Is Bad Behavior Ruining Broadway? 

Okay, interesting solution that one of my theater friends in Indonesia told me about. If someone takes out a phone or is distracting, the ushers use laser pointers to single them out so they know they have been seen and are shamed into correcting their behavior

When someone is on their phone at a Broadway show I paid a small mortgage to see, I feel FLAMESSSS and call them out every time! The older I get, the more I behave like Patti LuPone. 😂😅

As a music teacher one of my previous schools we had a lengthy pre-show announcement about concert etiquette. And it definitely helped. Our biggest issue is no flash photography because we have student on stage that it will negatively effect their health. Make it fun and relatable like the Mama Mia one or I love the Sara Bareilles turn off your cell phone jingle.

Yondr worked for ART Gatsby but that's a 550 seat theater. It would work for the small Broadway houses but if everyone at intermission is rushing to immediately unlock their phones, it would be chaos. Also using the pouches means no playbill photos or set photos etc..... definitely would prevent leaks and would keep the surprise of a new show, but don't think people would be happy if that was a universal thing and not just a one particular show thing.

It's truly horrible, I was at OUR CLASS last night and there was a high schooler literally doing their math homework next to me.

yes AND i think part of this is part of a broader social contract and courtesy issue that has been building through the pandemic... it's not just broadway, it's people FaceTiming and blasting tiktoks on their phones in all kinds of public spaces and that kind of disregard becomes more normalized then :/

I hate the hooting and whooping. People don't care that they're literally screaming into the person in front or beside them's ear.

I absolutely agree with what you were saying about pre-means so show announcements. There is another really important reason why they are so necessary today, with the shortened overtures, we really need preshow announcements before each act. Every time that I have seen wicked both on tour and on Broadway, people are back in the theater ready for act two, but they are not in their seats when the lights go out, and they are still getting to their seats by the time, the actors have come out and started singing. In this case, it’s not the fault of the patrons, there is almost no entr’acte, and there’s just no way to realize that you have to be in your seat quickly enough. A preshow announcement gives people the time to sit down and be ready for the show. They have a very simple preshow announcement for act one, which people were applauding for when I was there at Broadway’s reopening after Covid. It gets you excited and ready, and it should be expanded to all shows and especially added to act two for all shows.

People who only care about themselves will not respond well to any attempts to reduce bad audience behavior. Therefore, this problem cannot be solved unless someone figures out a way to keep those inconsiderate individuals away from the theatre. Clearly, high ticket prices is not the answer.

I think a lot of the behaviors regarding phone usage, loud singing/talking, etc. is a result of the trend of “immersive experiences.” While I think they can definitely be cool and interesting, I think it is ultimately blurring the lines (especially for younger audiences) between a theatrical experience and a live music experience. Shows like “Here Lies Love” and “Six” (specifically the Megasix portion) on Broadway, the dreadful inundation of jukebox musicals, and the recent revival of “Guys and Dolls” on the west end (just a few examples) end up being catnip for TikTokers. I think many who, to Katherine’s point, may not have ever been exposed to Theater may be getting a false sense of what the theater going experience looks like overall. Especially if what is drawing them in are the clips they see during these sometimes isolated moments in the show that admittedly resemble the energy of a concert. Call me “old” but if I want to go to a concert I’ll go to a concert. If I want to be immersed in a show, I’ll audition for said show. I think because of money grabs and Broadway’s midlife crisis (so to speak) Producers are relying heavily on trends and social media to ensure profitability and imo this is the result. I don’t necessarily have a solution but it seems to me that because our attention spans are shot (due to constant 20/30/60 second etc. clip ingestion) simply sitting and watching a show for many people (it seems) just isn’t enough to hold their attention anymore. Especially younger audiences. So I guess I understand why producers feel the need to spice up the experience and why many seem to be leaning into aspects of the immersive experiences. I also agree with @jackprather81 that the disruptive applause when a song begins that has been popularized through RU-vid and TikTok clips is degrading the theater going experience. What happened to applause after the number is finished? I always think it must be distracting and challenging for the performers who may need to hear verbal or musical queues. It feels obnoxious, especially when the performer is mid dialogue. There is ample time to show love and appreciation to the performers during curtain call when songs and dialogue aren’t being disrupted.

