As for drunken or talking ignorant theater-goers, I would've gotten security in a minute. But I also get the theater headsets for that specific purpose. I can hear okay. I use the headsets to drown out the peripheral noise around me like talking, candy wrappers, etc. I turn up the volume if I have to. And if the singing went on, I'd be off getting the security staff. I had to do that w/Kong. Woman in front of me was videotaping Kong as he came out. And we were on the aisle in first few rows. I waited for intermission and got security who gave her the choice of leaving the theater or erasing the video. She dumped the video.
This past Wednesday at the Ferryman matinee, someone didn't fully turn off their phone, so the alert tone kept coming on...most likely for the arctic blast weather warning. It wasn't until intermission, that someone shut if off.
Those Amber and other alerts will always come on even if the phone is silenced. The only way to stop it is to shut it off or put it on airplane mode.
sparksatmidnight said: "Can we introduce the concept "please shower and make sure your dehodorant works for you" in schools? I still can't forget the smell of guy sitting by my side yesterday."
The opposite can be just as bad if not worse sometimes. Some people seem to have just dumped the entire bottle of cologne/perfume on themselves.
I don’t know if I attract awful audience members or if certain shows attract them. Could also be the day of the week that plays a factor. But once again another horrible experience at a broadway theater.
Last night’s performance of The Lion King had a loud group behind us, constant talking and giggling during quiet times of the show, plastic bags shuffling for I don’t know what reason. We shushed and talked to an usher, but that didn’t do anything. The show was about to start the second act when we politely asked them to be quiet because the talking is distracting when they all got aggressive and confrontational. They rudely started to one another saying “no one is talking, I don’t hear anything” “is my laugh and coughing bothering you?”. The second act literally starts and they are still talking loudly “are the birds bothering you too” “you should ask them to stop as well”. There was an usher witnesssing all of this, as well as actors right next to us as we were in the front mezzanine. Appalling behavior. We say it again “you are literally talking right now, please be quiet” to which they all reply “you be quiet” around 3 or 4 times... in between every song someone loudly exclaimed “that was amazing!”.
I’m just baffled that this behavior would happen in a theater. Absolutely disgusting and quite frankly, makes me less interested in broadway, it certainly makes me not want to see certain shows, in the end it’s a lot of money to pay just to be annoyed and have a ****ty experience.
These people are awful and I'm so sorry you went through that but I'm baffled that an usher would drop the ball like that. You should definitely try to contact the house manager.
It sounds like an aggressive group. I was at the Lyceum in front of a school group in the mezzanine. They weren’t aggressive, but they used the back of my seat and shoulders as a foot rest. I was so grossed out when the bottoms of ther boots kept resting on my hair. I don’t think they were malicious but it was clear the students and their chaperones just did not know how to behave at a theatre. I would wager to say that most groups like these these are experiencing a broadway show for the first time (including the chaperones) and they are just clueless about proper theatre manners.
sparksatmidnight said: "These people are awful and I'm so sorry you went through that but I'm baffled that an usher would drop the ball like that. You should definitely try to contact the house manager."
Thanks. It was pretty nasty.
It was tricky for the usher though, when everything was going down there were some actors on the aisle that prevented the usher from doing anything. It all happened during the first song of the second act. What a nightmare. I actually don’t even remember much of the second act cuz I was stressed/worried.
I was sitting in the Mezzanine, and there was a woman with this kid a few rows ahead. Every ten minutes, the kid would get out of his seat and the mom would lift him up into her lap. That's right, he didn't just sit down himself, his mom grabbed him by the pits and lifted him like Simba every time, which was especially terrible because I was directly behind them a few rows back, so most of the center stage would be blocked for a good 5 seconds in recurring intervals. She'd Simba him off of her lap too, rinse and repeat. Even though I'm calling him a kid, he must've been at least 6 or 7, so he his body was by no means tiny.
And the woman right in front of me kept leaning forward in her seat all throughout act one, while constantly moving her head. Benefit of the doubt, she might've been trying to see around Mufasa and Simba a few rows up, but she always blocked the lip of the stage for me, and a few key moments with characters.
