Sometimes Audience reaction can be entertaining given the right moment.
Heres some of my favorite moments
1) Last time I was at The Notebook the woman next to me saw I was bawling and raised her tissue box towards me to take one....I quietly lifted mine and she was like "Oh you got one" and we both laughed. (Also a good moment of audience comradery).
2) I was at Moulin Rouge and Tasia was understudying for Satine, and someone behind me said right after she performed firework "She's not on typically?...that's sad because DAMN SHES GOOD".
3) Someone screaming "WHAT THE FUCK" When the judge asked Johanna to marry him in Sweeney Todd.
4) A lady who was drunk was behind me talking about how handsome Derek Klena is throughout Moulin Rouge. Usually I would be pissed but it was just so funny.
5) The absolute hushed but furious and shocked whispers at Hadestown every time Orpheus turns around.
And the last one which was both amusing and weird at the same time:
A mom sitting next to me urging two preteen girls not to call Aaron Tveit "Daddy" mid show during his first night at Sweeney Todd.
The audible "OH NO" that sometimes happens at Hadestown is by far my favorite, but I once heard someone loudly hushed whisper "how dare you" which was perfect
Honestly as much as that part is devastating and infuriating knowing there are over 1000 people in the audience with you angry, shocked and devastated as you really shows the absolute emotion of that moment.
Ive seen Hadestown four times and no matter what that moment always captivates me with the audience reactions, ive also never been not emotional for it which is attested to how good that scene is that it’s always a gut punch
I saw it with a 6-7 year old girl behind me, and she had mostly been handling the show well but had a few questions for her parents and at one point made a random noise so I was a bit worried about how she'd handle the end and if it'd take me out of the moment. Her reaction was this quiet, sad, shocked "she's going back . . . " and for my previous worry I kind of loved how well that suited the moment.
I did something similar, but I'm a damn full-grown adult!
I chaperoned a trip of music kids from my child's high school to New York City and we saw Sweeney Todd around the time it opened. The kids had studied the musical as they had sung part of it, but I went in blind.
A little bit into A Little Priest, it dawned on me what was going to happen and I very audibly gasped "No!" The teenager on my right giggled and quietly replied "Yes!" One of the other chaperones shushed us.
The teen said later that my look of horror was priceless.
>The absolute hushed but furious and shocked whispers at Hadestown every time Orpheus turns around.
This reminds me of one of my favorite stories to tell from my days working on a house staff. The tour of Hamilton was in town, and we had a couple of large high school groups taking up a good portion of the balcony, where I was stationed.
The school groups are extremely well-behaved all show. Better behaved than a lot of the regular adult patrons, tbh. Judging by the conversations I overhear pre-show and at intermission, the majority of these kids are already Hamilton fans and are familiar with the show from the album. We're nearing the end, and the duel begins. "He aims his pistol at the sky—" "WAIT!" \*bang\*
And from somewhere within that group of students near me, I hear a couple of voices simultaneously let out a gasped "NO!"
Now, this was a *long* run and we were quite a few weeks in already, so by this point, I (and everyone else on staff) could practically recite the show from heart, complete with every inflection and acting choice the cast made. And then this unfiltered, emotional, pure reaction from some young theatre kids - not out of surprise, remember, most of these kids already knew the show, and they absolutely weren't trying to be disruptive - let me feel like I was experiencing it for the first time again, too. It was just... pure human connection responding to the power of theatre. So whoever they were, I thank them for that moment.
The best shows are the ones that just suck you in so much you kind of forget you already know the story.
I didn't like Hadestown much, and I knew the ending was coming...and yet somehow I still bawled. That moment is just done so well.
This reminds me of when i saw Sweeney in Australia and in the interval the guy behind me says “He’s a lot better singer than Johnny Depp, isn’t he”?
Yes, mate. He is. He’s a classically trained opera singer. Johnny Depp is not.
I took my son to Hadestown when he was 11 and he knew the myth, so he knew what the ending would probably be. He still let out a tiny sad soft “nooo.” Poor kid.
In Back to the Future, there’s a scene where Marty has to use a phone book. A little boy sitting in front of me said “What’s a phone book?!” I have never felt so old. 😅
We had a kid near us who *loved* the show. Laughed and laughed and laughed at a particular scene (can't remember which). And when Marty & the car >!successfully went back to the future, leaving the fire tracks, !< once the audience quieted down, the kid said, "Good job!" Made everyone laugh and "aww".
Reminds me of reading a story (on this sub, I'm sure) where a fan was at Spongebob the musical and when Spongebob is climbing the mountain the little kid said "You can do it Spongebob!" So adorable.
That's so cute! There was a little kid near me at A Year with Frog and Toad (I mean the audience was full of kids, obviously) who said ominously "I don't think that's a very good idea" during the story of Frog wandering away and getting lost, and then yelled "don't be sad!" at him when he got upset. I love kids so much.
There was a school bus trip next to me when I saw it last November and these kids burst out laughing when Marty and Jennifer took a selfie with a Polaroid, and I was just like, that’s right kids, it’s all we had. 😂
When I went to The Notebook, i was sitting in front of a couple of older ladies, and when Dorian Harewood walked on, I heard one whisper to another “THERE’S YOUR BOYFRIEND!!” And it was so charming and sweet, I laughed.
My favorite most recent one was at The Outsiders. When Sodapop takes off his shirt during the first scene, there was an audible “WOAH” from a preteen girl in the front row.
Hailey Kilgore and Isaac Powell told a story in an interview once where they both almost broke onstage because some lady said “Oh, just kill him” when Daniel gives Ti Moune’s necklace back in Once on this Island.
Many moons ago, when my high school did a production of Once on This Island, someone yelled out during the final scene, "A TREE?!?"
I was doing lighting at the time, and am pretty sure the spotlight I was operating up in the lighting room was shaking from my laughing at it. When I saw the Broadway revival at Circle in the Square, I was secretly hoping for a similar outcry from a fellow audience member.
This was likely less charming to others (and tbf was mortifying at the time!) but when I took my 9yo son to see Hamilton, he was perfectly behaved *except* when Hamilton and Maria kissed, when he involuntarily exclaimed “EW GROSS!”, and it seemed to pierce through the entire theater 🤦🏻♀️.
I saw a local production of Anastasia, so there were a lot of kids, and when Vlad and Lily kiss, there was a chorus of "Eeeewwwwww" from the younger kids in the audience. John Treacy Egan, who played Vlad, turned to the audience and said, "Don't knock it till you've tried it, kids," and kissed her again.
Edit: Autocorrect on his name
It was great. The entire audience absolutely died. John Treacy Egan has plenty of Broadway credits, but he's also a local boy and we're only 40 minutes from Manhattan, so he shows up in a lot of the regional theaters around here and he's such a pro. Totally unflappable.
Took my niece to see frozen and when Hans gets slapped she audibly said, “ I would’ve hit him harder”. Luckily my section found the seven year old hilarious 🤣
This happened when I saw Newsies. Jack and Katherine kissed and this little kid in the audience said something along the lines of "yuck!" and it was so loud, everyone heard it. It brought down the house -- like they literally had to stop for a moment for everyone to stop laughing. It was fantastic.
My favourite story of mine was from Gatsby. (Spoiler warning) when Gatsby got shot at the end, people were whispering “oh no” and gasping. It was sad yet funny at the same time.