The only negative I can see with email/text messaging pre show announcements would be it only goes to the ticket purchaser who may not pass the message on to the rest of the party.

When I have ushered at community theater they would have us hold people in the lobby once the show started (after the overture) and then at an agreed upon natural break we could usher them to their seats. Often a slightly longer transition time was built in between the first two scenes to allow patrons to safely get to their seats without interrupting the audience or the performance. Missing the first scene of a show would be a pretty big incentive to arrive on time.

I was just recently at a coral concert 🎵 and was disappointed to be distracted by people ahead of me with cell phones. On another note at Shakespeare in the park where they asked you to take pictures for social media so I did and it ruined the experience for me

I am usually not one to say anything about phones, but recently I have had HORRIBLE experiences at theatre recently. I At Suffs for a matinee and this group next to me in their phones FULL brightness and I’m just trying to watch Jenn Colella in peace and ended up the women at the end of the show threatened to break my arm because I asked if they could put their phone down during the first number. They then were eating like an apple during it and other food in foil. I have had people eating slices of cheesecake from juniors in front of me. It has been crazy lately. I just moved back london where the behavior is much different, but it also has a smaller barrier of entry so more people go earlier. I would love a pre show announcement like Mamma Mia that you mentioned or hamilton has a great one!

It's difficult to get in and out of nyc if you're traveling by plane. I saw a gentleman leave Little Shop during intermission to catch a flight. I think situations like that account for people leaving early or during curtain call.

Potentially controversial opinion: This isn't really bad behavior on the part of the audience because it's clearly considered acceptable. I personally am annoyed by the habit many audiences have of stopping a show in its tracks to applaud the most famous actor the moment they walk on stage. It breaks the natural pacing and performance of the scene in question and just reminds me that I'm looking at a famous person instead of at the character they're playing. It's not like we won't have plenty of time to applaud this person at curtain call. Not a big deal. Just a pet peeve of my own.

About cell phones. I'm going to say 12 years ago I saw the National Tour of The Graduate in Detroit. The stage manager had the PERFECT pre-show announcement. "The Graduate is set in the early '60s. 30 years BEFORE the invention of the cell phone." Audience chuckled but got the implied no-no.

The arriving late is actually one of my bigger pet peeves. Totally appreciate that things happen but I do feel like it's getting more and more out of hand. We know curtain is technically at 2/3/7/8 or whenever and you should be in your seat then. Because it's widely known that curtain almost never goes up on time there are still people filtering in long after the official start time and past when the show starts. For me, it's just not ok for it to now be accepted to be showing up 20+ mins late to a show. I know shows would lose money from this which is why they won't, but I really think there should be no more than a 10 min grace period after the show starts before people are refused and potentially refunded, it's so distracting for other people in the audience. As for educating the audience, I agree on the pre-show announcements, plus I believe there's a page in the Playbills now? That, plus emails, putting signs up, basically everything possible to get the message in front of audiences! Not sure how much good it'll do with some people's entitled attitudes as I'm pretty sure they know but don't care, but we have to at least try!

Great video, but I was surprised you didn't address one of the pet peeves many people seem to have seeing a Broadway show these days and that's all the SCREAMING! It's fairly constant throughout. During Hello Dolly recently, people were recognizing the songs in the overture and started applauding and screaming with excitement. Then Bette Midler came out, and people screamed, then the next actor came out, and people screamed, then the next actor and so on. They scream at costume changes and set changes. They scream at lighting cues. They scream like they are at a concert or something. It's really annoying. To be honest, I used to see pretty much everything, now I avoid shows that I think will have a younger audience. I saw Funny Girl at the height of Barbra Streisand's popularity, and when she came onto the stage, people applauded appropriately, but there was no SCREAMING! People knew where they were and held any unbridled excitement (which was at a minimum) for during the curtain call.

