Entrance Applause- Page 2
Entrance Applause
Gaveston2
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/11
#25Entrance Applause
Posted: 1/7/12 at 9:56pm
"For me, it's any time a performer makes their entrance and the audience has enough respect for the show not to break the mood by applauding a star's mere presence."
I think it depends on the show, AC, and whether it has been staged to allow for entrance applause. For obvious reasons, I find it more appropriate in a musical comedy than in an Albee drama.
I think the biggest TOTAL entrance applause I ever heard was for the original production of FOLLIES. I saw it at a Saturday matinee shortly after it opened and the theater-party ladies around me were reminiscing about Ethel Shutta's performance in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1919 (or whenever it was)!
All the principals received generous entrance applause when they arrived for the cocktail party, and then each woman received another hand during the parade for "Beautiful Girls." Even though I was a teenager and didn't know who anybody but Yvonne De Carlo was, it was impossible not to get caught up in the excitement (and to appreciate that that particular cast represented a sizable chunk of theater and film history).
Updated On: 1/7/12 at 09:56 PM
#26Entrance Applause
Posted: 1/7/12 at 10:03pmWhat's worse is when another actor gets mistaken for the star and gets an overwhelming entrance applause because they come out sooner in the show than the star - this happened recently at both Man & Boy and Private Lives.
#27Entrance Applause
Posted: 1/7/12 at 10:06pm
It always seems to me like "Yay, they showed up for work!"
#28Entrance Applause
Posted: 1/7/12 at 11:14pm
It always seems to me like "Yay, they showed up for work!"
It's also the audience applauding themselves for recognizing the star. It's as self-congratulatory as an undeserved standing ovation.
I think it depends on the show, AC, and whether it has been staged to allow for entrance applause.
That's your opinion. I don't share it.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
Plum
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/4/04
#29Entrance Applause
Posted: 1/7/12 at 11:27pm
Yes, I was going to mention Private Lives as well - not as an example of "good" entrance applause, but as one of how stupid the phenomenon often is. The night I saw that show (and no doubt most other nights, as well), Anna Madely received rapturous entrance applause by virtue of being blonde and the first person seen onstage, which was apparently enough to get her mistaken for Kim Cattrall. The slight confusion in the air right afterwards was pretty funny, though.
*shrug* I don't want to begrudge people their happiness in a theater, I guess, but I'd rather applaud once my favorite performers do something.
rocknroll123
Chorus Member Joined: 5/5/11
#30Entrance Applause
Posted: 1/7/12 at 11:27pmThe biggest entrance applause I've seen was when Clay Aiken was in Spamalot. However, there was applause every time he spoke which got to be very annoying....
#31Entrance Applause
Posted: 1/7/12 at 11:31pm
Anna Madely received rapturous entrance applause by virtue of being blonde and the first person seen onstage, which was apparently enough to get her mistaken for Kim Cattrall.
Same thing happened when I saw it, and on most nights, I'm guessing. And then when Cattrall made her entrance, the applause was earth-shattering--the audience had to correct their earlier mistake, of course.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
ILuv2shop531
Broadway Star Joined: 7/12/07
#33Entrance Applause
Posted: 1/7/12 at 11:50pmWhen Kristen Chenoweth made her entrance at the first preview of PROMISES, PROMISES, the show stopped for about 5 minutes.
"If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it." -Stephen Colbert
musicalperson17
Understudy Joined: 9/2/10
#34Entrance Applause
Posted: 1/8/12 at 9:49am^ It's no wonder that first preview ran almost 3 hours. Also, I saw Private Lives in Toronto (loved it) and the audience gave no applause until Paul and Kim's entrances. I didn't realize it was so difficult for an audience member to read their playbill, in which the cast is listed by order of appearence. Especially in a play with only 5 actors.
RagtimeRay
Stand-by Joined: 5/16/03
#35Entrance Applause
Posted: 1/8/12 at 10:51am
Entrance applause has to be anticipated for a recognizable star.
I saw SEMINAR recently, and I thought that the director handled the anticipated applause for Alan Rickman very nicely. The scene changes in the show occur during diminished lighting. Rickman made his "entrance" during one of those scene changes - and the audience immediately recognized him and applauded (while the lights were still dim). When the lights came up they were ready to continue with the scene.
Ray is the author of the Brad Frame mystery series, and two suspense novels. He is also the author of a one man play based on Ben Franklin. http://www.rayflynt.com
#36Entrance Applause
Posted: 1/8/12 at 11:37am
OK I'll say it.
I never applaud during a show. I try to get into the mood of the show and stay in it. Applause distracts me and removes me from the bond that often develops between the play, actors, and the audience (in this case me). I applaud at curtain calls.
Entrance applause? No one applauds when I show up for work in tha AM. Maybe some applaud at the end of the day when i leave!!!
To seek revenge may lead to hell yet everyone does it but seldom as well......
wesleystewart
Swing Joined: 5/2/09
#37Entrance Applause
Posted: 1/8/12 at 11:56amI'm kind of borderline on this one--sometimes it feels appropriate and sometimes not. I will say that when I saw O'neill's Anna Christie with Jude Law this summer, it was pretty great that the director seemed to have purposefully avoided entrance applause in the way he staged Jude's entrance. It seemed an appropriate nod of respect towards the work rather than the actors in the work.
henrikegerman
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/29/05
spike3
Leading Actor Joined: 5/17/11
#39Entrance Applause
Posted: 1/8/12 at 12:34pmJudy Garland entering from the back of the house at the Palace in 1967!
nasty_khakis
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/15/07
#40Entrance Applause
Posted: 1/8/12 at 12:53pmI always found the applause for CZJ/Bernadette funny in "A Little Night Music" because they had already been onstage for the opening "Night Waltz." Granted, that took place in dimmed lighting so I guess people didn't realize it was them.
