Phones are back - Glenn Close stops performance half-way

[Valentina3]

Posted: 5/25/17 at 11:19am

http://www.broadway.com/buzz/188720/glenn-close-stops-sunset-boulevard-mid-show-due-to-photo-taking-audience-member/

[nealb1]

Posted: 5/25/17 at 12:41pm

It's unbelievable how absolutely clueless and self-centered some theatre goers are.

BRAVO to Glenn!

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 5/25/17 at 12:42pm

Good for Glenn. God, some audience members are just insufferable these days. 

[MichelleCraig]

Posted: 5/25/17 at 12:55pm

"We can have a show, or we can have a photoshoot..." Great line!

[Dave28282]

Posted: 5/25/17 at 1:01pm

She could also walk off stage after her song 3 minutes later and inform someone backstage and have this person removed from the audience discretely. Then at least the rest of the audience wasn't taken out of the journey by an actress breaking character in a show for which they paid a lot of money.

Updated On: 5/28/17 at 01:01 PM

[Anshel2]

Posted: 5/25/17 at 1:03pm

MichelleCraig said: ""We can have a show, or we can have a photoshoot..." Great line!

 

She said the same thing more or less 25 years ago when I saw the show.  Same place in the show 

[KJisgroovy]

Posted: 5/25/17 at 1:04pm

Dave28282 said: "She could also walk off stage after he song, 3 minutes later and inform someone backstage and have this person removed. Then at least the rest of the audience wasn't taken out of the journey by an actress breaking character in a show for which they paid a lot of money.

 

This argument gets trotted out a lot in these situations but the people all around the person taking pictures had their experience ruined. If I was one of those people, I would have greatly appreciate a restart. 

 

[JennH]

Posted: 5/25/17 at 1:13pm

MichelleCraig said: ""We can have a show, or we can have a photoshoot..." Great line!

 

"

Best damn response I've ever known to combat this.

 

But seriously....WHY IS THIS SUCH AN EPIDEMIC?? It's no secret phones have no place being out during the show, so why does this continue to happen?? And no, ignorance of first time theater goers is not an excuse anymore, because as I said...it's NO secret.

[LYLS3637]

Posted: 5/25/17 at 1:13pm

Dave28282 said: "She could also walk off stage after he song, 3 minutes later and inform someone backstage and have this person removed. Then at least the rest of the audience wasn't taken out of the journey by an actress breaking character in a show for which they paid a lot of money."

If the "photographer" wasn't being such an a$$hole, the show would not have needed to be stopped. The blame rests solely on the moron who selfishly decided their experience was more important than everyone else's. 

[AC126748]

Posted: 5/25/17 at 1:15pm

I swear, if a performer stopped a show because someone in the audience was having a heart attack, you'd get people running here and calling them unprofessional.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 5/25/17 at 1:42pm

"We can have a show, or we can have a photoshoot..." Great line!

That's been her go-to retort since 1995.  She said it countless times during SUNSET BLVD.'s original Broadway run.    

 

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/25/17 at 1:49pm

Just remember, it's only a bad thing when Patti does it.

[LxGstv]

Posted: 5/25/17 at 1:56pm

KJisgroovy said: "Dave28282 said: "She could also walk off stage after he song, 3 minutes later and inform someone backstage and have this person removed. Then at least the rest of the audience wasn't taken out of the journey by an actress breaking character in a show for which they paid a lot of money.

 

This argument gets trotted out a lot in these situations but the people all around the person taking pictures had their experience ruined. If I was one of those people, I would have greatly appreciate a restart. 

 

 

"

Not to mention that removing that person would probably be even more disruptive. Also, I highly doubt that someone taking pictures during a performance would just simply comply and say: "ok, I'll leave".

[DAME]

Posted: 5/25/17 at 1:59pm

I can't wait for Bette's first meltdown.  But I imagine since she is a arena concert performer the cell phones don't bother her as much.

[BroadwayKiwi]

Posted: 5/25/17 at 2:01pm

Slightly separately...and I'm not encouraging the phot-taker but...Isn't a person coughing once loudly more disruptive and disrespectful to an audience's being in the journey than some fan snapping a photo or five? A cough can be heard from anywhere in a 1900 seat theatre and I always grimace when it happens, while I would never know if a photo was or wasn't being taken in a 1900 seat theatre.

Why aren't coughers made to know how much they disrupt performances? We've all been disturbed by them, no?

I'd love a campaign that encourages sick people to stay the F home. 

Edit to add: I know something may get in your throat and you have no choice but to lightly cough it out, but there are sick people who should stay home, and then there are people who just want to be heard in the theatre and that's via a cough. Losers. We are guests there. It's not your living room.