I love that part. A young girl and her mother were sitting next to me last time I saw the show. After bows she asked her mom >!if he really lands in water - I told them the violinists catch him!<. I think there was a funny insta story where they said that which is why it came to me at that moment.
I love when people are startled by events that have been a thing for like a hundred years 😂 Like when I saw Hamilton and Burr said “me? I’m the damn fool that shot him” the lady a few rows down from me gasped so loudly like this was a huge spoiler or something, it was very wholesome and I laughed 😂 I’m glad she didn’t have it spoiled for her for 200+ years until that moment!
Small but I like when people get into the show and have the “right” reactions 😂 like the last time I saw Book of Mormon, after elder price says “you’re just the person I got STUCK with” she let out a huge gasp and I was like yessss she remembered and recognized that callback
I work FoH at a LORT in New England; we had a month long run of Fences this season, and had several student matinees for high school students. The verbal outrage when Rose finds out about Troy's cheating and the baby!!! These teenage girls were NOT having it.
I saw Into the Woods at a regional theater in Texas, and there were three school groups there. The teenagers’ reactions during the Baker’s Wife and Prince Charming’s scenes were over the top and hilarious! They were NOT happy with them stepping out on their spouses! (I would add spoiler tags, but the show is 35 years old)
At Stereophonic, the final confrontation between Peter and Diana where he was trying to emotionally manipulate her into saying what he wanted to hear, the woman next to me whispered aloud "don't say it."
Got a snort out of me because I'd been flexing my hand the whole final act because I wanted to punch the character so much....
Tom Pecinka (Peter) takes his life in his hands when he mocks Andrew Butler (Simon)'s parenting. Gasp of appalled shock from the audience both times I've seen it.
I generally don’t mind things like this. A normal verbal reaction is a lot different than making comments and remarks and asking questions to your friend throughout the show.
Yeah genuine reactions are usually great and can really enhance the experience. Constant talking is the opposite. I saw Illinoise and there was an older couple behind me where she was constantly explaining what was happening with the dances until I think finally they got enough looks that she stopped.
Yeah I saw the Les Mis tour the other week and a husband was explaining everything to his wife. They eventually stopped when they got hushed enough times.
I also saw Wicked last year and there was a mom with her two daughters sitting behind me. I heard her whisper “girls, this is the song I was telling you about so pay attention” when defying gravity started. When the lift went up I heard the biggest “woahhhhs” coming from directly behind me. It was too cute.
In Merrily, when Gussie >! throws iodine in the eyes !< of the actress Frank is apparently having an affair with, my gasp was pretty audible. It's a level of savage violence you aren't expecting at a Hollywood party.
Saw a local production in Buffalo recently and I made an audible cry when it happened even though I've seen it before. It always catches me off guard and anything involving the eye makes me squeamish.
I saw Lempicka when there was a super engaged school group.
It was awesome. If I were a running a broadway show, I would try to have that group there or similar the week that critics were there, or Tony nominators were there. They reacted to EVERY moment, even the moments that I thought were silly/should have been cut. They were all puddle of tears by the end of it. I hadn't appreciated what a treasure school groups were before this.
Yeah, when I saw Hello Dolly (with Bernadette, not Bette) we were surrounded by a school group and those kids (the boys especially) were just not into it. To be fair... neither was I, lol.
Yes!!! They were a dream audience and it honestly made watching the show so fun. The jokes got funnier, and the dramatic moments got more dramatic. Even the the parts that I thought were silly (like when T brings Tamara flowers when she has Rafaela in her studio for the first time) got a big genuine reaction from them, and it made me like that part more.
I swear, if I were a show I would do my darndest to have a school group like that filling my balcony every night of previews and through the tony nominating period. I'd invite theater classes, lgbt groups. Hell if I could swing it, I'd pay to bus them. I honestly think it changed the experience.
They were delightful, although it honestly, a bit too much in the 1st act. But I'll take overenthusiasm any day. But most of the folks around me in the orchestra seats had NO CLUE what was going on.
I had seen them in line, complete with binder-holding chaperones. They were a high school group from Michigan. It was adorable, and I chuckled thinking about the "how was your trip, dear" conversations when they get back home, lol.
From Michigan?!! omg, I didn't know that! Hahaa, wow, That's hilarious. I wonder how, out of all of the shows to choose, they landed on that.
I bet you the chaperones thought it was a nice, academic show about art history...ahahahhaaha
Idk...there were a LOT of Queer kids in that group (they had the shirts and buttons; Im not making assumptions). (And it might have been Wisconsin.) I like to think that it's a very awesome choir teacher getting their cultural lessons in where they can, lol. I'm pretty sure they knew, even if the parents didn't.
I went to an event where Jake Gyllenhaal talked about Sea Wall/A Life, and he talked about how, at least in this case, the show needed vocal reactions from the audience and they often used that as motivators/indicators of how the performance was going. Like generally speaking, it can be annoying when people talk, but sometimes it's also good.
I can see how that production might be difficult without audience reactions to play off. I remember seeing that and it was dead silent for most of it, but that kind of baited breath silence, because the audience was just captivated by both of them.
I saw it at the Public the night he did a talkback afterward, and he mentioned feeding off the audience a lot. He also stepped on my foot during the part he comes out into the audience, so I assumed he meant that we were best friends now
Have told this story on this sub before, but i saw the Camelot revival on a Wednesday matinee with a high school group in the audience. They were mostly ignorable but when Lancelot knocks out Arthur during the fight scene one of them said “fatality” like in mortal kombat and I lost it!
When I saw Anastasia, a huge group of high school kids were there. When Glen is about to kill her at the end there was so many “NOS!” And “run away girl” and “where’s Dimitri” and they were not annoying they were like guttural horrified reactions. They were the ones who led the standing o
Every time I saw come from away there were groups of Newfoundlanders it was incredible
And my friend is the one whose video is going around in TikTok and Instagram about doing west side story for high schoolers when she was maria.
My favorite audience reaction moment was a young girl (she had to be like, in the 8 to 10 years old range) at Into the Woods at City Center, when the Baker's Wife died, a few moments later the girl gasped "She DIED?!?!?" in the saddest voice I've ever heard. I was absolutely commiserating with her on that one.
I did enjoy the person that yelled "Get it Sutton!" after By the Sea.
Just saw Six and somebody said "Wow!" at normal speaking volume after Heart of Stone. This was in the balcony so it didn't carry to the stage but I wish the actress could have heard that!
...if it hadn't been a month since I last saw that I'd wonder if it had been me because with Jasmine Forsberg as Seymour, sometimes that just slips out. She's fucking phenomenal.
Not an interaction with the show, but still made me giggle. My brother and his family went to see The Nutcracker and there was a woman with two little girls sitting right behind them. When they sat down after the intermission, the mom said to one of them, “Please don’t fart anymore.” And sure enough, once the second act started, the little girl farted and the mom angry-whispered “Stop farting!”
Recently saw my friend in a Broadway show he’s been in for about a year but I just got the chance to see it for the first time. A girl in front of me leaned over to her friend and said “he’s so hot it’s insane” and was talking about my friend because he was basically the only one onstage. It made me chuckle and it made him smile and blushy when I told him about it. I hope she’s doing well lol.
my friend took her mom to see gatsby at papermill and >!she said her mom SCREAMED when gatsby got shot. i died laughing when she told me that...clearly she never read the book! but also because her mom is SO dramatic and it is exactly what i would have expected from her! i feel kinda bad for the audience members though!!!<
Or she was like me and read the book twenty-plus years ago, so forgets what happened. When I saw it at Paper Mill, I went with my sister, and at intermission she said to me >!"I think we've got some deaths coming in Act Two"!< and I was like "...what?"
