WHAT HEELS: Broadway Babies
The Wall Street Journal reports that boorish behavior at Broadway shows is becoming epidemic, citing these examples:
Patti LuPone … broke character in "Gypsy" to scream at an audience member taking pictures. … "I had just had 10 months of pointing out to ushers texting, pointing out to ushers videoing, pointing out to ushers somebody on a phone," she says. "I just freaked."
During a Saturday matinee of the Holocaust drama "Irena's Vow," a man walked in late and called up to actress Tovah Feldshuh to halt her monologue until he got settled. "He shouted, 'Can you please wait a second?' and then continued on toward his seat," recalls Nick Ahlers, a science teacher from Newark, N.J., who was in the audience. He says the actress complied.
David Hyde Pierce, now starring in "Accent on Youth" on Broadway, has seen the gamut of faux pas. During "Curtains," for which he won the Tony for best actor in a musical in 2007, he witnessed a family passing a bucket of chicken down the front row.
No one is sure exactly why etiquette has become endangered, but there are several theories:
[S]hows have been offering steep discounts on tickets, which can normally cost upwards of $100 apiece. …
More out-of-towners have been showing up in recent years. And the percentage of children and teens in the audience reached its highest point in three decades during the 2007-08 season.
Stage veterans don't agree about who's more likely to breach etiquette: A regular theatergoer or a newcomer? A person who has paid top dollar for a ticket or someone who paid next to nothing? …
Tommy Vance, who has worked as a bartender in Broadway houses since 2001, attributes some attitude problems to high-priced tickets. "You just spent all that money - you don't want somebody else telling you what you can and cannot do during a show."
The Stiletto recalls a more genteel era when ladies would wear elbow-length gloves and a velvet cape or fur stole to attend the opera or symphony, and when luxury liners had two formal nights during a five-day Atlantic crossing (gentlemen wore black tuxedos on those nights; for the “casual” dinners, they wore white dinner jackets). Nowadays, when The Stiletto wants to see people comport themselves with elegance and grace, she watches a Fred Astaire movie. Sigh.
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