at intermission one of the older women sitting in our row mentioned that she literally felt that she was being subjected to gassing by garlic and stomach acid, so I was not the only one to notice.

Also, please deliver me from people who bring youngsters to the theater who have no idea how to behave in a theater setting.  Went to see The King and I with my mother and the group sitting in front of us had  an 8 or 9-year-old girl with them that sat directly in front of my mother - we were three rows from the stage.  First there was the loud talking like she was in her living room, which took the people forever to get her to stop.  Then she stood up repeatedly or stood in her seat, which was a distraction to anyone sitting behind her.  They could only get her to stop that for intermittent periods.  Then, there was the hair.  This girl had ridiculously long hair, which she started to stretch out as far as it would go over her head while running her fingers through it.  Then she would throw her head back and the hair would fly back over top of those of us in the row behind her.  At intermission, I switch with my mother to give her a break.  The hair thing really irritated me and the people that were with her could not seem to get her to stop.  I was tempted to grab a handful on her next head flick and tie it around an armrest.  At the end of the show, the older lady with the party turned around to us and said she was so sorry for the behavior, followed by "she is not related to us!"  Swell, but they did bring her to the theater and they should remove her from the theater when she gets to be that big of a nuisance.  For the price of theater tickets, no one wants to see some kid's hair stretched out in the line of sight and then thrown back on your lap!