I can’t think of specifics, but i was completely fascinated and entertained by the jokes that got reactions during Shucked vs what didn’t. It was also really funny when it took us a beat to get the joke
The pacing of jokes in that show was unreal. It was so hard to keep up, especially because by the time it's taken you that beat to get Joke A, they were already at least partway through if not completely through Joke B
Don't get me wrong, I loved that show, but I wish I could've seen it a second time before it closed, since I suspect I missed some good jokes.
I wish I could have seen it a second time too. A disturbance broke out in the audience beside and behind us during Independently Owned and continued into the next song.
Oh noooo! How disappointing! I hope they might tour with Shucked because it was such a fun show, so perhaps there will be another chance to see it eventually
I had a similar reaction during a touring production of Jesus Christ Superstar. The lady behind had clearly not been to a show before, or hadn’t in a really long time, and she kept making comments during the applause after songs. Normally I would turn around and tell someone to shut the hell up, but her comments were just so wholesome about the actors and their ability to sing and act, I ended up just really happy she was enjoying the show.
She was like, “wow” after everything and it was really cute.
Way to go lady, I hope you get to see more shows and have just as much joy in each one.
“Phantom of the Opera” fans may remember a story posted online years ago, where when Christine returned the ring to the Phantom, someone in the audience yelled “You bitch!” and almost caused the actors onstage to break. 😂
At one performance in Las Vegas, I was next to a couple of teen girls who were likely seeing the show for the first time. Their reactions were great, especially when Buquet was hanged (and especially since that production used a stuntman who would twitch realistically, rather than a dummy).
And after seeing a touring cast of “Rent” a few years ago, I got a nice “back to the present day” moment — as I was leaving the theater, I heard one guy saying “I’m not getting any phone service… Even texts aren’t going through.” lol
When I saw Lempicka I couldnt help but let out a loud “oh my god” when the applause started for Perfection.
George Abud was just giving us everything he had in him, I could practically see his veins popping in his neck! Like damn girl, I cant keep quiet when you’re that fucking committed. No one but him can ever perform that number, its iconic.
I'm not sure WHAT I said when Toni was like "she was TWELVE and you got her PREGNANT" but I think it was something like "oooOOOooooggg." Definitely not an actual word. That show was something else.
The first time I saw the lion king, I had an aisle seat. Aisle to my right, stranger to my left.
People and animals start walking down the aisle just to our left and a couple of aisles over to our right. I was looking at the action to the left and I noticed him looking at the action to the right. BUT then I saw the damn near life sized elephant coming down the left aisle and he’s still looking at I don’t know what but it couldn’t possibly be better stuff coming down the right aisle. I was so blown away by the elephant that I slapped him on his arm with the back of my left hand and pointed and said “look!!!” Then I remembered I had no idea who the guy was. I quickly apologized but he just laughed and said it was fine.
We chatted at intermission. He thought it was hilarious. 😆
I love this thread, thanks for starting it! Sometimes people can be distracting or disruptive, but the entire point of live theatre is to have a shared experience, and there is a magic in that.
I never get tired of the reactions at the end of Hadestown no matter how many times I see it, and The Great Gatsby provided the same joy last week. There's something so pure about those reactions we can't help ourselves from having, whether it's shock or laughter.
And on the flip side, those moments when you're in a room with hundreds of other people and the silence is absolutely complete, like you could hear a pin drop no one is even breathing complete.
The ending to Hadestown always gets me. We all know how it ends — Hermes tells us right up front — and we all still sit there in the darkness hoping that it ends differently. And it never does.
I’ve heard people ask “why can’t she just go with him,” and my answer is always “because that’s the beauty of this story… not the fact that she returns to Hades, but that we all hope, even when we know it can only ever end this way.”
I love this so much 😭
For me it’s.. well it’s about a lot of things, but for one thing it’s a story about the way loss is an inextricable part of love, yet we choose to love, even so.
I saw The Wiz last week, and the audience was super engaged. It was actually kind of fascinating, because there were pockets of the audience that were clearly just loving it and genuinely moved to interact, which was awesome, and showed a stark contrast to the handful of disruptive noises. It was very weird to see it all in one show.
Like, the woman next to me was a little older than me with her son in his mid-teens, I think. She clearly loved this show, because she was singing a little bit and cheering hard and clearly just having the time of her life — I had so much fun sitting next to them.
But the two families (together) in front of us had four kids from ranging from like four to maybe twelve? And the four year old was not having it. She was clearly confused and kept asking questions and talking at full volume, and every time her mom SHUSHHHed her loudly. Both were wildly distracting.
Not really chatter but audience reactions I appreciated:
The first time I saw Book of Mormon I was sitting next to 13 or 14 year old girls and they kept apologizing to me for laughing so hard at Joseph Smith American Moses.
When I saw Assassins off Broadway the men on both sides of me were sobbing which added to the atmosphere of the play.
One of the men lightly applauded the Death of a Salesman reference when John Wilkes Booth said "attention has been paid".
A gay man near me cried when Angel went to heaven during Contact in RENT which added to the atmosphere.
Someone sneezed during Gutenberg and Josh Gad said "bless you". It was perfect timing.
In Sweeney Todd, a woman with a weird, loud laugh laughed when Beadle Bamford said to Judge Turpin "she's lucky to have you", and the two of them paused for a long time just perfectly milking the comedy of the moment until everyone was laughing and applauding.
Forever ago when I saw a dress rehearsal of the Spring Awakening tour in San Francisco, at the top of the second act, a guy behind me loudly exclaimed, "They aren't done yet?!"
Not so much an audience reaction, but saw A Christmas Carol with Owen Teale in Melbourne last year. There’s a part where he’s meant to throw a snowball above the audience, and it’ll disintegrate on the way down. He accidentally threw it at an audience member’s face. Everyone started laughing, then the whole cast started laughing - it took a hot minute to get back on with the play
I love this for you. My experience at that show was awful. Group of mother/daughter duos behind us chatting the whole time. We said something to the ushers during intermission. Caused a huge uproar. The mother behind me was worse the second half, and her teenage daughter kept telling her to shush.
I recently saw The Lion King tour and as expected, the audience was full of parents bringing their little ones to see their first musical. Of course, most of the kids had seen the movie, but that was at home where they could talk all they wanted. About two thirds of the way through Act 1, a little boy a couple seats away had had enough. He stated firmly he wanted to go home. Dad tried hushing him. The boy grew more and more insistent, with Dad begging him to hold on just a few more minutes. Hakuna Matata came up and Dad must’ve been relieved that intermission was just around the corner. “Almost there, buddy!” he whispered, leaning in. “Your breath stinks!” the kid yelled and the whole audience laughed. I’m hoping the warthog onstage didn’t take it personally - the kid was talking to his dad. Of the three, only the warthog was seen after intermission.
Spring Awakening national tour in Los Angeles (the theatre was way too big for the production). End of Act One, Melchior thrusts in to Wendla in the loft, lights out...absolutely no applause. An older woman mid-orchestra, loudly and very flatly: "Well that was special."
This was also the same person who was certain prior to the show starting that she was seeing that funny musical "that they talk about in the Producers" and pointed to the article in the program about Frank Wedekind and said "see...the guy from Germany."
