NYTimes: Audience Member Throws Tantrum at REASONS TO BE PRETTY

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 11:05pm

Don't think this has been posted:

The show's producers had beefed up the security detail at the Lyceum Theater following an incident at the Saturday evening performance. During the first act, the character played by Marin Ireland (Blasted) lights into her ex-boyfriend, played by Thomas Sadoski (Becky Shaw), with a litany of all the things she believes are wrong with him. A male audience member must have felt something a bit too personal in the verbal assault because he stood, called her a bitch twice, said a few other things that cannot be printed, and stormed out of the theater.

It Wasn't Part of the Show

Updated On: 4/5/09 at 11:05 PM

[Smaxie]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 11:10pm

Sounds like a publicity stunt, like the one David Merrick staged for Look Back in Anger. He hired a woman to jump up on stage and slap one of the actors.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 11:16pm

That's really interesting. Sounds like something Merrick would do, thanks for sharing the trivia, Smaxie! Was the actor aware this would happen?
It does seem kinda fishy. Also, it seems weird that they are "beefing up" the security, what can security do to avoid this sort of thing?

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 11:17pm

That is bizarre...

[TimeSquare3]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 11:26pm

Todays theatre could really benefit from a David Merrick.

[ratherbewhaling]

Posted: 4/6/09 at 12:03am

he really was the best

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 4/6/09 at 12:35am

What was the story behind that poster again?

[sweeneynut]

Posted: 4/6/09 at 12:39am

I believe he found regular people with the same names as the famous critics of the day and posted their reviews accordingly...and of course, they all loved it...

[heo1128]

Posted: 4/6/09 at 1:02am

Hahah! I would have loved to be there...I wonder how the actors reacted.

[TimeSquare3]

Posted: 4/6/09 at 1:05am

Then there is the one where he took a word from each review to create a positive quote.

[harper4]

Posted: 4/6/09 at 1:31am

My partner's co-worker was there. She said that during intermission everyone was asking if it was part of the show or not. She actually called after it was over to ask b/c her date thought it was.

The actors stopped (Sadoski, she said just stood up and glared at the guy), waited until it the guy left and continued seamlessly.

They went to the stage door after for signatures and said the cops had showed up and escorted Ireland out afterwards. So publicity stunt? No. Not unless the cops are in on it. Weird.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 4/6/09 at 2:59am

I can't imagine it was a publicity stunt....or they would have timed it differently...but the cops being there seems to keep it more legit. (Unless they were hired actors! But still...)

Assuming it is legit...I'd have been scared to be her as well leaving the theater.

[Rudy2]

Posted: 4/6/09 at 3:57am

My question is this:

Is the play really offensive enough to elicit this kind of reaction reasonably? I have been trying to find a plot summary and cannot. Does the play criticize womens' flaws as well, or is it one sided, only about putting men down?

[dramamama611]

Posted: 4/6/09 at 4:07am

From B'way box:

Playwright Neil LaBute confronts America?s obsession with physical beauty head on. Greg?s tight-knit social circle is thrown into turmoil when his offhand remarks about a female coworker's pretty face (and his girlfriend?s lack thereof) get back to said girlfriend.


I haven't seen this yet, but hope to soon. However, for ANYONE to stand up in the middle of a performance and directly talk to the actors has GOT be a sign of instability - regardless of any offensiveness on the part of the play. How often have you done it?

[Rudy2]

Posted: 4/6/09 at 4:19am

^ Just to clarify, I agree. I think some performances and whole productions deserve derision, but of all the things I have seen not one thing elicited me to be inconsiderate enough to disturb actors and crew. Furthermore, I'm assuming at this point the play had only just begun - give it a chance to redeem itself! Perhaps it is not so lopsided.

My curiosity mostly stems from politically correct bull**** in our society. Quite frankly, men these days, no matter of what sexual persuasion, have to be very careful about being *pretty* as well; women may be less superficially driven than men, but not by a long shot; they are quite close behind and gaining speed.

I am interested in the play but do not wish to see a trite, politically correct 2-hour PSA.