It's not just theater, and it's not just young people. Etiquette has been declining for at least 10-20 years. You also see it at concerts (music and standup), and of course movies. People aren't just on their phones; they start yelling things at the performers on stage, as if the artists need song requests from random audience members or the comedians want to be heckled. It's like people forgot how to be socialized in public once the iPhone was invented. Not only does it bring in its own distraction to shows, but the impersonal nature of our constant hiding behind a screen has enabled people to act like a**holes in real life. And technology has affected our attention spans to such an extent that if people - full grown adults, no less- are required to sit absolutely quietly for a long stretch of time, they now go crazy and can't deal with it any more.

I hate when someone is on their phone during a show omg pet peeve, also people leaving before curtain is something I barely see, also I highly agree that we need to bring back the pre show announcements, along with overtures

Jukebox musicals and straight plays starring actors from blockbuster movie franchises tend to bring out a crowd that are not versed in live theater. Their only reference is going to rock concerts where talking, singing and photographs are the norm. If the theater staff or experienced audience members are not going to teach them the proper etiquette, I don't see how they will ever learn.

I think it’s a battle that will always feel un-solvable. I saw Aladdin a few weekends ago and the amount of cellphone usage with no usher intervention was jarring. The woman sitting next to me scrolled through social media with her brightness on full for the entire first act.

When I saw Merrily last year before the show the ushers were walking the aisle reminding people to turn off their phones in a funny way. He was saying stuff like “You don’t want to embarrass yourself in front of Daniel Radcliffe” Also people leaving early bugs me so much. Last week, I was at Gatsby in the fifth row of the orchestra and the women in front of me got up in the middle of Green Light to beat people to the lobby for intermission.

Gutenburg’s Pre-show announcement was perfection. RIP James Earl Jones

In addition to all the things mentioned… Ice cubes in cups and people shaking them like a rattle is my audience pet peeve.

this is a HUGE pet peeve of mine. It is NOT enough to just say, "Put your cel phone on airplane mode". People think it's OK to text or scroll through social media if it's silent. That little light out of the corner of my eye is SO distracting and disrespectful and takes me out of the moment, You are right. I don't think people do it on purpose, but an appropriate announcement would be, "Please turn your phones TOTALLY off. Even the little light is distracting to the performers and fellow audience members. Thank you". That way people who "don't know: now will know... PLEASE!!!!!

Thanks Katharine. I feel like I have been getting more pre-show emails than previously. Not sure why. It certainly can’t hurt to put theater etiquette in pre-show emails. Some signs in the theater lobby maybe, but a laundry list seems pedantic. What about a more prominent page in the Playbill? Yes, it’s there, but not in the front of the book. Some of the rules should definitely be in the pre-show announcements.

Pre-show announcements!!! Thank you for mentioning these - I don’t know why we’ve lost these. They get everyone ready, quiet, settled and directly signal the start of the show. For first time goers, it sets some basic expectations and rules, but increasingly I find the few we do get very short and vague. They could be so much more “in character” and humorous I think but also, they could be longer and clearer. Why can’t we say to silence and turn off phones, TURN OFF YOUR SMARTWATCHES (this is the worst thing I have found with audience behaviour - people scroll on them so much!), stay quiet during the show and maybe give a DIRECT indication of what is and isn’t appropriate. I saw MJ in London and it was only in the toilets where there were posters saying you could join in but only at the end - what if people don’t see these posters or understand what “the end” is etc. That’s a show with bad audience behaviour and it could so easily be helped. I think the main thing for me is that so often we get a “pleas return off your phones” and then the show IMMEDIATELY begins. People then don’t know if they can get their phone out to turn it off, they don’t want to dive into their bag to get it out etc - I think we need a five minute call perhaps and then another round of the announcement, people can get annoyed all they want but it would be so much less irritating than the incessant phone noise, chatting, loudness etc. Yes you’ve paid for something but in almost every other experiential purchase, even like a high ropes course, has distinct rules that are considered necessary - why not theatre? I think producers fear ruining the vibe of a show suddenly going down with the lights but I think we are all experiencing poorer behaviour and that is most important

Trigger signage needs work. I'm epileptic, but not photosensitive. However, those warnings I either don't see or see after I'm almost at my seat, so if it applied to me, too late. This being bright lights, flashing, strobes, etc.

