Humorous Occurrence at Last Night's Sweeney

[Yankeefan007]

In the rear mezz, a young couple was sitting above the staircase railing. They accidentally dropped a Playbill, I believe, causing one of the older female ushers to scream at them. All of us in that section (on the right), including the couple in question, proceeded to laugh hysterically.

Did anyone else catch this?

[Fosse76]

Perhaps it's because I haven't yet eaten today, but what exactly is so humurouse about it? I found the ushers at Sweeney to be some of the rudest I've ever encountered.

[thevolleyballer]

I think it'd be a pretty funny occurrence if I myself was there, Fosse. Just the fact that those rude ushers you both speak of are, in fact, incredibly rude. I sat on the aisle and remember, about a minute before curtain, a little girl asking the usher where the bathrooms were, and the usher leans down and says, "Downstairs and to the right [I think], but it's rude to go and come back now so wait until intermission." I remember wanting to hit the lady, as did the father of the girl (who sat opposite us across the aisle).

[Heybeenfood]

When I was at Sweeney yeterday the usher was very nice, but they were uptight about getting everyone quickly.

[JasonM12480]

In the words of the great Nathan Lane...

"There's nothing funnier than theater anecdotes for people who weren't there." LOL

[best we know x]

The ushers at Sweeney last night were pretty rude...there was this girl who had a seat that was all the way like...on the wall on the right side, and she was short & couldn't see, so a few minutes before the show started, she asked me & the girl who was 2 seats down from me if there was anyone sitting in the seat in-between us...when we said we didn't know and a couple minutes later, the person hadn't yet shown up, she moved to the seat so she could see better. The ushers promptly came down and berated her and threatened to throw her out of the theater if she didn't move. The girl who had the seat eventually came at intermission, but...it was pretty rude. I was way down in the front of the orchestra, though, so I didn't see what the original poster was talking about.

[frogs_fan85]

I was two or three rows behind that girl and I remember the usher saying "this is not negotiable". He handled the situation quite gruffly.

[thevolleyballer]

Ooh, was it the usher who looks like Michael Cerveris?

[frogs_fan85]

His head was shaved and he was wearing a white shirt and a tie, so I'm guessing we're thinking of the same guy.

[CapnHook]

Ushers can suck. I had an usher at AWAKE & SING sit in the back row behind me, fall asleep, and SNORE. We woke him up, and this repeated four times.

[PARISinNYC]

Why are ushers so bitchy? I rarely ever meet nice ushers for shows on Broadway. Off-Broadway ushers are always the sweetest.

[HumorousConclusion]

I saw it. That usher had yelled at us earlier so I think everyone was slightly happy to see her so annoyed.

[CapnHook]

True dat. Saw Stuff Happens and the ushers there were like...normal people! SO nice.

[yodamarie78]

"The girl who had the seat eventually came at intermission"

Which is exactly why they don't allow people to switch seats until intermission.

[smartpenguin78]

It is the usher's job to make sure the people in the theater sit in the proper seats and that the seats are available for the people who purchased them.
It may have seemed "rude" but it was the right thing for the usher to do.
The girl in question argued the point, it was only afterwards that the ushers became upset.
Since every seat in the house was sold, people needed to sit in their proper places, it was as the usher said "not negotiable."

[WickedGeek28]

I sat in the last row of the balcony for Doubt and I remember the usher sat on the floor and played with her flashlight or cell phone. I ntoicved this right before this person jumped over the seats and threw up . . .

[Heybeenfood]

I did find the guy that looked like Michael Cerveris rude/uptight. At the end of the show I went to the front of the stage to see all the objects and he said gruffly Please exit the theater

[.LittleWing. 0224]

i think sometimes ushers are bitchy bc they deal with a lot of fairly dumb ppl and all of this concentrated into maybe a total of 1 1/2 hours a night. but still.... the things theater goers will ask, or do, or not see, or run into, or get upset about.... never ceases to amaze me. you've got to have pretty tough skin and a GREAT sense of humor to keep a good spirit as an usher

[devonian.t]

I paid a lot of money for not brilliant seats at Wicked. The usher, sensing our disappointment said' "oh these are some of the best seats there are". I thought it was a very sweet comment, even if it was patently untrue.

Broadway ushers make me laugh- they are very different to West End staff! I like the eccentricity.

[AnnaB]

I remember probably the rudest usher I've ever encountered was at 'Wicked'. This older woman proceeded to talk loudly to late comers after both the beginning and intermission, and kept opening the door throughout the show, absolutely flooding the mezzanine with light. Cranky so-and-so too.

[Katecab99]

the michael cerveris look-a-like usher cracks me up because everytime i've heard him say something to someone, it's been very quick but very sharp and sarcastic. the other night some man was walking down his aisle and he said, "actually sir, your ticket is for the next aisle over" and the man said "but everyone i'm with is going down this aisle" and the usher, under his breath, goes "okay, apparantly you work here, so do whatever you want, whatever makes you feel good!!"

and of course, the man just kept walking. i laughed, but the usher didn't seem to find it as funny as i did.

[blueroses]

Usherveris!

I remember him. When I saw him at Sweeney in July, I did a double take. I initially thought Michael was walking around the theatre before the show.

I didn't think it was rude for the usher to tell the young girl to move back to her seat, and that it "wasn't negotiable"--especially in light of the fact that she argued with him. Is he supposed to care that she's short or care about doing his job? She didn't pay for the seat, and it could have caused a potential distraction for neighboring audience members if the actual ticket holder showed up and there was an argument.

[OnMyWay]

Kate, that made me laugh.

[mejusthavingfun]

There are a lot of poorly run theatres around town. Most theatres have sloppy ushers that could care less about the show or the entire experience. Over at the New Am its a different world. Its a damn shame Disney's ushering and overall attention to detail hasn't copied.

As far as that being funny... um right... real funny. As I read that, I was hoping someone fell over the balcony or something much more interesting. Does everything we theatre geeks do have to be so lame?

[Fosse76]

I find a lot of it has to do with age. Most of the rude ushers I have dealt with are pretty old. Keep in mind, theatre etiquette has deteriorated so rapidly that the older ushers can barely cope with today's audiences. I once had to deal with this woman who was pissed off when I pointed her seat out at the back of the mezzanine (row T or something like it). She looked disgusted that her seat was so bad. I refrained from yelling at her. Where did she think her seat was going to be when she purchased a reaer mezzanine, row T, seat? Imagine thousands of people a week with their snapping cameras, feet on the seats in front of them, on the railings, and see how long your patience lasts (esp. if you've been doing it for 40 years!). Not that it excuses it, but it's a combination.