Theatre etiquette - vent!!
 

I know I can't be the only one out there who is annoyed by people in the theatre doing inappropriate things such as talking/whispering (yes, we can still hear whispering!), crinkling candy wrappers (they shouldn't even sell stuff with plastic wrappers in the lobby), etc. I find it so distracting during a performance when I am trying to pay attention, listen and really just want to be absorbed with the show.

Anyone notice a difference in 'audience quality' depending on which show they are seeing? I wonder if it has to do with how many seats are available at the tkts booth? For example, we recently saw 4 shows in NYC -

Phantom of the OPera- audience was decent, but there are plenty of loud parts for people to make noise unobtrusively.

Avenue Q - again - the audience was pretty good except for a woman in front of me who purchased raisinettes during intermission. She proceeded to tear a teeny corner off the platic which allowed one or two candies out at a time, so getting a whole handful was super noisy and took forever. After getting what she wanted, she proceeded to roll the top of the plastic down and put it back in the box. She repeated this every time she wanted more! I couldn't believe it.

Glengary Glen Ross - Audience was perfect. Nobody made a peep, except to laugh when appropriate. It was heaven.

Fiddler on the Roof - Bad show anyway, but the audience was the worst I've seen in a long time. People wearing basketball jersies, shorts, and various other inappropriate clothing. The TALKING was constant - not like a comment to your show partner here and ther, but full on conversations! They were shushed a few times but never stopped.

Thanks for listening!

Sara


ps - I know this is not a NYC thing - I live in Portland, OR and it happens here as well. My favorite example is seeing the Nutcracker and, during a part when there is snow falling, hearing some guy ask 'is that dandruff'? Aurgh.

Kinda like people who post things like this on a travel site. Now that is poor etiquette.


Just curious about these types of posts which have been here all day. Why is everyone bitching today about nonsense like this and nudist camps?

ahhnold, I think sks posted a valid question that relates to this board and your comment was unnecessary.

sks, I agree with you that audiences don't seem to appreciate that others would like to hear the performance as well. Frankly, however, I never understood these same theatres selling food items that would cause such noise - it drives me crazy as well.

I saw Shockheaded Peter recently, and the theater had this old, flowery scent to it...like something you'd smell in a funeral home to cover up the stench of death. I honestly though it was part of the performance (if you saw the show you'd know what I mean). But, no, it was a woman sitting two rows up! Why do people have to wear so much perfume, especially unpleasant perfume?

The worst though was at an Alvin Ailey Dance performance. The man sitting 2 seats away from me had Tourette's. Yeah, yeah, it's awful of me to bitch, but the barking and cursing was beyond distracting.

It's not just the theater...go to any lecture. Listen to a guest speaker, speakers at luncheons or benefits. It's pretty incredible! And oh...imagine a cell phone during a funeral. Sad state of affairs.

Save the candy wrapper complaints for FFR&R, which is where this thread should be.

When I took my father and his woman to a ballet (the lights go off - for those how don't know) she fell asleep. I wouldn't pay much attention and of course wouldn't wake her up if people won't turn their heads to determine where the snoring is coming from.

Since then, my first question to her is: would you like a cup of coffee before the show?

LOL, I'd love to meet that guys how compared snow on the stage to dandruff, my kind of guy :)

But I always keep all comments to myself till intermission.

Agree that the standard of public behavior has fallen drastically in the last 10 years or so - and I'm not old enough yet to be a curmudgeon.

I think the problem is that people are so used to talking on cell phones everywhere that they no longer differentiate between their home/office (their own place) and public places - like theaters, movies and restaurants.

My theory is that they should confiscate the phone of anyone who uses it in any of these places - and tgive it back to them when they leave. (Unless you are the President of the US you are not important enought to distrub the rest of the world with your private nonsense.)

(Billy Crystal did a bit recently on Lettermen on this - his theory is that the people who do it are too stupid to figure out how the pnone works - so they can't turn off the ring - and why he suggested the worst offender at his performance place the phone somwhere that shall remain nameless. I don;t blame him a bit - I would have thrown the idiot out.)

NYtraveler, I was on a bus sitting close to an elderly woman who couldn't figure out how to take her cell phone off the speaker. The whole bus was listening to all private details of her conversation with a man who got the flu, ran high fever, couldn't hold food. EEEWWWWWW.

ahhnold, have you ever heard the phrase "the pot calling the kettle black"? Pretty brave of YOU to make a comment about someone posting not-travel-related information. At least this one is on the fringes - people do travel for the theatre.

ahhnold,
I apologize as I didn't mean to offend you or anybody else with my post. I wonder why you even took the time to read it (as it was clearly a vent per the title) and respond. Since it happened on a trip, I figured it was infact travel related. I also don't know what you mean by a FF&RR or whatever.
Sara

People travel to get a colonoscopy. Is that fair game? I bet if I posted about baseball, someone would comment how it is not travel related. We travel for everything.

Sure, people travel for everything. My point was that you, of all people, have no place telling others that what they post isn't travel related. You are the biggest duck in that puddle. Your double standard is really obvious - it's okay for you, but not for anyone else.

sks
FFR&R = Freaky Friday Rants and Raves.

Happens on Friday

ahhnold,
I posted a NYC trip report as well - maybe you should just think of my theatre vent as a 'ps' to the trip report. Hopefully that will ease your stress about the whole thing.

Suzie,
Thank you! Learn something new every day around here. :)
Sara

We've been exposed to quite a bit of audience rudeness at symphony concerts. My theory is that people are so used to listening to recorded music that they forget there are live musicians up there who can hear them and be distracted. Once there was a guy sitting next to me at the concert hall eating some kind of very smelly garlic snacks out of his hat, if you can believe it. The fact that we were in the second row from the front, and consequently very close to the orchestra, didn't help. When I spoke to the usher about this during the intermission, the offender and his wife started screaming at me. Fortunately this resulted in their being escorted from the hall. Usually I don't resort to such measures, although I have been known to turn around between musical numbers and inquire politely if those people up on stage are making so much noise that they're interfering with people's conversations. That tends to work.

ahhnold, go read the newspaper so you can come back and talk politics like you usually do. Where was your last trip btw???

sks, we definitely sympathize. Way too many people are oblivious to everyone around them these days. The old folks with the crinkly candy wrappers are the worst.

One theatre where we've been season ticket holders actually makes a rather pointed announcement about candy wrappers and phones at the beginning of every performance. Seems to help somewhat.

While far more things about our society today is superior to the 1950's and early 1960's, to me one that is inferior is how people dress for a show.

People used to dress for the theater. There was something right about that.

Ryan, Times have changed. Have you ever looked at pictures of people at a ballpark during the 30-40-50's? They're all wearing suits and top hats. When's the last time you saw someone wearing a coat & tie at a ball game? ((b))