Rude People in Theatres

[overthemoon419]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 3:28pm

i had a fun experience at Lennon this Sunday.

i was sitting in row E, seat 2 with my mother next to me in seat 4. we noticed two seats in the third row, centre, remained empty throughout the entire first act so we decided to move into them at intermission.

the man behind me asks if i go to the theatre often, and i say yes. i thought he wanted to strike up conversation, thought maybe he had seen us there before. oh no. he proceeds to ask, "well, do you always cheat and sit in seats that aren't yours?"

needless to say, i'm stunned. my mother and i are avid theatregoers. we know the policies. and we know that empty seats become fair game at intermission. i told him so.

"says who?" he responds. "says the ushers," my mother and i say in unison. "you can go ask them yourself if you don't believe us." he harrumphs and announces, "i think i will."

i'm guessing maybe he was trying to scare us into moving, but we stayed put. those seats were empty. if they were his, then that would have been a different story. but they were not, so essentially it was none of his business.

then when he comes back a woman that was with him says that she complained to the ushers about us, but he grumbled that they were "on our side." he then proceeds to demand that we show him our tickets or move back to where we were, and the woman starts complaining that she paid $100 dollars for her seat and it's not fair that we have moved in front of her. although my seat didn't cost a hundred bucks, i was also in the orchestra, as i told them both. and those two seats were fair game for whoever got to them first once intermission hit. i told them that if they had wanted them, they should have moved into them. i mean, i'm five two, my hair is cut shortshortshort, neither i nor my mother was wearing a hat or headpiece of some sort, and we were in legitimate seats.

"well i hope you're happy that now you're blocking the view of a small child," the man tells me. so i told him that if he was so concerned, he should have moved the child up into the seat.

i mean, this was unbelievable. it's a theatre policy, and while i understand that they may not have been aware of it in order to take advantage themselves, they had no right to insult us and try to threaten us into moving our seats. the "young child" was about six, sharing the seat with someone (i don't even know how they swung that), and constantly bringing up irrelevant topics throughout the second act. if these people were so concerned about other patrons blocking the view, they either should have gotten the child a booster seat or not picked a seat in the middle of the fourth row. not to mention the fact that this was not exactly an age-appropriate show for him.


sorry that was so long, but i just had to rant. rude people just make me nauseous.
any other stories of equally charming people at theatres?

[NYC_or_Bust]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 3:36pm

This 40 year old woman and about a 75 year old man got into a fist fight at the Marquis when I saw Millie in December of 03. He and his wife and I'm assuming grand-daughter were sitting in this woman's seats (for her family). I'll NEVER forget her saying "we paid $400 F*ckin dollars to sit this close to sutton, get the hell out of our seats!" (they were sitting on row B ((I was in D))

It was ugly, but a great pre-show!

[Steve2]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 3:46pm

Thanks for the story. Is this really "policy"? I have always wondered this. I suppose the usher is the final authority. That being said, they were rude. Maybe you should have said they were yours and you got there late? It's hard to lie, I know.

Once at the Hello Dolly revival at the Lunt Fontaine, there were empty seats in front of me. At intermission, someone put their coat on one of the seats and went to get drinks. However, another group of four took the seats. Quite a scene ensued when the coat owner got back to find "their" seats taken. People fighting over seats that weren't even theirs in the first place!

[Dirty Rotten Scoundrel]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 3:49pm

When I was at DOTV we were in the wayyyy rear mezz of the show. Well, the front row of that mezz had a bunch of empty seats, needless to say, we took them during intermission. The usher saw us and didn't seem to have any problem with it, nor did the audience. I guess it could be all to do with the theatre...

[hearthatstrue]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 3:52pm

Eek, those are bad stories.

