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Post by jojo on Sept 13, 2022 10:32:16 GMT
At Saturday Night Fever tonight we were asked to stand up for the national anthem just before the show started. One young man a couple of rows ahead of me remained seated and texted on his phone. It's difficult to judge this one. I've been in that situation in the US where they play their National Anthem before so many events. I always stand out of respect, but I can't bring myself to put my hand on my heart like so many people do (or sing along). Texting is unforgiving though. I think it's one of those situations where even if you don't want to stand/stop texting to respect the anthem or queen or whatever, you don't need to disrespect those around you, or intrude on what might be a sincere moment of reflection for them. Many places now make a point of saying 'those who can, please stand ...' which is nice for those who can't, and a good reminder to the rest of us that not everyone can. I think it's interesting that some in republics like America think we're mad for our attitudes towards the Queen, but that's a nation that plays the national anthem before most sporting events, and for a long time expected their school children to stand to recite the pledge of allegiance every morning, and what I would consider to be undue deference to the flag. It's nice to be mindful of what is important to other people, even if it's not important to us.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Sept 13, 2022 10:38:05 GMT
No. This is not North Korea. I will absolutely not be forced to “respect” something I believe is actively evil.
Obviously I wouldn’t do something that actively intrudes into someone else’s right to mark their own political beliefs eg playing music or talking. I personally would read a book.
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Post by Dave B on Sept 13, 2022 11:06:37 GMT
There’s also someone who found talk of an IRA bombing that killed several people very funny. Hmm.
I am slightly concerned that this might have been me (front row, centre ish) and a bit of a misunderstanding perhaps? As I said in the show thread, I found Cant's sudden appearance (complete with accent and mannerisms) as Gerry Adams to be hilarious, especially coming straight from the range of Tory grandees and of course Regan - but that is very different than finding talk of an IRA bomb very funny.
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Post by longinthetooth on Sept 14, 2022 21:30:08 GMT
From Matt Hemley of The Stage, on Twitter:
"As much drama off stage as on it at Back to the Future tonight after an inebriated audience member disturbed act one: picking a fight with the person in front, climbing over rows & virtually sitting on other people’s laps, before the producer got security to throw him out."
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Post by tal on Sept 14, 2022 21:57:47 GMT
From Matt Hemley of The Stage, on Twitter: "As much drama off stage as on it at Back to the Future tonight after an inebriated audience member disturbed act one: picking a fight with the person in front, climbing over rows & virtually sitting on other people’s laps, before the producer got security to throw him out." I've always wondered if many of these people are actually repeat offenders. I mean, I don't think theatres actually go through the trouble of keeping a ban list or anything like that, do they?
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Post by cheesy116 on Sept 15, 2022 0:42:24 GMT
From Matt Hemley of The Stage, on Twitter: "As much drama off stage as on it at Back to the Future tonight after an inebriated audience member disturbed act one: picking a fight with the person in front, climbing over rows & virtually sitting on other people’s laps, before the producer got security to throw him out." I've always wondered if many of these people are actually repeat offenders. I mean, I don't think theatres actually go through the trouble of keeping a ban list or anything like that, do they? The theatre I work at definitely has a ban list, and I work for a very well-known nationwide theatre company. They log on to the system and 'blacklist' them so they can't make any further bookings, but I suppose there's no way to stop them setting up a new account under a new name.
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Post by tal on Sept 15, 2022 8:55:10 GMT
I've always wondered if many of these people are actually repeat offenders. I mean, I don't think theatres actually go through the trouble of keeping a ban list or anything like that, do they? The theatre I work at definitely has a ban list, and I work for a very well-known nationwide theatre company. They log on to the system and 'blacklist' them so they can't make any further bookings, but I suppose there's no way to stop them setting up a new account under a new name. Well, that's good to hear.
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Post by isabel on Sept 21, 2022 23:32:45 GMT
Seen something crazy on Twitter. Stephanie McKeon received a horrid handwritten letter from member of the public.
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Post by frappuccino on Sept 22, 2022 2:48:54 GMT
At this evening’s performance of Pretty Woman, someone cheered loudly when the stage manager read out their prepared card that The Queen had died, loud boos and gasps from everyone in the audience. Did they interrupt the play for it or did they announce it during the intermission?