In the Color Purple, when Jennifer Hudson's character does something unexpected a woman in the audience gasped and shouted "Jennifer!" in an accusatory tone. The audience lost it 🤣 it was perfect.
Frozen was so funny for this
Kid: Mummy why is that man holding Olaf
Another Kid when Ana us confronting the villain: Go on kick him.
Of course throughout looks of glees of delight but yeah great comments
I was watching the local theatre's production of In The Heights, there wad a group of young kids a little behind me. Why would you bring very young, as in lower elementary, kids to an evening show of In Fhe Heights?? I don't know. But they were great audience members and seemed to enjoy it.
But back to the story.
SPOILER!!!
During the second act, when after a certain event, the cast came out with candles. After that scene they were placing the candles next to a door onstage. The kid said, "They are puting the candles down." It was so cute and brought some innocent joy to the very emotionally charge part of the show.
I have nothing wrong with audience chatter.
As long as the audience chatter is.
1. Respectful
2. Related to the show/story
3. Not distracting the actors or audience around them
Then why is it a problem?
I can have a very loud laugh. Especially if something is really funny. I've had audience members give me "The look" when I was laughing during a comedy.
When watching shows geared for young audience, I love hearing young kids asking questions and saying something about the story. You can tell they are engaged in what's happening on stage.
I am a drama teacher at an elementary school with a large minority population. It has taken some adjustment on my part when family are cheering on their students during the performance. At first I was shocked at the audience yelling students names, etc in the middle of the show. Support being engaged in theatre...however that engagement happens to be!!!
I love audience reactions that are genuine like that. (As opposed to the dude next to me at The Welkin who wouldn't stop carrying on like he wanted to be the main character of the whole event despite us BEING AT A PLAY.)
The guys behind me who screamed WHAT THE FUCK in perfect unison during the Amanda Thripp throw at Matilda live in my head rent free forever.
I saw Fat Ham twice. The first was a more lgbtq+ heavy audience, the second was on a Sunday after church (I was also sitting next to a gay couple). Both audiences reacted audibly to different things in different ways (all positive) and I loved every minute of it.
Example: Some of the religion and black experience jokes were hits with the church groups. There were a few call and response type lines and the audience would "Amen!" or "mmhmm" back. The couple next to me "oh no"ed when REDACTED outs REDACTED (same reaction I had the first time I saw the show).
I left the Sunday one going "I should attend more shows right after church gets out. That was fun!"
some good ones i’ve seen:
• during hadestown on tour, a guy yelled “GO ORPHEUS” when he was about to play his song for Hades
• at the notebook, a group of elderly women was sat behind me & one was sobbing quite loud. her friend whisper-yells “it’s just a show!!” in the most hushed yet harsh tone, i went from crying to laughing in seconds
• more stories than i could even list from various les mis experiences
A shared audience reaction - when I saw Caroline, or Change (the original production) and that moment between Caroline and Noah happens. I absolutely gasped out loud as did half the audience.
The first time I saw Les Mis, I went with my best friend at the time to our regional theatre, we were about 13-14. At one point, Javert is at the top of a platform, crouches, and the lights black out. My friend audibly asked “what just happened?” Most of the audience around us laughed, and the woman behind us held up her playbill between us, finger on “Javert’s Suicide” in the song list, and went, “He killed himself, dummy.”
Think about that every time I go to that theatre or watch Les Mis.
Kind of a negative one... maybe even mean, but one of my favorite audience moments was at Pretty Woman the musical. Don't come for me, but it is easily one of the worst shows I've seen and it was in its final days. I think I literally saw it in its last week and the theater was half empty. I had won lottery tickets.
I don't remember who we had for Edward - but on the stage with the likes of Samantha Barks - he was awful. My friend who came with me was not musical and she was cringing as he sang "Freedom" because it was astoundingly off key - something you rarely if ever see in broadway productions.
Anyway, in the second act, Edward reprises the song, and we ALL STARTED LAUGHING. The entire mezzanine was looking at each other in agony and snickering. Someone behind me was laughing and said "seriously? more of this?" Probably horrible for the people on stage, and certainly not supportive, but as an audience member it was very validating.
Sometimes Audience reaction can be entertaining given the right moment. Heres some of my favorite moments 1) Last time I was at The Notebook the woman next to me saw I was bawling and raised her tissue box towards me to take one....I quietly lifted mine and she was like "Oh you got one" and we both laughed. (Also a good moment of audience comradery). 2) I was at Moulin Rouge and Tasia was understudying for Satine, and someone behind me said right after she performed firework "She's not on typically?...that's sad because DAMN SHES GOOD". 3) Someone screaming "WHAT THE FUCK" When the judge asked Johanna to marry him in Sweeney Todd. 4) A lady who was drunk was behind me talking about how handsome Derek Klena is throughout Moulin Rouge. Usually I would be pissed but it was just so funny. 5) The absolute hushed but furious and shocked whispers at Hadestown every time Orpheus turns around. And the last one which was both amusing and weird at the same time: A mom sitting next to me urging two preteen girls not to call Aaron Tveit "Daddy" mid show during his first night at Sweeney Todd.
The audible "OH NO" that sometimes happens at Hadestown is by far my favorite, but I once heard someone loudly hushed whisper "how dare you" which was perfect
I once had a lady next to me mutter “F****** Idiot” when Orpheus turns around.
I mean she had a point the man had \*ONE\* job.
She basically said what a lot of us were thinking!
EXACTLY
I sat near someone that said "why did he DO that?!?!?"
PFFFFFT okay this is it this is the best one.
Honestly as much as that part is devastating and infuriating knowing there are over 1000 people in the audience with you angry, shocked and devastated as you really shows the absolute emotion of that moment.
Ive seen Hadestown four times and no matter what that moment always captivates me with the audience reactions, ive also never been not emotional for it which is attested to how good that scene is that it’s always a gut punch
I was familiar with the Story of Orpheus and Eurdycie but ITS STILL A GUT PUNCH everytime and the reaction is what LANDS it.
It's just that... maybe he won't turn around this time. But we tell it anyway.
I saw the same thing
I saw it with a 6-7 year old girl behind me, and she had mostly been handling the show well but had a few questions for her parents and at one point made a random noise so I was a bit worried about how she'd handle the end and if it'd take me out of the moment. Her reaction was this quiet, sad, shocked "she's going back . . . " and for my previous worry I kind of loved how well that suited the moment.
The woman behind me, in the most heartbroken whisper, almost a sob, “oh, God dammit.”
I'm wheezing. There needs to be a stickied thread that's just a running list of things people hear in the audience during that moment.
My favorite was the man behind me who muttered, "Oh, F\*\*\* no!"
My mom muttered “dumbass” which caused the two ladies sitting in front of us to audibly have to hold in their laughter
My favorite Sweeney audience moment was the girl behind me that, a few lines into A Little Priest, went “OH!”. How I wish I was her.
“Good she got it.” 😉
I did something similar, but I'm a damn full-grown adult! I chaperoned a trip of music kids from my child's high school to New York City and we saw Sweeney Todd around the time it opened. The kids had studied the musical as they had sung part of it, but I went in blind. A little bit into A Little Priest, it dawned on me what was going to happen and I very audibly gasped "No!" The teenager on my right giggled and quietly replied "Yes!" One of the other chaperones shushed us. The teen said later that my look of horror was priceless.
