Boorish theatre behavior.

[OldMama]

So, we have aspirations of being a world class city. Well, there's a lot of work to be done. Let's start with theatre etiquette. Over the last two or three years, I've been witness to increasingly boorish behavior in our professional theaters. Tonight, at the Walnut, I counted 5 cell phones going off within my earshot. There is a reminder before every performance to turn them off so even if you're a total airhead, that should tell you to get the phone out and silence it. Then I had the people behind me wondering aloud during the show why the Playbill doesn't list the actors' day jobs. Uhhhhh...this is professional theater, folks. They're actors. That's their day job. And finally, the second the performance ends, a good quarter of the audience heads for the exits. Curtain call be damned. Sit the hell down and applaud. Or don't applaud. But sit. I want to see the curtain call and it's rude to run out so you can be first in the parking lot. I was the last one left on the lower level and I was driving home within ten minutes. Most of these offenders are older people so I don't think ignorance is an excuse. I did not see this behavior in London a few years ago. I haven't been to Broadway in five years so I can't say what's happening there. But I've seen it all over Philadelphia and it makes us look like a bunch of rubes.

[phillyguy19102]

They might have been the same idiots who were at the Philadelphia Orchestra last night.

[OldMama]

No, they have to be a whole other group of idiots since my morons were at the Walnut last night. Sorry to hear this happens with the orchestra as well.

[BarryG]

The crowd at the Orchestra's West Side Story performance I went to was ridiculous. People in shorts, eating and talking during the show, applauding after every song. I didn't hear any cell phones though. I attributed all this to a different crowd since it was a "movie," hopefully it is not a trend... last season the worst offenders were some underdressed people and some excessive coughing. I think only one cell phone ring. Oh and some teenage girl reading a novel during the performance, her page turning was very audible to the row.

I read an interview recently with some Broadway actors and they said they get a ringing cell phone almost every day now.

[Debbie1125]

Do like the criminal justice center........take all of the tech gadgets upon arrival. When the show is finished, give them back.

[Geno]

The crowd at the Orchestra's West Side Story performance I went to was ridiculous. People in shorts, eating and talking during the show, applauding after every song. I didn't hear any cell phones though. I attributed all this to a different crowd since it was a "movie," hopefully it is not a trend... last season the worst offenders were some underdressed people and some excessive coughing. I think only one cell phone ring. Oh and some teenage girl reading a novel during the performance, her page turning was very audible to the row.

I read an interview recently with some Broadway actors and they said they get a ringing cell phone almost every day now.

I know some people who went to that who would have never attended an Orchestra concert. They loved it and were exposed to lots of good stuff in the mean time. I think its a good thing to reach out to a wider audience sometimes.

[OldMama]

I agree that it' s great to appeal to a wide spectrum of patrons. In fact, the Walnut used to do a Shaespeare or Oscar Wilde or other classical pieces every year but found that many subscribers would pass on those tickets. Now they have a more populist program and are the most subscribed theater in the country. I especially like to see teens in the audience. My church regularly takes kids to dress rehearsas that may be open to school groups. I've gone with our Youth group a number of times and I only wish the regular subscribers were that well behaved. Most of the offenders last night were older, more regular theater goers. You know the kind who'll run you down to make it in time for the early bird dinners. They rush out to make their dinner reservations or to avoid waiting even a few minutes in the parking lot. No respect for the performers taking their curtain calls or the other patrons wanting to watch the curtain calls. They may have money but they have no class.

[BarryG]

I know some people who went to that who would have never attended an Orchestra concert. They loved it and were exposed to lots of good stuff in the mean time. I think its a good thing to reach out to a wider audience sometimes.

Yes I agree. Not sure how to teach etiquette gracefully to these people, I guess they'll figure it out if they go to a real concert. Underdressing is a trend across the board unfortunately. I blame the baby boomers, maybe the next generation will have more respect.