Updated On: 4/6/09 at 04:19 AM

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 4/6/09 at 8:32am

One time, when I was in Les Miserables, when Valjean pulls out a knife, a kid in our very "ghet-to" school show audience yelled "Oh sh**! He got a piece!"

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 4/6/09 at 8:38am

The play stems from one character hearing that her longtime boyfriend referred to her as "regular"(not pretty). It opens with her berating him for doing so, and in a later scene, she reads off a list of his flaws at the foodcourt of a mall.

[Rudy2]

Posted: 4/6/09 at 8:41am

^ It's starting to sound like the politically correct pap I thought it might be. Thank you for giving me more details. I think I will save my money for something that won't anger up the blood. :) There are so many great things to see.

[Morgaine885]

Posted: 4/6/09 at 9:33am

Maybe it was an old mentally unstable and rejected suitor of Marin's? That was my first thought.

[harper4]

Posted: 4/6/09 at 10:45am

Politically correct?! Neil LaBute? The guy who wrote "In The Company of Men"? Really?! If Neil LaBute is the standard bearer for the PC movement things have changed, lol. No this is NOT AT ALL some 2 hour long PC PSA. Its actually incredibly balanced in its treatment of men and women. I think you'd be doing yourself a great disservice by skipping this based on misinformation provided on a chat site. Read a few of the reviews. The NY Times and AP in particular are very good at describing the plot without dropping spoilers.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 4/6/09 at 11:02am

SPECIFICS ABOUT THE SCENE ARE AHEAD:

In the scene that this occurred in (the scene in the mall foodcourt) Ireland rips Sadoski about everything from his feet to his face to his nose to his penis.

I just don't understand how someone would be so totally annoyed by it that they would stand up and call her names. I agree, the person obviously was not ... stable enough to sit through a Broadway show. It's not like she goes on and on ripping into men in general and why she hates them. It's a very personal attack of a fictional character (SPOILER) which, by the way, she admits once she's read it are all lies she made up to make him feel bad (END SPOILER).

Like I said, the first word that came to mind was 'bizarre'.
Updated On: 4/6/09 at 11:02 AM

[Tom's Cat]

Posted: 4/6/09 at 11:03am

I still wouldn't rule out a publicity stunt - even if the police were called. In this day in age it wouldn't be hard to find a LOT of people willing to put up with a misdemeanor charge (assuming there even would be a charge) for a few extra bucks in the pocket. Particularly when the producers will be paying any fines connected with the stunt.

Updated On: 4/6/09 at 11:03 AM

[harper4]

Posted: 4/6/09 at 11:08am

Its a scene that (the night I went) inspired huge laughs, some "oh my god's" and a lot of applause but I agree Wicked, you'd have to be pretty unstable to jump up and start screaming at people (unless it had just happened to you in your real life, that is, lol). Sounds to me like somebody wanted to get their name in the paper. Maybe it was a publicity stunt, but not in the sense that the producers for 'Reasons" set it up or anything. Like I said, the NYPD doesn't go for that kind of thing. And falsely reporting a crime? Felony.
Updated On: 4/6/09 at 11:08 AM

[Tom's Cat]

Posted: 4/6/09 at 11:13am

But who said anybody reported a crime? Anybody (a theatre employee, audience member, etc) could have simply called over a cop on the street to say there was a disturbance in the audience. Nothing false about that.

Updated On: 4/6/09 at 11:13 AM

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 4/6/09 at 11:15am

Thanks for that, Harper. I was laughing too hard at the concept of LaBute being PC to form a response.

While this does sound like the kind of thing Merrick would have done, I really doubt it's a stunt, especially with the collusion of the NYPD. Doubt very seriously that the officers were actors, either - it's a crime to impersonate a police officer, isn't it?

"it seems weird that they are "beefing up" the security, what can security do to avoid this sort of thing?"

Well, for starters, security can see to it that he won't go onto the stage and slap her, and can assure she won't be attacked on her way out of the theater, as Christian Slater was last year.

It's unfortunate, but these sorts of incidents have become more frequent of late, and I don't think it can be blamed on the subject matter. Not too long ago a performance of South Pacific was interrupted by an angry theater-goer. There's a lot of crazies out there.