The rudest people I've experienced were at All Shook Up on...July 3rd. It was a family- a mom, dad and three daughters. They were in the front row. I'm assuming the parents were sort of theatregoers, because they talked about shows, acting, et cetera. As soon as Leah Hocking came out of the "museum," the mother started laughing, and commented to her husband "She looks like she's seventy! Ew!" Every time Leah was on stage, they would start laughing and making jokes about her age, or stature or voice. Anything they could. And the little girl would not stop getting up and down, which didn't bother me so much, as I have a high patience for children. So during intermission, the father gets on his cell phone and leaves some sort of message to someone. He sang (off-key, mind you), in the tune of "It's Now or Never:" "It's now or never, she's sixty-five" and started to crack up. Found himself oh-so-funny. Anyway, his oldest daughter must have been a big Cheyenne fan, and he started saying things like "Oh, this Chad fellow is awful. He can't act, and he tries too hard." And while he has every right to say that, he was being way too obnoxious about it. His daughter just kept saying "No, he's good, dad! You'll see!" She looked really embarrassed. And she was a sweet girl, I talked with her for a few minutes. Anyway, The mom kept on picking on Leah. I really wanted to say something to her like "You go do what she does eight times a week, then come back and talk." I didn't, though. And throughout Act II the parents kept on talking about how bad everything looked and was, and continued to pick on Leah. It's fine if you don't like the show, but at least wait until it's over to talk about how bad you think it is. After the show they mentioned that Cheyenne should have stayed in Altar Boyz. Fine, whatever. The little girl also tried to get into the orchestra pit. Oh, and the worst part? The mom and kids got to go backstage because they knew a cast member. Needless to say, they were very annoying.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 3:55pm

In shows that typically don't sell out (especially in mezz), I've certainly seen ushers encourage people to move down to the empty seats at intermission (and once, even shortly before opening curtain when it was particularly empty in the mezz)

[peach]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 3:58pm

Oy vey. I can't say I've quite the same experiences, but I'll share my most recent theatre annoyance...

I was sitting behind a couple of fangrrls at Wicked about a month ago. In the middle of Act I, one of their cell phones starts ringing. Not vibrating mind you, *ringing.*

To make matters worse, her ring tone was "Popular." When she answered "hello" quietly into the phone, I hissed at her in a sort of whisper hiss - "turn off your phone." She had the nerve to give *me* a dirty look.

She ended her call, but for the remainder of the first act, she checked her voicmeail messages.

Arrgghh.
Updated On: 9/12/05 at 03:58 PM

[.LittleWing. 0224]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 3:59pm

when I saw BKLYN with my sister our tickets were about mid mezz. About a minute or so before the show started the ushers actually made an annoucement to the ppl sitting in the back few rows of the mezz that they could move up a few minutes into the show if the seats closer up were still empty. A few people actually did and there werent any problems. But the fact that they said that made me think it was policy. Of course being closer doesn't make the show any better....


EDIT: margo beat me to it.

Updated On: 9/12/05 at 03:59 PM

[worrell4077]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 3:59pm

My mom won tickets to All Shook Up in April, so we went on a Wednesday night(in the afternoon student id The Producers). So any way, we went in and got our tickets, we were in row J in the orchestra, and as we were waiting for the show to start, and these two people came and sat down next to, obviously Elvis fans or just have seen All Shook Up more than once, whatever the case maybe. Anyways there wasn't really any problems until the show started. Almost at every musical number, they sang along with it. Me being every so optimistic about them stopping tried to ignore them, thinking they would stop, but of course they did not. I didn't say anything cause I don't like being yelled at, but I constantly thought and said under my breath, "We're here to hear them sing, not you."

I really wish people wouldn't sing along or recited along with the actors onstage, it's really annoying. People pay good money to watch a show, and they don't want it ruined by people who have to sing along, it's also kinda like the movies. People go to the movies(at least I do) just to see a couple of previews of what films are coming out and then the film, but of course we have to get commercials for Fantana(I really DON'T want a fanta). This is a movie theater, not a living room. Sorry for the off topic statement.
________________________________________________________________
"Sometimes weird stuff happens. Someone has to deal with it, and Who Ya Gonna Call?"
-Ghostbusters II

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 3:59pm

Thanks for the story. Is this really "policy"? I have always wondered this. I suppose the usher is the final authority.

It's pretty much an "unwritten rule" that empty seats are fair game once intermission rolls around. And, as Margo said, I've been to many a show where the ushers have encouraged patrons to move up and fill in empty seats. At one show, which was supposedly sold out and which I had bought a standing room ticket for, an usher asked me about 5 minutes before curtain if I wanted a vacant seat. I, of course, accepted. I ended up being third row center orchestra on the aisle.

[Logainne]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 4:00pm

Jeez I've never had THAT bad of an experience as any of these. I can't believe people actually are that rude in theater. The only time I had a problem was at Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. We were sitting in front of people who were eating something through the entire first act. They were passing it among them and making a lot of crinkling and crunching sounds. Finally my dad just turned around and said "Can you just put that damn thing away?" I suppose he could have been politer...but then the guy says back to him "Just shut the hell up and turn around" and his wife says to my dad "Hey, there's no reason to sware."

