Wednesday night Spongebob Audience

[BroadwayAndSports]

So I saw Spongebob on Wednesday night and while I really enjoyed the show, a portion of the audience was the WORST I've ever experienced. And that portion of the audience was made up of the cast of Once On This Island. 

They were incredibly obnoxious, shouting out in the middle of songs and even dialogue. They simply had no regard for anyone else around them (I wasn't even that close to them, but their noise carried throughout). 

They made me enjoy the show less because either I couldn't hear the performers or I couldn't focus on them with the rowdiness in the crowd. I'm really annoyed with some of the cast members from Once On This Island, they were incredibly inconsiderate. 

[Bette's Turban]

Are you saying the cast of Once.. was in the audience and being obnoxious? 

[BrodyFosse123]

Are you saying the cast of Once.. was in the audience and being obnoxious? 

No, you misread it.  He's stating that some cast members of ONCE ON THIS ISLAND were in the audience and being annoying and loud as phuck.  

 

[VotePeron]

I was sitting in the rear orchestra, with probably a bunch of TDF members, and the cast of OOTI was definitely there in front of us, and definitely loud. But I thought it was fun, since it's a fun show. Did they act like it was a private performance just for them, shouting out and commenting non-stop? Yes. But then again, it's Spongebob. And they were having a blast, and being super supportive of the performance. I would normally find this behavior unacceptable, but it was clear they were truly only showing and giving love. But yeah, it was apparent & a bit unnecessary.

[JudyDenmark]

That's terrible! And extra unacceptable from professional performers. Was it the whole cast or just a few people?

[UncleCharlie]

Was the goat there? How was he behaved?

[everythingtaboo]

That's a shame. I've been in the audience a few times where another cast was there (most recently I was next to the cast of Aladdin while attending Miss Saigon) and except one or two overly enthusiastic but not obnoxious folks, they've always been well-behaved.

[Sondheimite]

Jesus Christ, it's the Spongebob musical.  Pass a joint and have fun.  

[smidge]

Wesley Taylor and Isaac Powell are a couple so I’m sure Isaac and his friends were excited. I remember a performer excitedly and continually waving to his friend onstage at Honeymoon in Vegas. It can be a bit much but they think they’re being supportive.

[Danielle49]

This is so disappointing. I don't care how exciting the show is, shouting or commenting nonstop is plain rude to the performers and fellow audience members. Even an interactive show like Comet didn't condone yelling out. I would have been LIVID if I were in that audience. Yes, be supportive of your friends and all, but there are other people there who shelled out a lot of money to see a show. Just because they're Broadway performers doesn't give them the right to be disrespectful.

[RippedMan]

I would think as a performer you'd be even more inclined to act appropriately, and not be distracting. I saw "Describe The Night" surrounded by "The Band's Visit" cast, Lenk was in front of me, and they were all so calm and respectful.

[BroadwayAndSports]

They were so incredibly inconsiderate and even if they meant to be supportive of the show, they made the show worse. You guys are right, you’d think performers would be more cognizant of not being a circus in the audience, even if it is a silly musical.

It was about 7-9 of them that were awful (some others from the cast were a little spread out). Mostly women. So damn frustrating that they were shouting in the middle of the show, things like “GO WES!” or “RUA!” or like, responding to dialogue as if it’s a call response. Ie: “I’m not a simple sponge” “NO YOU’RE NOT!”

[BroadwayBeebe]

Thank You for confirming I’m not crazy. I was sitting up in th balcony and even I heard the person who yelled “RUA”. That’s all I can attest to as I was too busy being distracted by the rude and drunk people behind me being just as obnoxious. “We Love You Squidward” was screaming at least twice in my ear.

[haterobics]

BroadwayBeebe said: "Thank You for confirming I’m not crazy.."

Let's not get ahead of ourselves. All that was confirmed is the cast was there and loud. 

[SweetLips]

I have been involved in both situations--a cast member as audience at another show and a patron attending a show where cast members from another show were in attendance.

It seems that cast members are in this 'show biz bubble' and by being loud[and supportive] it says--look at me--I am also a performer--normal good behaviour rules don't seem to apply.

The worst I saw was on a cruise ship where off-night performers were in the audience and practically did a performance from their seat in the audience.

I was guilty of being overly supportive but just thought I was being' theatrical'.

[RippedMan]

I'm a performer, but not of that type. I don't need attention at all times. 

[Broadway Joe]

I'm glad I missed this, I just saw it on Thursday night and the people around me were all well behaved, even the little kids in the area were well behaved

[RockyRoad]

About disrespectful theatre audiences:
"They're horrible! They don't care if they ruin the show for everyone else!"

About Once on this Island disrespectful cast members in the audience:
"Oh that's cool. They know the cast so they can make as much noise as they want."

WTF? You're in a a Broadway show so you get a pass to be disruptive?

Some of you here need a reality check.

[dramamama611]

Not acceptable behavior, don't care who you are or what show you're seeing.

Shame on them AND the FOH staff.

[dearalanaaaa]

I remember that SpongeBob previews were horrendous, a woman in front of me TOOK A PHONE CALL during the first act, then during the second act let her son do the potty dance because she thought he was joking. Not only that, but somebody else let a kid dance (standing) to the music...

[DramaTeach]

I found the audience at the show to be equally as terrible.  The parents behind me brought their kids (teenagers) food, and the scrunching of bags elicited many dirty looks from me.  In the second act, a theater-goer on the opposite side of the mezzanine was yelling things out like, "Let's go!"  It happened a few times, but he was far away from me, so I'm not sure if he was spoken to.  Wretched.

[PThespian]

dramamama611 said: "Not acceptable behavior, don't care who you are or what show you're seeing.

Shame on them AND the FOH staff."

FOH staff has nothing to do with it. If people are jerks then they are jerks.

Just the other night I caught someone taking a picture. I went down and told him to put his camera away. By the time I reached the top of the aisle his friend had his camera out and took a picture. I went back down and was not as nice as the first time.

On his way out the offender said to me, "It was only one picture. I'm in Lion King. I know what the deal is." He then went over to another usher to complain about me making him put the camera away. Once again he made sure the usher knew that he was in The Lion King. I don't see the relevance at all, but apparently he thought it should matter.

Bottom line is FOH staff are not police officers or armed security. We carry a flashlight. If people want to ignore us there's not much we can do about it.

Yes, we can get them ejected if they are really loud, but that very rarely happens for a variety of reasons. 

[dramamama611]

But it happened in this case. It should ha e been dealt with.

[PThespian]

dramamama611 said: "But it happened in this case. It should ha e been dealt with. "

How?

[KJisgroovy]

I attend a lot of regional theater around the midwest. Without a doubt, the people that are the rudest audience members are the people that gab loudly about being in the "theatre" with their friends before the show. I'm not sure if they think they're better than the rest of us or, as suggested, need to be the center of attention and PERFORM being an audience member.

Obviously... tons and tons of awesome theater folk sit in total silence, rapt attention, and make the very best audience members. But. Then there's those other folk...