42nd Street at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane

Steph is making her Maggie debut today.

She should have told the people behind her to F off! How dare they say that to her!!

Today is the day! Finally seeing this!

Great photo

Am going on 10 November, hope to see her as Maggie. She was fantastic as Dorothy a few weeks back.

Yesterdays matinee was my 6th visit and the first time since the end of January. Having sat front stalls and front balcony I thought I would view the show this time from the front of the Grand Circle. Seats A15 and 16 are discounted as restricted view but except for missing the top third of the mirror there seemed to be nothing much restricted about these seats.

It was good to see the show is still as fresh as ever but, oh dear, what has happened to the sound? From where I was sitting in the Grand Circle the sound from the performers microphones was very tinny. The equalisation was completely wrong. The singers were also being balanced at the same level as the orchestra so words were often drowned out. Sound balance should nearly always favour the singers over musicians and this is a common error among sound engineers.

I would be interested to know if this problem is now affecting current performances generally or if it just depends on who is driving the sound desk on that day. Has anybody else experienced poor sound recently?

The rudeness lies entirely in those who stand to applaud and thus make those behind stand too if they want to see the cast taking their bows.

What an appallingly inconsiderate lot you are.  Perhaps it derives from all that self-esteem they teach in schools these days.

I would love to know in the however-many posts you've made on this board, how many of them are basically this exact post which you seem to rehash over and over and over again!

Sometimes what's right needs to be said over and over again.

You don't cease to be selfish just because I've told you you're selfish more than once.

How can you justify blocking the view of those behind you?  

You can stand up if you want to see, no-one's stopping you. I've had to do that many times, it's a mere minute of inconvenience (if even) and then you'd have to get up to leave anyway, so I don't see the issue.

And if you have mobility issues then presumably you've had the good sense to book an aisle seat anyway, and in that case you can peer around and still see without a problem.

The show has finished at that point, so if I want to show appreciation to the hard-working cast for the entertainment I've paid my good money for then I will, and nothing's going to stop me. It's only for the bow anyway - for the dancing everyone sits down again in any event!

You do you and I'll do me, but frankly I think the rude and inconsiderate person on here is you - when the show is finished it is the performers who matter, and they deserve as much of an ovation as people want to give them.

What a lot of selfish people on here who need to stand to applaud!

"Standing ovations are a time-honoured tradition" (a) Doesn't mean they're not selfish, 'cos time-honoured traditions can be immoral, wicked, sexist, oppressive ... and selfish ("I'm taking your virginity, young lady", says the lord of the manor; "It's a time-honoured tradition"); (b) they've grown in recent years because of those wretched TV talent shows, which encourage audiences to rise to their feet.

"And if you have mobility issues then presumably you've had the good sense to book an aisle seat anyway"

How nimbly and thoughtlessly people seek to justify their selfishness.

"Then get a front row ticket, that way you can guarantee you are not disturbed at curtain call. Bye.
"

i.e. "Get out of my way, I wanna stand and I'm not going to be considerate of people behind; that's not who I am!!!"

"You can stand up if you want to see, no-one's stopping you."


Decency stops me, because I think it wrong to force the people behind me to stand to see the bows/finale.  I do have this consideration for others that you lot lack.

"if I want to show appreciation to the hard-working cast for the entertainment I've paid my good money for then I will, and nothing's going to stop me."


What about the hard-earned money paid by the people behind you, who are left to applaud your backside?  But then, considerateness won't stop people like you.





"Look at me applauding, look at me applauding" is what standing ovations say.

For 42nd Street, the standing ovation at that point of the show is quite usual (particularly for people who don't know there's still another song to go, after which is when I stand up).

I do think some shows are given standing ovations that don't deserve them, but everyone's tastes are different.

On Broadway, almost every show gets an automatic ovation. That doesn't happen in the UK, but a lot of shows now try and force one. Think of all the shows with a "dance along" number at the end, where the cast are motioning for people to stand up (or in some shows even going into the audience and pulling people to their feet). So, it's no wonder we have audiences trained to stand up at any and all shows.

I wish now I'd stood up too when the girl next to me was shouted at. I just didn't react quickly enough. But I did stand at the end.