[Hospitalitygirl]

I've gone to a variety of cultural events and venues over the past 10 years or so. I have to say that the Walnut St. has the worst patrons in terms of behavior. They run for the exits; they're loud and boorish. It's turned me off to ever going back there again.

And what is it with supposedly grown adults behaving worse than their teenaged children? At the opera on opening night, I saw people who clearly did not know how to behave during the singing of the National Anthem. No sooner did the curtains go up for intermissions when people pulled out their "smart" phones and start posting to Facebook. Is it so difficult to have a conversation with whom you've chosen to attend?

[purplesachi]

once, i think last year, i was at the wilma and someone's cell phone went off, even though there was a reminder to silence all cell phones. when this happened, one of the actors on stage YELLED at the person who's cell phone it was that went off, saying 'TURN OFF THAT F-ING THING!' (or something to that effect). i bet that person will never forget to silence his/ her phone next time.

but i've been going to the wilma now for 3 years and i think this was the only instance of a disrupting cell phone.

[Volanova]

Honestly, I think it's a wider cultural issue than just stage theaters in Philadelphia. It goes hand-in-hand with the horrendous level of narcissism so many Americans display on a daily basis. Everything from being an inconsiderate ass in a movie or play to feeling like you don't have to pay attention to what's going on around you while driving are influenced by this. Most other countries either don't have this issue to the extent, or there is no stigma attached to calling someone out when they're being an idiot and requesting that they pipe down. I actually saw someone ejected from a ballet theater in Berlin because their phone went off twice. That doesn't happen enough here.

[DavidT]

Honestly, I think it's a wider cultural issue than just stage theaters in Philadelphia. It goes hand-in-hand with the horrendous level of narcissism so many Americans display on a daily basis. Everything from being an inconsiderate ass in a movie or play to feeling like you don't have to pay attention to what's going on around you while driving are influenced by this. Most other countries either don't have this issue to the extent, or there is no stigma attached to calling someone out when they're being an idiot and requesting that they pipe down. I actually saw someone ejected from a ballet theater in Berlin because their phone went off twice. That doesn't happen enough here.

Thankfully, the Europeans are so much more sophisticated.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uub0z8wJfhU

[seand]

I'm all for keeping shows contemporary but the when they added that lyric "spray sill string in America, get whacked in the head in America" that might have gone too far.

[raider.adam]

They might have been the same idiots who were at the Philadelphia Orchestra last night.

I was at the Orchestra Saturday night. What happened? I was in Conductor's row and didn't notice anything from that vantage point.

So, we have aspirations of being a world class city. Well, there's a lot of work to be done. Let's start with theatre etiquette. Over the last two or three years, I've been witness to increasingly boorish behavior in our professional theaters. Tonight, at the Walnut, I counted 5 cell phones going off within my earshot. There is a reminder before every performance to turn them off so even if you're a total airhead, that should tell you to get the phone out and silence it. Then I had the people behind me wondering aloud during the show why the Playbill doesn't list the actors' day jobs. Uhhhhh...this is professional theater, folks. They're actors. That's their day job. And finally, the second the performance ends, a good quarter of the audience heads for the exits. Curtain call be damned. Sit the hell down and applaud. Or don't applaud. But sit. I want to see the curtain call and it's rude to run out so you can be first in the parking lot. I was the last one left on the lower level and I was driving home within ten minutes. Most of these offenders are older people so I don't think ignorance is an excuse. I did not see this behavior in London a few years ago. I haven't been to Broadway in five years so I can't say what's happening there. But I've seen it all over Philadelphia and it makes us look like a bunch of rubes.

This isn't a "world class city" problem nor is it a problem with live theater. In general too many people are just losing track of how to act in public and what is acceptable. And it isn't just Philly.

once, i think last year, i was at the wilma and someone's cell phone went off, even though there was a reminder to silence all cell phones. when this happened, one of the actors on stage YELLED at the person who's cell phone it was that went off, saying 'TURN OFF THAT F-ING THING!' (or something to that effect). i bet that person will never forget to silence his/ her phone next time.

but i've been going to the wilma now for 3 years and i think this was the only instance of a disrupting cell phone.