Oh people.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 4:10pm

hmmm, should I bring up the family from France, who started filming RENT when we were there in April? I told them to rutn off the damn camera.
Turns out they bought tickets online, and had no idea what RENT was about, and asked at intermission was it over? I told them no.
I should have told them yes, and let them leave.

The just wanted to be able to say they saw a show on broadway.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 4:13pm

What I find so odd about overthemoon's story is that... well, what would the guy have done if people had sat in front of him before curtain? Would he have told them that they're clearly not allowed to purchase those seats because they should've known he wanted an un-blocked view?

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 4:21pm

Emcee, my thoughts exactly.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 4:22pm

*shakes fist*

I mean, really. WTF?

[Magdalene]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 4:34pm

Having ushered for 10 years in local theaters, it IS an unwritten rule that you can move after intermission (of course, if the ticketholders show up, you will have to move again!) You were entirely correct!!!

Updated On: 9/12/05 at 04:34 PM

[billygoatgirl300]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 4:36pm

People should have respect for the actors on stage as well as the people watching the show.

The only food of drink I ever bring to a show is water, but even then I put it away while the show is going on. I don't understand why people eat during a show. You go before or after the show people.

[Maggie]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 4:43pm

The only time someone was rude to me in the theater was when this old coot wouldn't let me in the aisle to my seat. He looked up at me and rudely said, "Go around to the other side". So, being caught completely by surprise because I never expected anybody to be so nasty....I did. If he wasn't old then I would've called an usher but I just didn't have the heart.

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 4:45pm

Amen. At Hairspray, the people in front of me had popcorn, random candies and sodas. There is a difference a movie and a show. Part of the fun is a nice dinner before or after...lol.

[SorryGrateful]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 4:46pm

These stories are unbelievable! I'm so lucky I've never had anything like this happen when I go to the theatre.

[whatyouown223]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 4:55pm

At Hairspray, we were in the very back of the theatre and there were 2 empty front row seats. The ushers said we couldn't move up, which I thought was ridiculous. There were many empty seats. We moved up anyway though, shhhh. I had to, I had left my coat at the front of the theatre and by the time I went to get it, the show was starting.

[MatthewAddison]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 5:07pm

The worst experience I've ever had was trying to control myself from not pouncing the guy next to me. I can't even stand to recall it now. But I will for you folks.

I don't even know what show it was...I was too busy watching my peripheral surroundings.

I don't think I've ever squirmed more in my life. AND DURING INTERMISSION HE AND HIS "FRIEND" (and it had to be a friend, I know this guy was single) WERE ASKED TO MOVE UP BECAUSE THEY WERE SITTING IN THE WRONG ROW.

I had to go home and wash my khakis.

Terrible night. Just terrible. Updated On: 9/12/05 at 05:07 PM

[xM3L24x]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 6:21pm

two little stories. During Wicked, Popular started and these annoying fangirls started singing along, LOUDLY and i gave them the dirtyest look and was like SHHH.. i mean really, who sings along during the show and if your going to, do it to yourself.

Then, during Movin' Out recently I went with my parents and we were waiting online with our tickets to get into the theatre and this women and her daughter walked right infront of us and everyone was like are you serious and she just like ignored everyone. I don't understand the need to cut the line, it's not like the shows gonna start any faster for her or shes gonna get better seats cause she cut the line i wanted to like slap her, i could tell her daughter was like mortified.. i would be too. Oo also, just small story after RENT I was waiting for the cast to come out and I asked one of the actors (matt caplan maybe?) to take a picture with me and this girl jumps infront of me and sticks her playbill in his face i was like wow.. people need to have some class if your going to the theatre. I HATE rude people like that.

[Bal]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 6:26pm

A weird thing with allocated seats happened to me in August, the (heh) second time I saw CCBB. There were three empty seats in the front row, and I was about eight rows back, all by myself.

Whenever there's an empty seat, I always ask the people surrounding it AND an usher if it's okay for me to move, as it puts me at ease and lets me enjoy the rest of the show. Anyways, I ask the people sitting near the seat, and they're fine...and I ask the usher, who says no, she "cannot allow me to move up so far".

Is there any particular reason behind that policy, does anyone know...? I just like sitting close. *sigh*

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 6:27pm

I've been told that my candor about certain shows was often too loud....