Shows You Walked Out On ( If Any)- Page 4

[Phantom2]

Posted: 12/14/03 at 6:49pm

To stand up during a show and walk out is just plain rude to the cast and the audience. First of all it's a total distraction. And if it's an emergency, it better be a damn good one, not that you don't like the show. To leave during intermission is just plain ridiculous because you cannot truly give a complete critique of a show unless you see the entire show. Even critics do not walk out and give 1/2 a review, no matter how terrible it may be.

Updated On: 12/14/03 at 06:49 PM

[cmleidi]

Posted: 12/15/03 at 12:49am

I've never walked out of a show because it takes too much effort to see a show. IF I lived in New York, I might leave the show during intermission. I find it highly rude when people get up after intermission and leave the performance. If you're planning to leave, do it before the second act resumes.

[bially082]

Posted: 12/15/03 at 1:30am

i would have loved to walk out on a production of Under Milk Wood. I had no idea what it was, but it sucked. No plot, a couple actors playing lots of roles. That kind of thing can be good if the material is good. This was just crap. My dad got me the tickets as a gift and went o the show with me. I pretended to like it....

[son_of_a_gunn_25]

Posted: 12/15/03 at 1:41am

Only one I've wanted to, it was a summer high school production of Fame. It was horrible. The worst was the singing. My friends and I came up with a new saying that we use when we see a show where the singing is not quite up to par. "My ears are bleeding!!!!!"

[Mamie4]

Posted: 12/15/03 at 7:22am

I've walked out at intermission many times. Maybe it's an age thing - but I just feel that any time remaining in my life has more importance than sitting in a particular theatre at particular times watching shows that I absolutely hate. I go to the theatre quite often, at least once a week and many times more. I adore the theatre and go whenever humanly possible. In fact, I usher when I can't afford to buy the ticket. But when I have bought the ticket and ended up hating the show, I have left.

The shows I've left at intermission were big hits with many folks (The Full Monty, Miss Saigon), beloved revivals (The Miracle Worker, Camelot) and new experiments (names, for obvious reasons, escape me right now).

I would NEVER, in a million years, EVER walk out on a performer while they were on stage. No matter how much I disliked the show - I consider this to be the rudest behaviour imaginable. (It's right down there with people running out of the theatre while the cast is on stage taking their bows. I'd like to stone them as they left!) But neither will I waste any more of my time sitting there in misery watching something I absolutely hate. One of you talked about the need to show the theatre that you support them? Well, why should I send that message when I really hated the show?

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 12/15/03 at 10:17am

I would never walk out on a performer, no matter how bad they, if I feel they are really working hard. I attended a cabaret performance at Don't Tell Mama years ago that was simply embarassing. I didn't leave because I wanted to give her some support that would perhaps encourage her to keep it up. She had talent, but the show was so poorly executed and on shoestring budget. But when I witnessed the tour of Hair in which the show was underrehearsed, actors paying no attention to their surroundings, knocking over equipment and set pieces, and just plain immature staging and performances, I was insulted. They had no business charging the public $55 (or anything, for that matter) for that mess. Everyone involved in the production was making fools out of the audience and it was obscene. I wasn't the first (or last) to walk out before intermission. When you pay for a ticket, it is your right to express your opinion. The politeness of sitting through a show that you hate is strictly a US/UK phenomenon. We also invented the idea of giving standing ovations for any show that seems to make it to the end. Back in the day, the audience used to directly express how they felt about a performance. Now, we're so concerned with being PC, we have to coddle every cast whether we like the show (or the performers) or not. No wonder actors today have reputations for being very thin-skinned. They're fooled into believing anything they do is ovation-worthy.

Oh well, it's your money. If you think lying to a cast is more important than your money or your opinion, then so be it. I facetiously applaud you. Just don't whine about a show you despise having a long run. Many of those standing and applauuding probably hated it too, but are afraid to let the anyone know for fear of being un-PC.

[Phantom2]

Posted: 12/15/03 at 4:10pm

I think there's some confusion here. Rudeness, distraction and applause are very different things. Just to clarify, I do not give standing ovations unless I like the actor and I have sat down many times before the next one bows.
I know we all pay to see flawless productions, but "bloopers" are funny at times. I can name a bunch of them myself.

Updated On: 12/15/03 at 04:10 PM