Omg...Katherine. You have hit the nail on the head. I just can't understand the bad behaviour from people going to the shows. I've been saying it for awhile now to friends. Two weeks ago I went to see Les Miserables in the North of Ireland. Tickets over 100 pounds.. E130 euro. Super excited. Announcement to people take seats.. Phones off. Then music starts.. My mind going into a place where you leave the pressure of daily life behind. First two woman on my right would not stop talking.. Only 10mins in.. I thought okay give them time to shut up.. Then the phone came out so the light was very off putting. After given them dirty looks to no affect.. I had to say please put phone away and stay quiet have some respect( I know!!!). I think in general there is a level acceptance for phones /coming and going from your seat/rappers on sweets /people talking or trying to sing. Which I think unless we start to call the bad behaviour out .. It won't change. I be a quiet ish person so to get me to say something to the woman they must of been annoying. It was interesting hearing you say the people who are performing see it first hand. I think people putting on the shows maybe cound be a little more forthcoming with the Do's and Don'ts!! I'm heading to London the end of the month my friend has booked a show in the West end called Hadestown.. Fingers crossed I won't have to tell someone quite please.. 🙄🙄 Ps.. Sorry for the long winded rant. Have a great weekend. 🍀🍀🍀🍀💚

What I have been seeing recently- older audience members not being experts with their phones. Not silencing them, not turning them off but thinking they are good because the screen is dark. Then it rings, gets a text. They think their super bright screen is fine to pull out to check an e-mail, play games, etc. It has almost universally been guests over 55 years old.

Catwalk Sniper: For those talking, filming, using their phone, or singing along. :)

So, I'd say post-Covid pause, I've noticed a lot more folks on their phones throughout shows. When I saw Stranger Things in London last month, the gentleman next to me spent the entire first act doom scrolling while his wife was intently engaged in the show - clearly a case of someone who didn't want to be there, so he was going to to whatever he wanted. Informing an usher at the interval led to him not touching the phone in Act Two. At Appropriate, a Very Important Man in my row loudly told his friends he might need to rush out to take a call at some point and he kept checking his phone throughout. Then there are the countless folks who just pull out their phone when their watch tells them they have a text, answer said text, and continue on with watching. It seems to me to be a sense of "I paid for this experience, so I can experience it however I want" as well as "I can't fully unplug from the outside world." I've seen the same thing at movie theaters and restaurants and other public spaces. I definitely want to see the return of preshow announcements as well as clear consequences for violating it. At the Cursed Child tour in Chicago, there are multiple preshow announcements, yet I saw many cell phone screens throughout the performance around me, checking email, texts, googling, someone was even watching a football game with no sound. It might just be a losing battle at this point unless there are consequences (a la Alamo Drafthouse) if a phone is seen in the audience.

There was a time when we had to tell people to take their handbags off the stage if they were sitting in the front row. We even had a confrontation with someone who took off their shoes and put their smelly feet on the stage! (I'm not kidding; this truly did happen!) I feel like there's a lean towards more entitlement these days, especially with the older audiences. And I cannot tell you how much I want the pre-show announcements back on Broadway. I was very surprised that Hadestown and Suffs didn't have pre-show announcements, and it has helped remind people to turn off their phones and be quiet. I'm surprised that QR codes are making an appearance of Broadway. QR codes for Playbills and shopping codes is one thing, but QR codes for the pre-show announcement and details about the shows, including warnings, I'm not so sure that's such a good idea.

The worst Broadway audience I have ever experienced was in March 2023 during spring break at a Thursday night performance of &Juliet. I don't know what was up that night but it seemed like the entire section I was in were on their worst behavior. I get that the 2000's juke box songs appeal to my elder Millennial demo, but the number of inebriated women in their late 30's singing loudly and then the one sober friend yelling at them to be quiet was absurd. There were multiple groups behaving like this. The ushers did nothing, but I'm unsure what recourse they have in those situations if someone isn't recording the show or being terribly interruptive or threatening someone else.