Updated On: 5/25/17 at 02:01 PM

[haterobics]

Posted: 5/25/17 at 2:01pm

DAME said: "I can't wait for Bette's first meltdown.  But I imagine since she is a arena concert performer the cell phones don't bother her as much."

Dolly routinely breaks the fourth wall anyway...

Good for Glenn, but where is the video of this?!

[Kad]

Posted: 5/25/17 at 2:02pm

People don't tend to make the choice to cough.

[DAME]

Posted: 5/25/17 at 2:03pm

haterobics said: "DAME said: "I can't wait for Bette's first meltdown.  But I imagine since she is a arena concert performer the cell phones don't bother her as much."

Dolly routinely breaks the fourth wall anyway..."

 

That is why I think she will get away with sharp scolding.

 

[JennH]

Posted: 5/25/17 at 2:16pm

Mister Matt said: "Just remember, it's only a bad thing when Patti does it.

 

"

No one is saying she shouldn't have done it, I'm glad she did SOMETHING, but screaming about it doesn't help anyone. It's like parents screaming at their kids about something they did wrong. It's psychology, It doesn't work. The way Glenn, Laura, and a few others have done it was tactful and still made a point. They used more of a guilt trip which usually works. Patti is just a self serving and entitled snot who has let her high career status go to her head over the years. Almost every "I met Patti" story I've heard is like this, she's rude, ungracious, and exemplifies the negative diva stereotype that gives this world one of it's many bad reps.

[Margo319]

Posted: 5/25/17 at 2:19pm

It truly is a sickness that spans all ages.  If you get caught with your phone out, breaking the law, you should get escorted out by security.  No refunds.  No words spoken. The end.  

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/25/17 at 2:40pm

No one is saying she shouldn't have done it

Oh, there were PLENTY at the time (even before her "final straw" rant, but especially after) who said that breaking character or stopping the performance at all was SO UNPROFESSIONAL (and worse) and rips her to shreds, calling her self-serving entitled snot yadda yadda.  

Almost every "I met Patti" story I've heard is like this, she's rude, ungracious, and exemplifies the negative diva stereotype that gives this world one of it's many bad reps.

Glad you qualified it with an "almost".  Met her twice (New York and London) and she was lovely and gracious to me (and everyone else around us), signing, posing for photos, and even stopping to chat with me a bit both times.  What did she do when you met her?

But yes, there were many many people who said she shouldn't have done it, screaming or otherwise.  I'm glad she screamed, especially in that instance.  She talks about how it happened that way.  She also talks about when she doesn't scream, but addresses the issue.  

Stop the show, point out the offender and shame them until they are escorted out the door.  Enough is enough.  I don't think a witty quip is sufficient any longer.

[SueBee06]

Posted: 5/25/17 at 2:47pm

Why aren't coughers made to know how much they disrupt performances? We've all been disturbed by them, no?

I know Carnegie Hall used to have cough drop dispensers on the wall before you enter the seating area with the cough drops donated by Halls. I have no idea if they still do it (this was years ago) but at the time I thought it was utterly brilliant.

 

[ErikJ972]

Posted: 5/25/17 at 3:01pm

Mister Matt said: "No one is saying she shouldn't have done it

Oh, there were PLENTY at the time (even before her "final straw" rant, but especially after) who said that breaking character or stopping the performance at all was SO UNPROFESSIONAL (and worse) and rips her to shreds, calling her self-serving entitled snot yadda yadda.  

Almost every "I met Patti" story I've heard is like this, she's rude, ungracious, and exemplifies the negative diva stereotype that gives this world one of it's many bad reps.
Glad you qualified it with an "almost".  Met her twice (New York and London) and she was lovely and gracious to me (and everyone else around us), signing, posing for photos, and even stopping to chat with me a bit both times.  What did she do when you met her?

But yes, there were many many people who said she shouldn't have done it, screaming or otherwise.  I'm glad she screamed, especially in that instance.  She talks about how it happened that way.  She also talks about when she doesn't scream, but addresses the issue.  

Stop the show, point out the offender and shame them until they are escorted out the door.  Enough is enough.  I don't think a witty quip is sufficient any longer."

You know what's unprofessional? Answering your cell phone and talking loudly in the middle of production. Like Lupone did when I sat behind her during a production of Assassins in Boston.

[BroadwayRox3588]

Posted: 5/25/17 at 3:33pm

I liked when Annaleigh Ashford "barked" at a cell phone user during Sylvia.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/25/17 at 3:36pm

Erik - What did you say to her?