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Sept 22, 2022 6:35:40 GMT
Seen something crazy on Twitter. Stephanie McKeon received a horrid handwritten letter from member of the public. That looks like an “inside job” to me. Or someone close to the production.
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Post by inthenose on Sept 22, 2022 7:04:53 GMT
Seen something crazy on Twitter. Stephanie McKeon received a horrid handwritten letter from member of the public. That looks like an “inside job” to me. Or someone close to the production. I was thinking the same.
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Post by fiyerorocher on Sept 22, 2022 13:12:39 GMT
At this evening’s performance of Pretty Woman, someone cheered loudly when the stage manager read out their prepared card that The Queen had died, loud boos and gasps from everyone in the audience. Did they interrupt the play for it or did they announce it during the intermission? It was officially announced at 6:30 so shows hadn't started yet. I'd imagine the stage manager announced it to the theatre before the show.
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Post by louonthegogo on Sept 22, 2022 21:55:14 GMT
At this evening’s performance of Pretty Woman, someone cheered loudly when the stage manager read out their prepared card that The Queen had died, loud boos and gasps from everyone in the audience. Did they interrupt the play for it or did they announce it during the intermission? Yes as Fiyero rightly said, it was announced she had died an hour before curtains came up. I was sitting opposite St Mary Le Strand Church eating a sandwich when the push notification came through that she had died and I remember hearing all the gaps from people around me when they looked at their phones, I also saw them lower the flag to half mast at the church within about 5 minutes of the announcement - quite a historical moment to be in London for! As a further bad behaviour, the next day after Pretty Woman, I was at & Juliet and in front of me in the dress circle were a group of 4 girls who obviously were big fans (I did not like the show at all), kept whooping and hollering at the end of every song obviously trying to get the cast to notice them. At the end of one song, it's fine, after every single one - I felt like I needed a paracetamol.
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Post by richey on Sept 25, 2022 9:58:56 GMT
I had to suffer the whooping at Dreamgirls last week. I'd mentally prepared myself for it as I knew it happens, but it's still annoying nevertheless, when they're whooping and clapping at every big note in 'And I Telling You'....listen to the song and appreciate it once it's finished!!
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Post by margoc on Sept 25, 2022 10:45:41 GMT
Seen something crazy on Twitter. Stephanie McKeon received a horrid handwritten letter from member of the public. That looks like an “inside job” to me. Or someone close to the production. Definitely screams inside job
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Post by inthenose on Sept 25, 2022 10:55:12 GMT
I had to suffer the whooping at Dreamgirls last week. I'd mentally prepared myself for it as I knew it happens, but it's still annoying nevertheless, when they're whooping and clapping at every big note in 'And I Telling You'....listen to the song and appreciate it once it's finished!! I think it’s important to recognise young people are a microcosm. Whilst it is a very sad snapshot of the general standard of the behaviour of teenagers in 2022 - such is their worth - it isn’t all on them. These young people don’t know any better. They haven’t been told “no”, or right from wrong. Everything is available, they are “entitled” to everything whether they earn it or not. I’d rather groups of teens were being loud at musicals than swinging knives around.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Sept 25, 2022 11:09:56 GMT
Theyve been trained by shows like The Voice and X Factor that mid song whooping and applause is expected, and not only that but it’s desired by the performer. It made me cringe when I was there the other week.