How about a cast member coming on stage pre-show and announcing: No cel l phone use until intermission

I prefer using the provided devices for audio description instead of my phone so it won't distract fellow patrons and along with describing the theater and sets and certain costumes it always Cycles through a message about turning off your phone and anything that might cause an over sensory experience also, these sorts of announcements seem to be far more prevalent for touring Productions than in New York which provides a certain irony if you consider that New York needs to attract more tourists to broadway.

Audiences *have* gotten obnoxious. So much so that I go to see fewer Broadway shows than I would like because I don't want to deal with them. But I don't think the reasons are any that you mentioned; I think the reason is Broadway now attracts so many more tourists than it used to. I can't remember the stats exactly, but I think it's something like it used to be 25% tourists and now it's 75% tourists. It is the tourists who are the issue. They seem to think they are at the Grand Ole Opry. Plus, I find that with ticket prices so high, I have less patience with the idiots. The misbehaving people around me have no idea how close they have come to me yanking their phones and throwing them against the wall - or yanking their crinkly bags of chips out of their hands, throwing them on the floor and stomping on them. I haven't gotten physical yet, but I've gotten close. I *have* though said things to rude audience members (including one time when a jerk was sitting in the first row, right in front of me, and continually muttering an anti-Gay slur - and I could see that the actors could hear him). I wanted to kick him in the back of the head, but instead waited till intermission (to not disturb the show), and then had a few very choice words with him - as only a New Yorker can, and might have threatened him a little. He looked like he might pee his pants. He did shut up for the rest of the show though.

Actors should feel empowered, and more actors should "pull a Patti LuPone".

I do think you have to be careful about trigger warnings because they can run into spoilers. The QR code could work so that if you don't need trigger warnings, you can pass it by but if you do, you can stop and find out what they are. But obviously they need to be better marked and more prominent. I don't remember seeing such a thing at Job, but I also would have hated my experience of the show being ruined by content warnings when I actually knew almost nothing about the play, and nearly everything about it that would need a warning came as a total surprise to me while watching it. I don't know that I'm explaining this well. I also dislike the early leavers because I'm trying to see the curtain call and express my own enjoyment or appreciation and I will miss some of it if I have to wait for you to get out of my very, very tight personal space in the aisle. What's the rush? It's not like you're parked outside and you need to get to your car first. Just entitlement. I think most of it is entitlement because it isn't the new, young theatregoers ruining things. It's the Karens and their brethren.

Please people put your Apple watches in theater mode too.

@3:55 concessions should not be selling noisy food. OR ... people should just unwrap wrappers when audience are laughing or at the end of the song during applause. @5:38 I agree as it's all about communication. I love love love the OH MARY pre-show announcement with Blythe Danner ;) and how there is a sign stating there is one single gun shot.

I find it horrendous that theatres sell popcorn. They're encouraging the snacks that you mention in your video. It's smelly and annoying to have listen to. This ain't the movies we're at. I'm surprised unions haven't said something about this to the theatre owners.

I feel like the ticket prices should be all the more reason to put the phone down, dress up nicely and fully immerse yourself in the experience! Why someone would pay hundreds of dollars to sit in a dark theatre and check their instagram is beyond me.

Idk Katherine if you’re going to agree or the audience I do know that cellphone uses is very annoying when comes to shows being distracting do u think will be best to call make a schedule appointment with Yondr. Is a company that you use for pouches and metal magnetic ball to release it at the end of the shows like no phones no AirPods no fit bit Apple Watch so all of them can be in pouch so they can enjoy the show better. Do you think we should start doing that in Broadway shows so people can physically react better? I think for me is a great idea. Because I’m a brand ambassador i have work with Yondr for 12 or 13 events with them almost year with them. I love doing it. We usually cover comedy shows. But it would be great if they can starts calling Yondr so as ATN promoting company caa as n start hiring consistent people to work Yondr events Broadway shows. That maybe in only opinion that can basically be beneficial to watch the show rather then being on the phones all the time being distracted or video taping them as well.

Liiiiike is it just me or???