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Friday, January 5, 2007

Priceless

posted by on January 5 at 17:08 PM

This article, about being able to bring food and drink to your seat at Broadway theaters, says—in a few brief quotations—everything you need to know about the state of American theater:

1) In New York, theater is populist:

Rosa Hires, the general manager of concessions for the Hilton Theater, owned by Live Nation, said most audience members seemed delighted by the new rules. “If anything, people want more food,ā€¯ she said. “They’re asking for wraps and saladsā€¯ to be available at the concession stands, she added. “Recently we’ve had people asking for hot dogs.ā€¯

2) Theater audiences want to get what they pay for:

Baz Bamigboye, an arts writer for The Daily Mail, said in an e-mail message that in his experience London theatergoers “try and be considerate,ā€¯ while New York audience members often take a contrasting stance. “I think the view is, `If we’re paying $100 or so for a ticket, we can do what we like,’ ā€¯ he said of Broadway’s audiences.

3) But theater makers want their audiences to worship the performers:

“Broadway is about a theatrical experience,ā€¯ [Patti LuPone] said. “It’s not about pulling out Marie Callender’s chicken pot pie and a Sterno. Would you go to church and pull out a ham sandwich? I don’t think so. Then why would you do it at the theater?ā€¯

RSS icon Comments

1

"Would you go to church and pull out a ham sandwich?"

Church no, Synagogue maybe.

Posted by Giffy | January 5, 2007 5:58 PM
2

at my church they sell sweet potato pies in the foyer and chicken dinners in the basement, but ham sammiches.. naw.. that's just ghetto. it's a church fer god sakes , not a subway

Posted by riz | January 5, 2007 6:14 PM
3

And someone, no doubt with the best of intentions, will point out that they used to allow food in the theater back in Shakespeare's day, which means someone else ought to point out that they barely had indoor plumbing back in the day.

Posted by Chris B | January 5, 2007 6:35 PM
4

It may not be church, but it ain't TV or the movies, either. And what goes on in the audience effects what goes on onstage. Distracted theater makers seldom do their best work - especially when the source of that distraction is a disturbance from the house.

Posted by Laurence Ballard | January 5, 2007 6:55 PM
5

But Laurence, it's populist. How could you be against that?

Posted by flamingbanjo | January 5, 2007 7:00 PM
6

Yeah, but church at least provides crackers and wine.

Posted by gfish | January 5, 2007 7:28 PM
7

I think Ballard's comment helps makes Wagner's: The audience is a distraction to the "theater makers." Well, no audience means... no distraction. Seattle theaters -- particularly the fringe ones -- have done a great job of making sure "theater makers" are not distracted in any way. Throw crap on stage, drive audiences away, and presto! You can make theater free of all distractions!

Posted by EXTC | January 5, 2007 7:50 PM
8

@7

That's not what I said.

Distracted actors don't do their best work. Period. Whether that distraction comes from within or without is irrelevant. The fact remains the same. Any live performer knows this. When an audience member becomes the source of that interruption - whatever the diversion may be - the focus in the theater becomes the same. When it shouldn't be. It's not about them. We all came into this large room and turned down the lights to embrace the power of words, to hear and see a story told, not to listen to - and smell - the guy in the third row open up his Big Mac and Fries and start to chow down.

People who think we need more food in theatres during performances are going to love it when the FAA ok's cell phones during flights.

Posted by Laurence Ballard | January 5, 2007 8:28 PM
9

There's theater in Seattle?

Posted by Boomer | January 5, 2007 8:28 PM
10

TouchƩ. Game, set and match.

Posted by Laurence Ballard | January 5, 2007 8:37 PM
11

Now let's be fair and honest here.

Americans are becoming dangerously undernourished. Without a box of candy, a greasy feed-bag of popcorn AND a jug of chilled corn syrup, how else are we to survive for two, maybe three hours!? Go hungry? Waste away?

For shame theater-folk. For shame.

Posted by golob | January 5, 2007 9:00 PM
12

All those toddlers totting baggies of Cheerios 24/7 have grown into adults unable to go without a snack for two hours. We eat in our cars, at our desks, on the bus, in bed ... and now in the theaters. I'm hardly surprised...

Posted by Brendan | January 5, 2007 9:05 PM
13

I think it's more about the state of Broadway theatre and NYC's aristocracy.

Posted by Gomez | January 5, 2007 11:33 PM
14

And we wonder why Americans are Fat!!!! Hell they should offer BBQ at the Theater, right there in the orchastra pit!

Posted by Andrew | January 6, 2007 4:44 AM
15

"ABC: Always Be Chewing."

It should replace "e pluribus unum" (sp?) as our national motto.

Posted by Dan Savage | January 6, 2007 2:41 PM
16

Broadway Theatre is an industry more than a craft. It's a tourist industry.

That's why the majority of Broadway shows (Like Wicked, Phantom of the Opera, The motherfucking Pajama Game) are completely asinine. They're determined by marketability. Patti LuPone is actually referring to specific incidents that occured while she was playing Lovett in Sweeney Todd: http://www.pattilupone.net/ramblings52.html

Posted by Victoria | January 6, 2007 9:27 PM
17

patti lupone is GOD!!

do NOT mock her, or risk her wraith!!

she has a cadre of loyal Down's Syndrome Chilren at her disposal and they will FUCK you up!!!

Andrew Lloyd Webber pissed her off during 'Sunset Boulevard' and he hasn't had a hit since...

Glenn Close pissed her off and the biggest gigs she's had since then is announcing at the Oscars and appearing on 'The Shield'...

Madonna pissed her off, her career started sliding, and now she is retaliating by manning her own army of kidnapped African children...

Coincidences? I think not...

Posted by michael strangeways | January 8, 2007 9:02 AM
18

John Doyle is a fucking God and Patti LuPone is the Grande Dame of Broadway. This "Sweeney Todd" revival was one of the singularly best musicals I have ever seen in a lifetime of theater-going.

On to the topic at hand:

Etiquette is dying, if not already dead. With Common Courtesy following close behind. People don't know how to attend live theater or any theater or behave in public. They talk and want to eat and drink and text message- just like they do at the movies. I can hardly bear going to the movies anymore. It seems like no one is able to chew with their mouths closed.

Several years ago, Al Pacino, in a performance of Richard III, I believe, stopped mid-line because a cell phone kept ringing. He actually made the audience member bring his phone to the stage and took the call.

Posted by dewsterling | January 8, 2007 12:24 PM
19

Fuckin' a, Dewsterling. Fuckin' a. And fuck the Tonys.

They should change the rules, or else the few good performers willing to dedicate their time to long Broadway runs will move out.

Posted by Victoria | January 8, 2007 4:35 PM
20

Re #8: I actually think the airplane comparison is a poor one. It's perfectly OK to talk to the person next to you on an airplane, so there's really no etiquette reason why it shouldn't be OK to talk on a cell phone. The barrier there is purely a technological one. On the other hand, talking to the person next to you in a movie theater is extremely rude, so you shouldn't talk on your cell phone there, either.

Posted by Orv | January 9, 2007 11:38 AM

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