Stupid Theatre Goer gets Screamed at in Middle of Show

[avenueqpat]

Picture it - Broadway - January 10th 2009, around 10:45 PM.

The St James Theatre - playing Gypsy starring Patti Lupone.

Apparently 3 flash photos were enough.......she tore him a new one.

This is for all of the CM's, and other workers on this board who have wanted to do this but can't!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw6-Tp4UVVA

[Big Wallaby]

That. Is. Simply. Beautiful.

Brings a tear to my eye.

[joanna71985]

Wow! All I can say is...

Bravo! Bravo!

[Notatourist]

The thought does come up though...wasn't the recording rule being broken here?

I don't mind that, we wouldn't have this nugget otherwise...but....

[Mayonnaise]

The thought does come up though...wasn't the recording rule being broken here?

I don't mind that, we wouldn't have this nugget otherwise...but....

Well yes... but there is a slight difference. While illegal for intellectual property reasons there's nothing dangerous about taking an audio recording. Flash Photos are DANGEROUS to the performers. The animal part of the human brain can't ignore a flash. It draws one's focus and can really trip a person up, especially on Broadway where they're very fond of graded stages despite the hazard they pose to anyone trying to dance on them... because it gives the audience a better view.

Go Patti!!!!

8^)

[Lasolimu]

That is awesome, there were so many times while I was working on stage that I wanted to do this, to know that someone has is enough to make me happy.

[BRWombat]

I'm torn here. From a frustration / danger point of view, as Mayonaisse pointed out, I can absolutely understand her anger. But dang, as a performer this bugs the heck out of me -- to break character, grind the show to a halt, and rant at the guy from the stage... it's just not right. Again, the guy deserved it, and her emotions were completely real and understandable... but the other audience members will remember the evening for this event, and not for the show. Maybe there could have been a less distracting solution, like once she's off-stage, chew the ear of the stage manager to get an usher to escort the guy out or else she doesn't go on for the next scene.

I know she was doing the show a service overall; I just couldn't have done it the way she did.

[Mayonnaise]

True... that's not how I would have dealt with it... but that's the benefit of being a megastar like Patti Lupone. You can stop the show and people think it's awesome (if the applause in that recording is any indication.)

Did you ever see the DVD of Steven Sondheim's "Putting it Together" with Carol Burnett? There's this blooper where Carol stops the show... you can do that when you're Carol Burnett too...

Carol Burnett Stops the Show

Of course then John Barroman and Ruthie Henshal just go totally off book while Carrol's off stage getting her... well you'll see. Getting the trouble fixed. I love John Barroman.

(Watch it a second time after you know what "the trouble" is and you'll see when Carol starts to realize it's going all wrong.)

That's an on-stage issue of course, not an audience problem... but it's still a case where a superstar can stop the show, where on the other hand... if you're just you and me, then all you can do is survive till you hit the wings and hope the stage manager can fix it before you have to go back on.

I've got a zillion stories about that kind of thing going on in show's I was in... but that's often the fun of theater. That's why I love to go see it as much as I love being in it. I know there's a good chance that something has gone wrong in any given show. I also know I'll never know what it was because of the people who are dedicated to making sure I don't... (but I love to hear about it after the fact cause the stories are always great. They come up with brilliant ways around problems.)

8^P

[Big Wallaby]

At Finding Nemo: The Musical a few weeks ago, there was a tehcnical glitch and they had to stop the show for technical reasons. Sometimes, there is a reason you have to stop the show, and in our current society, I think that having an outburst like this out there might be helpful. I think it's good that, once in a great while, a performer stops the show for flashes. Better now than before it becomes more rampant.

The other thing I'm thinking is about how the flashes were probably affecting the other theater goers. It's extremely rare that I get to go to a Broadway show, and when I do, I don't want someone else ruining the experience for me. Were I at a show and someone even remotely close to me started taking flash pictures, I would be complaining to the ushers in a moment, and if they did nothing to stop it, I might go confront the b******. I, and the others in the theater, have paid good money to see a great performance, and some idiot with a camera just doesn't care if he ruins it for everyone. If someone near him broke the flash off, I would applaud them.

Just my $0.02

[BRWombat]

True... that's not how I would have dealt with it... but that's the benefit of being a megastar like Patti Lupone. ...

At Finding Nemo: The Musical a few weeks ago...

You know, your posts reminded me that when riding The Seas with Nemo & Friends a year ago, I yelled at an SG to stop taking flash pictures. Of course, I was a guest at the time, not a performer, but maybe I've got a little of that attitude in me after all...