I went with family, and my mom was sitting next to me. She said the teenage boy next to her fell asleep, leaned on her shoulder a few times, and snored in her ear.
On our way out of the theater, I almost stepped on two different meals in our row alone. By meals, I mean one of those cheese or hummus and cracker trays, but regardless. Why are you leaving that on the floor where people are walking? Take your garbage with you. Some people.
I've certainly had other bad theater behavior experiences, but that was by far the worst I've ever experienced in a day.
I had the worst audience members around me tonight for the tour of Waitress. I had mentioned in another thread, that it wasn't selling well and I predicted they would have the usual lottery to fill seats. Well, I won the lottery ($30 for choice of seats). However, I was offered free tickets for opening tonight, which I thought was to fill up the orchestra, to give the illusion of selling well. Well, I took the free tickets and to my surprise, my tickets were way up in the balcony. I would have preferred just buying the $30 tickets. At this theater, they sell roasted peanuts in a paperish holder. The two women sitting next to me for the entirety of the first act, rattled this paper constantly. I would give them the look, which just made the female closet to me rattle louder. I surprised myself by not saying anything earlier. I waited till intermission and finally said something about the noise. She stated she had the right to eat in the theater. I said yes you do, but I have the right to not have the show ruined for me due to your noise. Then, in the second act, the guy two rows in front of me started taping the show. I was glad this was my second time seeing this (saw the original cast), because the experience was ruined for me.
That's just despicable when certain audience members decide to fight about getting caught. As if becoming more aggressive makes you look like the better person. If you're caught and told that you're disrupting the show, apologize and move on.
mailhandler777, Jacksonville, Florida is a odd city for what sells. I used to think it was the older shows that did well, but this season, The King and I, sold awful also. When the show doesn't sell, they have a $30 lottery and you can pick your seats. That is why I'm mad at myself for going for free, and ending up with awful seats. I had won the lottery and could of had a great seat. Our last show for the main season is The School of Rock and it is not selling either.
ArtMan said: "mailhandler777, Jacksonville, Florida is a odd city for what sells. I used to think it was the older shows that did well, but this season, The King and I, sold awful also. When the show doesn't sell, they have a $30 lottery and you can pick your seats. That is why I'm mad at myself for going for free, and ending up with awful seats. I had won the lottery and could of had a great seat. Our last show for the main season is The School of Rock and it is not selling either."
Come to think of it when I saw Wicked there in 2011 I believe it didn't sell well either. I was 1 of maybe 15 people in the balcony
JayElle said: "I also get the theater headsets for that specific purpose. I can hear okay. I use the headsets to drown out the peripheral noise around me like talking, candy wrappers, etc. I turn up the volume if I have to. "
this is GENIUS. how have I never thought of this!!!
The direction of this thread caused me to look to see how Waitress is selling for next week in Oklahoma City. I am already seeing it next Tuesday. I had thought it was selling well, but noticed that most Balcony seats are unsold (similar to A Bronx Tale last week). I also noted that seats in front of mine in the orchestra had opened up. So I called and they moved me for free from the second row of center orchestra to front row of center orchestra pit.
Once on This Island spoilers below (Then again, the Broadway production closed)
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My school put on a production of Once on This Island last week, and we usually look forward to our student night performance (last Thursday) which usually draws the biggest crowd because of the cheaper tickets. During Forever Yours (Reprise), when our Ti Moune chose not to kill Daniel and threw the knife on the ground, a girl in the audience yelled “Girl, really?” and completely killed the suspense of the scene by making the entire audience laugh inappropriately. Then during A Part of Us, when Ti Moune was transformed into a tree, there were several people saying “A tree? What?”. Basically, it’s ridiculous to see that instead of quietly respecting what was done through two months of long rehearsals, people are more interested in having ridiculous side conversations instead of taking in the story we are trying to tell. Luckily, the audiences at all other performances were very behaved and respectful.
joined:9/25/16
joined:
9/25/16
Posted: 2/1/19 at 12:16pm