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Post by inthenose on Sept 25, 2022 11:29:27 GMT
Theyve been trained by shows like The Voice and X Factor that mid song whooping and applause is expected, and not only that but it’s desired by the performer. It made me cringe when I was there the other week. “Yaaaas queen”. The problem is by the time they’ve grown up and the fad has passed, they’ll have hurt collectively thousands of people’s experiences. Whilst it’s true they’ll look back in embarrassment, that’s no good to the patrons who have to sit next to them presently. It puts me off the very idea of Six, Heathers, & Juliet - “it’s not for you, you don’t “get” it”
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Post by lynette on Sept 26, 2022 12:13:39 GMT
Ive seen six twice and there wasn't any interrupting or sing a long or whooping. Admittedly it was v early in its manifestation. 😁
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Post by longinthetooth on Sept 26, 2022 13:47:14 GMT
I was at the matinee of & Juliet on Friday, and the whooping was well and truly in force. Six or seven teenage girls sitting next to me. If you know the show, you'll recall that cast members wander on at the start, dance a bit, then look out into the audience and mouth hello. The girls next to me were frantic, waving, whooping and generally trying to be noticed (they failed). Loud whooping and laughing continued throughout the show. They weren't the only ones, though, the place was full of extremely vocal teenagers. I know & Juliet is (very loosely) based on Romeo & Juliet, but surely all the teenagers there weren't attending as part of their school curriculum?! I had seen the show before, and loved it, but I won't be going back.
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Post by ptwest on Sept 26, 2022 17:45:47 GMT
To counter that a little I thought we were in for trouble at &Juliet on Saturday night when two of the cast were leaving when I saw in the row behind a huge gaggle of young women with phones, cameras, some in costume. And yes, there was a lot of whooping but actually in appropriate places, and all were respectful throughout the rest of the show. I actually felt a bit bad for pre judging them!
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Post by steve10086 on Sept 27, 2022 23:42:58 GMT
Came away from a packed performance of Bat Out Of Hell in Cardiff tonight totally unscathed. Was a bit worried beforehand having heard about behaviour on some other stops on the tour.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Sept 29, 2022 18:36:04 GMT
RSC. Richard III. 200 school children walking in halfway through the first half. 200 children eating their packed lunches and chatting non-stop. Barely made it to the end without a murder charge.
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Post by christya on Sept 30, 2022 11:20:05 GMT
I don't think I'd have stayed if that happened in a show I was at. Impossible to enjoy it with that sort of thing going on.
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Post by Dr Tom on Sept 30, 2022 11:59:20 GMT
Can I nominate Peter Andre for pointing at me in the audience yesterday and telling me to start the audience singing (and finding out I have a terrible memory for lyrics)?
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Post by theglenbucklaird on Sept 30, 2022 12:15:52 GMT
RSC. Richard III. 200 school children walking in halfway through the first half. 200 children eating their packed lunches and chatting non-stop. Barely made it to the end without a murder charge. Had to check my niece wasn’t at that performance but she was there one week earlier. She has been theatre trained though. And she adored the performance and her trip to Stratford upon Avon
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Post by harrietcraig on Sept 30, 2022 15:53:38 GMT
From the New York Times re-review of the Broadway production of Funny Girl, now that Lea Michele has gone into the show as Fanny Brice: “Despite the amped-up vocals, the amped-up audience is often even louder than Michele. (On Tuesday, one of her several mid-show standing ovations was actually mid-song.) … You can see Michele having to calculate on the fly how and when to resume, or whether to blast right through, unheeded.” (Full review at www.nytimes.com/2022/09/29/theater/funny-girl-review-lea-michele.html , but it’s probably behind a paywall.)
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Post by inthenose on Sept 30, 2022 17:42:35 GMT
From the New York Times re-review of the Broadway production of Funny Girl, now that Lea Michele has gone into the show as Fanny Brice: “Despite the amped-up vocals, the amped-up audience is often even louder than Michele. (On Tuesday, one of her several mid-show standing ovations was actually mid-song.) … You can see Michele having to calculate on the fly how and when to resume, or whether to blast right through, unheeded.” (Full review at www.nytimes.com/2022/09/29/theater/funny-girl-review-lea-michele.html , but it’s probably behind a paywall.) Thank you for sharing. I actually think this linked review is unprofessional, having read it fully. It is more like a blog piece. How exactly do the NY press still have such fate over new productions? That was so poorly written.
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Post by richey on Oct 16, 2022 8:52:37 GMT
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Post by theatreian on Oct 16, 2022 9:12:13 GMT
Michael is quite right. There is usually an interval for anyone desperate enough to look at their phone. It drives me mad when all people do is look at their phone in the theatre. It is rude and shows no respect for the audience and performers.
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