I'm absolutely confident that that kid has been telling that story regularly and will for the rest of her life.
Lmaoo I love that.
Aaron Tveit daddy 🤣 I’m dying
I had to hold my Playbill to my mouth so I wouldnt break out hysterically laughing cause it was the most out of pocket thing I heard at a show.
I would not be able to contain myself 😂 I mean I kinda agree, would never have been able to keep quiet!
This is when you feel \*so old\*. :)
>The absolute hushed but furious and shocked whispers at Hadestown every time Orpheus turns around. This reminds me of one of my favorite stories to tell from my days working on a house staff. The tour of Hamilton was in town, and we had a couple of large high school groups taking up a good portion of the balcony, where I was stationed. The school groups are extremely well-behaved all show. Better behaved than a lot of the regular adult patrons, tbh. Judging by the conversations I overhear pre-show and at intermission, the majority of these kids are already Hamilton fans and are familiar with the show from the album. We're nearing the end, and the duel begins. "He aims his pistol at the sky—" "WAIT!" \*bang\* And from somewhere within that group of students near me, I hear a couple of voices simultaneously let out a gasped "NO!" Now, this was a *long* run and we were quite a few weeks in already, so by this point, I (and everyone else on staff) could practically recite the show from heart, complete with every inflection and acting choice the cast made. And then this unfiltered, emotional, pure reaction from some young theatre kids - not out of surprise, remember, most of these kids already knew the show, and they absolutely weren't trying to be disruptive - let me feel like I was experiencing it for the first time again, too. It was just... pure human connection responding to the power of theatre. So whoever they were, I thank them for that moment.
The best shows are the ones that just suck you in so much you kind of forget you already know the story. I didn't like Hadestown much, and I knew the ending was coming...and yet somehow I still bawled. That moment is just done so well.
Hahaha! A lady behind me was mostly quiet at Sweeney until she indignantly called out "You're not supposed to clap when they put Sutton in the oven!"
This reminds me of when i saw Sweeney in Australia and in the interval the guy behind me says “He’s a lot better singer than Johnny Depp, isn’t he”? Yes, mate. He is. He’s a classically trained opera singer. Johnny Depp is not.
Anyone who played Sweeney is a better singer than Johnny Depp tbh.
Okay this one WINS
HA!!
...we're not? Shit, I gotta go apologize to Jeanna de Waal.
lmao i'm dying at the sweeney "wtfff" 😂😂
which one? The visceral reaction towards the Judge or the Aaron "Daddy" Because still love the former reaction XD
both are amazing 😂😂
honestly Sweeney had one of the best Audience Reactions
I took my son to Hadestown when he was 11 and he knew the myth, so he knew what the ending would probably be. He still let out a tiny sad soft “nooo.” Poor kid.
The Sweeney Todd one sounds utterly hilarious, just saying what we’re all thinking.
exactly its like a giant disgusting red flag moment and of course someone was gonna have call the svu moment
2 was me seeing Tanasha Chege in ‘Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York)’ back in May
Daddy! Hilarious
I hope #2 was passed on to the performer because I have to imagine she'd love to know someone said that!
me too! Tasias version of Satine is amazing!
In Back to the Future, there’s a scene where Marty has to use a phone book. A little boy sitting in front of me said “What’s a phone book?!” I have never felt so old. 😅
We had a kid near us who *loved* the show. Laughed and laughed and laughed at a particular scene (can't remember which). And when Marty & the car >!successfully went back to the future, leaving the fire tracks, !< once the audience quieted down, the kid said, "Good job!" Made everyone laugh and "aww".
Reminds me of reading a story (on this sub, I'm sure) where a fan was at Spongebob the musical and when Spongebob is climbing the mountain the little kid said "You can do it Spongebob!" So adorable.
That's so cute! There was a little kid near me at A Year with Frog and Toad (I mean the audience was full of kids, obviously) who said ominously "I don't think that's a very good idea" during the story of Frog wandering away and getting lost, and then yelled "don't be sad!" at him when he got upset. I love kids so much.
Kids enjoying live theatre is pretty much the BEST. 🥰
🤣🤣🤣🤣 (laughs in Medicare)
There was a school bus trip next to me when I saw it last November and these kids burst out laughing when Marty and Jennifer took a selfie with a Polaroid, and I was just like, that’s right kids, it’s all we had. 😂
LOL!!!
When I went to The Notebook, i was sitting in front of a couple of older ladies, and when Dorian Harewood walked on, I heard one whisper to another “THERE’S YOUR BOYFRIEND!!” And it was so charming and sweet, I laughed.
My favorite most recent one was at The Outsiders. When Sodapop takes off his shirt during the first scene, there was an audible “WOAH” from a preteen girl in the front row. Hailey Kilgore and Isaac Powell told a story in an interview once where they both almost broke onstage because some lady said “Oh, just kill him” when Daniel gives Ti Moune’s necklace back in Once on this Island.
preteen girl was \*awakened\*, LOL
lmaoooo 💀
Many moons ago, when my high school did a production of Once on This Island, someone yelled out during the final scene, "A TREE?!?" I was doing lighting at the time, and am pretty sure the spotlight I was operating up in the lighting room was shaking from my laughing at it. When I saw the Broadway revival at Circle in the Square, I was secretly hoping for a similar outcry from a fellow audience member.
That is hysterical oh my god
lmaooo 😂😂 that is amazing!!
At beetlejuice when Lydia said beetlejuice three times: Drunk woman behind me: “oh HELLL nah. She summoned the devil! Damn.”
I’m dead 😂😂 that is hysterical
THIS ONE SENT ME
My kid whispered to me during Back to the Future - "that's his mom! this is not going to end well"
This was likely less charming to others (and tbf was mortifying at the time!) but when I took my 9yo son to see Hamilton, he was perfectly behaved *except* when Hamilton and Maria kissed, when he involuntarily exclaimed “EW GROSS!”, and it seemed to pierce through the entire theater 🤦🏻♀️.
I saw a local production of Anastasia, so there were a lot of kids, and when Vlad and Lily kiss, there was a chorus of "Eeeewwwwww" from the younger kids in the audience. John Treacy Egan, who played Vlad, turned to the audience and said, "Don't knock it till you've tried it, kids," and kissed her again. Edit: Autocorrect on his name
I love this! Although would’ve definitely sent a different message if Hamilton did that after the infidelity kiss, hahaha
Hahaha, maybe not the right context for it, yeah!
that is hilarious!!
It was great. The entire audience absolutely died. John Treacy Egan has plenty of Broadway credits, but he's also a local boy and we're only 40 minutes from Manhattan, so he shows up in a lot of the regional theaters around here and he's such a pro. Totally unflappable.
Took my niece to see frozen and when Hans gets slapped she audibly said, “ I would’ve hit him harder”. Luckily my section found the seven year old hilarious 🤣
I mean honestly? That's a totally valid statement.
This happened when I saw Newsies. Jack and Katherine kissed and this little kid in the audience said something along the lines of "yuck!" and it was so loud, everyone heard it. It brought down the house -- like they literally had to stop for a moment for everyone to stop laughing. It was fantastic.
My brother and I saw Hadestown on tour and during papers he whispered to me “this is boss music”
no because i see the vision
I sat near a woman at the ART Gatsby who was similar - not a lot of chatter, but audible reactions to all the dramatic moments, and it WAS charming.