Gaveston2
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/11
#41Entrance Applause
Posted: 1/8/12 at 2:22pm
"That's your opinion. I don't share it."
Yes, I know, AC. That's why I prefaced my remarks with "I think...".
Done properly--I think--entrance applause can be an important part of the connection between star actor and audience. (It has nothing to do with the character, obviously.)
But if one looks at this thread and others re audience behavior, it seems our theater conventions for audience behavior are breaking down all over. I suppose that's inevitable now that people mostly watch TV, go out to the movies infrequently, and go to professional theater only on the rarest occasions, if at all.
My pet peeve among declining conventions in live concerts: I'm all for applauding the beginning of a number associated with the performer (Liza singing "Cabaret", say). But audiences nowadays seem to applaud the beginning of every song that they even vaguely recognize--which seems an extreme form of the self-congratulation AC mentions above.
#42Entrance Applause
Posted: 1/8/12 at 2:42pmEchoing Philly's comment above, the entrance applause for Jeremy Jordan and Laura Osnes in Bonnie and Cyde was so obviously artificial and coming from a small claque of shills sitting or standing in the back of house right, it had (for me) the opposite effect than that intended; I was instantly suspicious of the two performers, who clearly needed artificial support. Osnes won me back, but Jordan did not, with his unfocused and twitchy bad acting, and flat singing (in his mid-range - he had better accuracy on his high notes).
henrikegerman
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/29/05
#43Entrance Applause
Posted: 1/8/12 at 3:05pm
This clearly comes down to personal tastes. I have mixed feelings on this subject.
I agree with Gaveston that rather than being primarily an opportunity for self-congratulations on the audience's part, it can validly be similar to curtain applause, a wave of love to a performer whom you admire, collectively experienced with other members of the audience in a feel good moment. To me there's nothing wrong with that; in fact it can feel damn good. I don't see it as gratitude for someone showing up to work but as an honest reflection of the admiration one has for a performer based on past work.
On the other hand, I have always found it more suitable for musicals and lighter plays than for serious dramas and tragedies. In the latter it seems jarring to me. I'm not sure if I can intellectually justify this distinction, but nonetheless to me in a lighter work or a musical it feels perfectly in keeping with the spirit of things, but in something more serious, it feels like an intrusion; why I feel this is more troubling than laughter or intermission applause I'm not sure I can rationalize; perhaps the whole idolatry thing just seems incongruous to a more serious subject matter - of course with a new play one may not know how light a work one is watching when a star makes an entrance, although there's usually some inkling.
Updated On: 1/8/12 at 03:05 PM
#44Entrance Applause
Posted: 1/8/12 at 3:36pmI never partake in entrance applause myself, no matter what the rest of the audinece does. I'm sorry, but I'm not applauding an actor for just showing up to do his/her job.
Gaveston2
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/11
#45Entrance Applause
Posted: 1/8/12 at 3:40pm
As usual, I agree with Henrik.
I just want to add that entrance applause is no more inherently artificial and disruptive than applause after individual numbers. (Note the word "inherently". I agree with posters above that it is uncomfortable when a few people in the audience try to force the entrance applause.)
There's a reason we don't applaud until the end of an act of a realistic drama, but applaud at frequent intervals during a musical comedy. The latter isn't really trying to create an illusion of representation. Musicals are by nature presentational and entrance applause is just an acknowledgement of one aspect of the "show".
#46Entrance Applause
Posted: 1/8/12 at 5:08pmIt was definitely Alice Ripley's last Broadway show. It was insane. It lasted so long, she had to actually acknowledge the audience.
sorano916
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/6/08
#47Entrance Applause
Posted: 1/8/12 at 5:21pm
For John Gallagher Jr.'s & Michael Esper's last in "American Idiot," Michael got a huge round of applause, about 2 minutes or so, when he was introduced at the beginning of the show but then Stark Sands (who wasn't leaving yet) got only a a handful.
Since John didn't really have an opportunity at the beginning of the show for an entrance applause, he got huge applause right before he sang "Whatsername" at the end of the show. I felt that that was too much and a bit awkward. The keyboardist had to keep playing the same notes while the applause went on before John could continue with the song.
#48Entrance Applause
Posted: 1/8/12 at 5:27pmI LOVE entrance applause especially of diva stars (I know this sounds so stereotypical/almost self-parody). But the CZJ/Bernadette's entrance applause through the vamping in Glamorous Life, Bernadette's entrance in FOLLIES, LuPone Gypsy's (at least from what I've 'seen') etc.. are all among my favourites. I just think it adds to the excitement.
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
#49Entrance Applause
Posted: 1/8/12 at 5:44pmNormally I'm fine with entrance applause in musicals since you applaud throughout the show anyway, but the one time it annoyed me was Follies in DC. The guy next to me clearly wanted to applaud someone (I assume Elaine since Bernadette's entrance is pretty obvious), but since we were in the mezzanine I guess he hard a hard time making them out and so every time anyone entered during the opening he'd start with an awkward, is-this-her slow clap, then the people around him would get confused thinking they missed the star and start awkward-clapping and it slowly spread until the next person came out. The end result was the non-principles getting what felt like "Umm...I guess you're worth applauding for?" applause which, to me, seemed worse than just silence.
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