Too bad the actor didn't keep it professional.

[phillyguy19102]

[QUOTE=raider.adam;540485]I was at the Orchestra Saturday night. What happened? I was in Conductor's row and didn't notice anything from that vantage point.



I was in the 1st balcony. Two phones rang and a few people sending text messages. The woman next to me started to send a text message near the end of the concert but got up and left when i whispered an obscenity in her ear.

[Lolly]

It goes hand-in-hand with the horrendous level of narcissism so many Americans display on a daily basis.

This. It's not a strictly Philadelphia thing. And it's sad.

Thankfully, the Europeans are so much more sophisticated.. Nokia ringtone during concert of classical music - YouTube

Brilliant!!

[raider.adam]

Sometimes I think it would be just easier for movie theaters and concert halls to jam cell phones except during intermissions.

[OffenseTaken]

Sometimes I think it would be just easier for movie theaters and concert halls to jam cell phones except during intermissions.

The FCC won't allow signal-jamming right now.

Signal-blocking, as with stealth wallpaper or copper mesh in the walls, is legal, but then there would be an army of drama queens going ape**** with their what-if stories (what if my house is burning down, what if the babysitter dies of a brain aneurysm, etc.). This is exactly what happened in France a few years ago, when parliament briefly allowed theaters to jam signals.

[OffenseTaken]

The erosion of the public/private boundary is a huge problem. Some people just act as if they're still just farting around in their living rooms, no matter where they are. It's like they don't see their behavior as occurring in space where others can see it; they're just in this cocoon where only their sensations exist.

I really wish I could just ask people: when you're looking down at your cell phone and the screen is lighting up your face with this bluish glow, do you really not think the players in the orchestra can't see you? They can. And paying $26.50 for your ticket does not buy you the right to say "f*ck you" to people who have rehearsed for months to perfect every detail of the performance.

When you show up at the Vatican Museums in a promotional t-shirt for a 5K run from 2002, sweatpants, and flip-flops, it doesn't matter how hot the weather forecast for Rome is: don't you care about how much of a dick move that is? Why can't you show Michelangelo the same respect that the Vatican showed you when they let your fat ass in for a measly 15 euros?

Do they recognize this and just not care? Or are they just thoroughly oblivious?

[Hospitalitygirl]

The erosion of the public/private boundary is a huge problem. Some people just act as if they're still just farting around in their living rooms, no matter where they are. It's like they don't see their behavior as occurring in space where others can see it; they're just in this cocoon where only their sensations exist.

I really wish I could just ask people: when you're looking down at your cell phone and the screen is lighting up your face with this bluish glow, do you really not think the players in the orchestra can't see you? They can. And paying $26.50 for your ticket does not buy you the right to say "f*ck you" to people who have rehearsed for months to perfect every detail of the performance.

When you show up at the Vatican Museums in a promotional t-shirt for a 5K run from 2002, sweatpants, and flip-flops, it doesn't matter how hot the weather forecast for Rome is: don't you care about how much of a dick move that is? Why can't you show Michelangelo the same respect that the Vatican showed you when they let your fat ass in for a measly 15 euros?

Do they recognize this and just not care? Or are they just thoroughly oblivious?

OBLIVIOUS!

I don't know how most people aren't aware of the dress code at the Vatican. It. is. a. church! In Europe...In Italy. The guards examine everyone entering and turn away those in shorts and/or with exposed shoulders. Nothing sleeveless allowed in. Or above the knees. And it was HOT this Summer. There are street vendors who make money off of tourists who think they're at a beach resort instead of a church, and sell them cheap scarves at probably a nice mark-up, so that they can make an ersatz skirt or shawl for their torsos.