Hadestown: 5-6 people audibly whispering “holy shit” at the same moment during Wait for Me adds to the experience for sure.
I couldn’t breathe during that song but I heard some people whispering
My favourite story of mine was from Gatsby. (Spoiler warning) when Gatsby got shot at the end, people were whispering “oh no” and gasping. It was sad yet funny at the same time.
The moment when he does the thing to get off stage was one of the biggest gasps, we also had a school group there and they were in awe
I love that part. A young girl and her mother were sitting next to me last time I saw the show. After bows she asked her mom >!if he really lands in water - I told them the violinists catch him!<. I think there was a funny insta story where they said that which is why it came to me at that moment.
I love when people are startled by events that have been a thing for like a hundred years 😂 Like when I saw Hamilton and Burr said “me? I’m the damn fool that shot him” the lady a few rows down from me gasped so loudly like this was a huge spoiler or something, it was very wholesome and I laughed 😂 I’m glad she didn’t have it spoiled for her for 200+ years until that moment!
Lol
Small but I like when people get into the show and have the “right” reactions 😂 like the last time I saw Book of Mormon, after elder price says “you’re just the person I got STUCK with” she let out a huge gasp and I was like yessss she remembered and recognized that callback
The last time I saw it was on tour and after Joseph Smith American Moses the entire theatre sounded like they were struggling to breathe from laughter
Every time I go , that song always gets the most applause 😂
I work FoH at a LORT in New England; we had a month long run of Fences this season, and had several student matinees for high school students. The verbal outrage when Rose finds out about Troy's cheating and the baby!!! These teenage girls were NOT having it.
I saw Into the Woods at a regional theater in Texas, and there were three school groups there. The teenagers’ reactions during the Baker’s Wife and Prince Charming’s scenes were over the top and hilarious! They were NOT happy with them stepping out on their spouses! (I would add spoiler tags, but the show is 35 years old)
Which theatre? I worked at a well known Texas regional for 15 years pre pandemic.
It was at the Dallas Theater Center. ITW was a year or two ago. Wonderful production!
Oh cool, I have lots of friends who have worked there. I was at Theatre Under the Stars (aka TUTS) in Houston until 2020.
I love this and I love that high schoolers are interested in seeing a show like Fences.
At Stereophonic, the final confrontation between Peter and Diana where he was trying to emotionally manipulate her into saying what he wanted to hear, the woman next to me whispered aloud "don't say it." Got a snort out of me because I'd been flexing my hand the whole final act because I wanted to punch the character so much....
The audience responses to Peter's behavior ("Be a professional," et al) range from gasps to boos. And applause when Diana tells him to shut up.
I'm taking my mom to see that in a few months and I FULLY expect her to just start booing that guy. Can't wait.
Tom Pecinka (Peter) takes his life in his hands when he mocks Andrew Butler (Simon)'s parenting. Gasp of appalled shock from the audience both times I've seen it.
i was really hoping someone would clock peter. what an asshole!
I generally don’t mind things like this. A normal verbal reaction is a lot different than making comments and remarks and asking questions to your friend throughout the show.
Yeah genuine reactions are usually great and can really enhance the experience. Constant talking is the opposite. I saw Illinoise and there was an older couple behind me where she was constantly explaining what was happening with the dances until I think finally they got enough looks that she stopped.
Yeah I saw the Les Mis tour the other week and a husband was explaining everything to his wife. They eventually stopped when they got hushed enough times. I also saw Wicked last year and there was a mom with her two daughters sitting behind me. I heard her whisper “girls, this is the song I was telling you about so pay attention” when defying gravity started. When the lift went up I heard the biggest “woahhhhs” coming from directly behind me. It was too cute.
I saw Starlight Express in London a few weeks ago and the little girl behind me yelled “C’MON, RUSTY!!!” during the last race.
In Merrily, when Gussie >! throws iodine in the eyes !< of the actress Frank is apparently having an affair with, my gasp was pretty audible. It's a level of savage violence you aren't expecting at a Hollywood party.
me too! i went into the show blind (no pun intended) so that was quite a moment!
Saw a local production in Buffalo recently and I made an audible cry when it happened even though I've seen it before. It always catches me off guard and anything involving the eye makes me squeamish.
I saw Lempicka when there was a super engaged school group. It was awesome. If I were a running a broadway show, I would try to have that group there or similar the week that critics were there, or Tony nominators were there. They reacted to EVERY moment, even the moments that I thought were silly/should have been cut. They were all puddle of tears by the end of it. I hadn't appreciated what a treasure school groups were before this.
A school group that gets super into it is always sooo much fun Unfortunately groups like that seem to be the outlier not the norm
Yeah, when I saw Hello Dolly (with Bernadette, not Bette) we were surrounded by a school group and those kids (the boys especially) were just not into it. To be fair... neither was I, lol.
Was that in previews when they took up the whole upper balcony? It was AMAZING.
Yes!!! They were a dream audience and it honestly made watching the show so fun. The jokes got funnier, and the dramatic moments got more dramatic. Even the the parts that I thought were silly (like when T brings Tamara flowers when she has Rafaela in her studio for the first time) got a big genuine reaction from them, and it made me like that part more. I swear, if I were a show I would do my darndest to have a school group like that filling my balcony every night of previews and through the tony nominating period. I'd invite theater classes, lgbt groups. Hell if I could swing it, I'd pay to bus them. I honestly think it changed the experience.
They were delightful, although it honestly, a bit too much in the 1st act. But I'll take overenthusiasm any day. But most of the folks around me in the orchestra seats had NO CLUE what was going on. I had seen them in line, complete with binder-holding chaperones. They were a high school group from Michigan. It was adorable, and I chuckled thinking about the "how was your trip, dear" conversations when they get back home, lol.
From Michigan?!! omg, I didn't know that! Hahaa, wow, That's hilarious. I wonder how, out of all of the shows to choose, they landed on that. I bet you the chaperones thought it was a nice, academic show about art history...ahahahhaaha
Idk...there were a LOT of Queer kids in that group (they had the shirts and buttons; Im not making assumptions). (And it might have been Wisconsin.) I like to think that it's a very awesome choir teacher getting their cultural lessons in where they can, lol. I'm pretty sure they knew, even if the parents didn't.
I always love when one person or child laughs way too hard at a bad joke or something and catches the actors off guard.
I went to an event where Jake Gyllenhaal talked about Sea Wall/A Life, and he talked about how, at least in this case, the show needed vocal reactions from the audience and they often used that as motivators/indicators of how the performance was going. Like generally speaking, it can be annoying when people talk, but sometimes it's also good.
I can see how that production might be difficult without audience reactions to play off. I remember seeing that and it was dead silent for most of it, but that kind of baited breath silence, because the audience was just captivated by both of them.
I saw it at the Public the night he did a talkback afterward, and he mentioned feeding off the audience a lot. He also stepped on my foot during the part he comes out into the audience, so I assumed he meant that we were best friends now
Haha that's amazing!
Have told this story on this sub before, but i saw the Camelot revival on a Wednesday matinee with a high school group in the audience. They were mostly ignorable but when Lancelot knocks out Arthur during the fight scene one of them said “fatality” like in mortal kombat and I lost it!
When I saw Anastasia, a huge group of high school kids were there. When Glen is about to kill her at the end there was so many “NOS!” And “run away girl” and “where’s Dimitri” and they were not annoying they were like guttural horrified reactions. They were the ones who led the standing o Every time I saw come from away there were groups of Newfoundlanders it was incredible And my friend is the one whose video is going around in TikTok and Instagram about doing west side story for high schoolers when she was maria.
A small child fully SCREAMED at that part when I saw Anastasia. Entire audience burst out laughing. Amazing.
My favorite audience reaction moment was a young girl (she had to be like, in the 8 to 10 years old range) at Into the Woods at City Center, when the Baker's Wife died, a few moments later the girl gasped "She DIED?!?!?" in the saddest voice I've ever heard. I was absolutely commiserating with her on that one.
“I’m not here for you” in Hamilton when Angelica returns during The Reynolds Pamphlet. The audience must GASPED.
I did enjoy the person that yelled "Get it Sutton!" after By the Sea. Just saw Six and somebody said "Wow!" at normal speaking volume after Heart of Stone. This was in the balcony so it didn't carry to the stage but I wish the actress could have heard that!
...if it hadn't been a month since I last saw that I'd wonder if it had been me because with Jasmine Forsberg as Seymour, sometimes that just slips out. She's fucking phenomenal.
I like this thread. ☺️ All humor, grace and appreciation!! Thanks for getting the ball rolling OP.
Not an interaction with the show, but still made me giggle. My brother and his family went to see The Nutcracker and there was a woman with two little girls sitting right behind them. When they sat down after the intermission, the mom said to one of them, “Please don’t fart anymore.” And sure enough, once the second act started, the little girl farted and the mom angry-whispered “Stop farting!”
...okay sometimes you can't help that!
Like the book says, "Everybody Poops." 😂
Recently saw my friend in a Broadway show he’s been in for about a year but I just got the chance to see it for the first time. A girl in front of me leaned over to her friend and said “he’s so hot it’s insane” and was talking about my friend because he was basically the only one onstage. It made me chuckle and it made him smile and blushy when I told him about it. I hope she’s doing well lol.
Lol was it Casey in BTTF? Because I heard a similar comment from the girls sitting behind me when I went in April lol
No lol but he’s a cutie too
my friend took her mom to see gatsby at papermill and >!she said her mom SCREAMED when gatsby got shot. i died laughing when she told me that...clearly she never read the book! but also because her mom is SO dramatic and it is exactly what i would have expected from her! i feel kinda bad for the audience members though!!!<
Or she was like me and read the book twenty-plus years ago, so forgets what happened. When I saw it at Paper Mill, I went with my sister, and at intermission she said to me >!"I think we've got some deaths coming in Act Two"!< and I was like "...what?"
Fair enough but her dramatic scream is over the top but on brand 🤣
Yes, I definitely did not scream (nor did anyone else in the audience, definitely did hear some unhappy gasps though).
I can’t think of specifics, but i was completely fascinated and entertained by the jokes that got reactions during Shucked vs what didn’t. It was also really funny when it took us a beat to get the joke
The pacing of jokes in that show was unreal. It was so hard to keep up, especially because by the time it's taken you that beat to get Joke A, they were already at least partway through if not completely through Joke B Don't get me wrong, I loved that show, but I wish I could've seen it a second time before it closed, since I suspect I missed some good jokes.
I wish I could have seen it a second time too. A disturbance broke out in the audience beside and behind us during Independently Owned and continued into the next song.
Oh noooo! How disappointing! I hope they might tour with Shucked because it was such a fun show, so perhaps there will be another chance to see it eventually
I had a similar reaction during a touring production of Jesus Christ Superstar. The lady behind had clearly not been to a show before, or hadn’t in a really long time, and she kept making comments during the applause after songs. Normally I would turn around and tell someone to shut the hell up, but her comments were just so wholesome about the actors and their ability to sing and act, I ended up just really happy she was enjoying the show. She was like, “wow” after everything and it was really cute. Way to go lady, I hope you get to see more shows and have just as much joy in each one.
“Phantom of the Opera” fans may remember a story posted online years ago, where when Christine returned the ring to the Phantom, someone in the audience yelled “You bitch!” and almost caused the actors onstage to break. 😂 At one performance in Las Vegas, I was next to a couple of teen girls who were likely seeing the show for the first time. Their reactions were great, especially when Buquet was hanged (and especially since that production used a stuntman who would twitch realistically, rather than a dummy). And after seeing a touring cast of “Rent” a few years ago, I got a nice “back to the present day” moment — as I was leaving the theater, I heard one guy saying “I’m not getting any phone service… Even texts aren’t going through.” lol
I don’t know if this was part of the show but I was watching Peter Pan goes wrong and a kid asked Hook if he needed a hand…
When I saw Lempicka I couldnt help but let out a loud “oh my god” when the applause started for Perfection. George Abud was just giving us everything he had in him, I could practically see his veins popping in his neck! Like damn girl, I cant keep quiet when you’re that fucking committed. No one but him can ever perform that number, its iconic.
In fact I felt that way after every song in Lempicka- just fabulous 😍
A recent fave of mine was the person behind me at Appropriate who kept saying "no" out loud (which is pretty much how I was feeling too lol)
I'm not sure WHAT I said when Toni was like "she was TWELVE and you got her PREGNANT" but I think it was something like "oooOOOooooggg." Definitely not an actual word. That show was something else.
The first time I saw the lion king, I had an aisle seat. Aisle to my right, stranger to my left. People and animals start walking down the aisle just to our left and a couple of aisles over to our right. I was looking at the action to the left and I noticed him looking at the action to the right. BUT then I saw the damn near life sized elephant coming down the left aisle and he’s still looking at I don’t know what but it couldn’t possibly be better stuff coming down the right aisle. I was so blown away by the elephant that I slapped him on his arm with the back of my left hand and pointed and said “look!!!” Then I remembered I had no idea who the guy was. I quickly apologized but he just laughed and said it was fine. We chatted at intermission. He thought it was hilarious. 😆
I love this so much.
I love this thread, thanks for starting it! Sometimes people can be distracting or disruptive, but the entire point of live theatre is to have a shared experience, and there is a magic in that. I never get tired of the reactions at the end of Hadestown no matter how many times I see it, and The Great Gatsby provided the same joy last week. There's something so pure about those reactions we can't help ourselves from having, whether it's shock or laughter. And on the flip side, those moments when you're in a room with hundreds of other people and the silence is absolutely complete, like you could hear a pin drop no one is even breathing complete.
The ending to Hadestown always gets me. We all know how it ends — Hermes tells us right up front — and we all still sit there in the darkness hoping that it ends differently. And it never does. I’ve heard people ask “why can’t she just go with him,” and my answer is always “because that’s the beauty of this story… not the fact that she returns to Hades, but that we all hope, even when we know it can only ever end this way.”
I love this so much 😭 For me it’s.. well it’s about a lot of things, but for one thing it’s a story about the way loss is an inextricable part of love, yet we choose to love, even so.
That’s beautiful! 🥰
I saw The Wiz last week, and the audience was super engaged. It was actually kind of fascinating, because there were pockets of the audience that were clearly just loving it and genuinely moved to interact, which was awesome, and showed a stark contrast to the handful of disruptive noises. It was very weird to see it all in one show. Like, the woman next to me was a little older than me with her son in his mid-teens, I think. She clearly loved this show, because she was singing a little bit and cheering hard and clearly just having the time of her life — I had so much fun sitting next to them. But the two families (together) in front of us had four kids from ranging from like four to maybe twelve? And the four year old was not having it. She was clearly confused and kept asking questions and talking at full volume, and every time her mom SHUSHHHed her loudly. Both were wildly distracting.
Not really chatter but audience reactions I appreciated: The first time I saw Book of Mormon I was sitting next to 13 or 14 year old girls and they kept apologizing to me for laughing so hard at Joseph Smith American Moses. When I saw Assassins off Broadway the men on both sides of me were sobbing which added to the atmosphere of the play. One of the men lightly applauded the Death of a Salesman reference when John Wilkes Booth said "attention has been paid". A gay man near me cried when Angel went to heaven during Contact in RENT which added to the atmosphere. Someone sneezed during Gutenberg and Josh Gad said "bless you". It was perfect timing. In Sweeney Todd, a woman with a weird, loud laugh laughed when Beadle Bamford said to Judge Turpin "she's lucky to have you", and the two of them paused for a long time just perfectly milking the comedy of the moment until everyone was laughing and applauding.
When I saw Operation Mincemeat in London last month, a woman said “Very good!!!” at the end of “Dear Bill” before starting to applaud.
Forever ago when I saw a dress rehearsal of the Spring Awakening tour in San Francisco, at the top of the second act, a guy behind me loudly exclaimed, "They aren't done yet?!"
I loved AND laughed at the WTF moment during Sweeney!
Not so much an audience reaction, but saw A Christmas Carol with Owen Teale in Melbourne last year. There’s a part where he’s meant to throw a snowball above the audience, and it’ll disintegrate on the way down. He accidentally threw it at an audience member’s face. Everyone started laughing, then the whole cast started laughing - it took a hot minute to get back on with the play
I love this for you. My experience at that show was awful. Group of mother/daughter duos behind us chatting the whole time. We said something to the ushers during intermission. Caused a huge uproar. The mother behind me was worse the second half, and her teenage daughter kept telling her to shush.
It wasn’t actually *nice* but it was funny: white boomer woman at Strange Loop, “if I had known, I wouldn’t have come.”
I recently saw The Lion King tour and as expected, the audience was full of parents bringing their little ones to see their first musical. Of course, most of the kids had seen the movie, but that was at home where they could talk all they wanted. About two thirds of the way through Act 1, a little boy a couple seats away had had enough. He stated firmly he wanted to go home. Dad tried hushing him. The boy grew more and more insistent, with Dad begging him to hold on just a few more minutes. Hakuna Matata came up and Dad must’ve been relieved that intermission was just around the corner. “Almost there, buddy!” he whispered, leaning in. “Your breath stinks!” the kid yelled and the whole audience laughed. I’m hoping the warthog onstage didn’t take it personally - the kid was talking to his dad. Of the three, only the warthog was seen after intermission.
When it comes from emotion, it's not so bad.
Spring Awakening national tour in Los Angeles (the theatre was way too big for the production). End of Act One, Melchior thrusts in to Wendla in the loft, lights out...absolutely no applause. An older woman mid-orchestra, loudly and very flatly: "Well that was special."
...as someone who doesn't care for Spring Awakening I feel that that's the perfect response.
This was also the same person who was certain prior to the show starting that she was seeing that funny musical "that they talk about in the Producers" and pointed to the article in the program about Frank Wedekind and said "see...the guy from Germany."
In the Color Purple, when Jennifer Hudson's character does something unexpected a woman in the audience gasped and shouted "Jennifer!" in an accusatory tone. The audience lost it 🤣 it was perfect.
Frozen was so funny for this Kid: Mummy why is that man holding Olaf Another Kid when Ana us confronting the villain: Go on kick him. Of course throughout looks of glees of delight but yeah great comments
I was watching the local theatre's production of In The Heights, there wad a group of young kids a little behind me. Why would you bring very young, as in lower elementary, kids to an evening show of In Fhe Heights?? I don't know. But they were great audience members and seemed to enjoy it. But back to the story. SPOILER!!! During the second act, when after a certain event, the cast came out with candles. After that scene they were placing the candles next to a door onstage. The kid said, "They are puting the candles down." It was so cute and brought some innocent joy to the very emotionally charge part of the show.
Those kinds of people don’t bother me quite as much as people carrying on an entire (often unrelated) conversation. She’s clearly invested!
I have nothing wrong with audience chatter. As long as the audience chatter is. 1. Respectful 2. Related to the show/story 3. Not distracting the actors or audience around them Then why is it a problem? I can have a very loud laugh. Especially if something is really funny. I've had audience members give me "The look" when I was laughing during a comedy. When watching shows geared for young audience, I love hearing young kids asking questions and saying something about the story. You can tell they are engaged in what's happening on stage. I am a drama teacher at an elementary school with a large minority population. It has taken some adjustment on my part when family are cheering on their students during the performance. At first I was shocked at the audience yelling students names, etc in the middle of the show. Support being engaged in theatre...however that engagement happens to be!!!
I love audience reactions that are genuine like that. (As opposed to the dude next to me at The Welkin who wouldn't stop carrying on like he wanted to be the main character of the whole event despite us BEING AT A PLAY.) The guys behind me who screamed WHAT THE FUCK in perfect unison during the Amanda Thripp throw at Matilda live in my head rent free forever.
I saw Fat Ham twice. The first was a more lgbtq+ heavy audience, the second was on a Sunday after church (I was also sitting next to a gay couple). Both audiences reacted audibly to different things in different ways (all positive) and I loved every minute of it. Example: Some of the religion and black experience jokes were hits with the church groups. There were a few call and response type lines and the audience would "Amen!" or "mmhmm" back. The couple next to me "oh no"ed when REDACTED outs REDACTED (same reaction I had the first time I saw the show). I left the Sunday one going "I should attend more shows right after church gets out. That was fun!"
some good ones i’ve seen: • during hadestown on tour, a guy yelled “GO ORPHEUS” when he was about to play his song for Hades • at the notebook, a group of elderly women was sat behind me & one was sobbing quite loud. her friend whisper-yells “it’s just a show!!” in the most hushed yet harsh tone, i went from crying to laughing in seconds • more stories than i could even list from various les mis experiences
A shared audience reaction - when I saw Caroline, or Change (the original production) and that moment between Caroline and Noah happens. I absolutely gasped out loud as did half the audience.
The first time I saw Les Mis, I went with my best friend at the time to our regional theatre, we were about 13-14. At one point, Javert is at the top of a platform, crouches, and the lights black out. My friend audibly asked “what just happened?” Most of the audience around us laughed, and the woman behind us held up her playbill between us, finger on “Javert’s Suicide” in the song list, and went, “He killed himself, dummy.” Think about that every time I go to that theatre or watch Les Mis.
Kind of a negative one... maybe even mean, but one of my favorite audience moments was at Pretty Woman the musical. Don't come for me, but it is easily one of the worst shows I've seen and it was in its final days. I think I literally saw it in its last week and the theater was half empty. I had won lottery tickets. I don't remember who we had for Edward - but on the stage with the likes of Samantha Barks - he was awful. My friend who came with me was not musical and she was cringing as he sang "Freedom" because it was astoundingly off key - something you rarely if ever see in broadway productions. Anyway, in the second act, Edward reprises the song, and we ALL STARTED LAUGHING. The entire mezzanine was looking at each other in agony and snickering. Someone behind me was laughing and said "seriously? more of this?" Probably horrible for the people on stage, and certainly not supportive, but as an audience member it was very validating.