Theater Etiquette-GRRR- Page 2
Theater Etiquette-GRRR
popular_elphie
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/3/05
#25re: Theater Etiquette-GRRR
Posted: 3/13/08 at 11:48pm
Yankeefan007 is right on the money. I wear jeans all the time because I live in New York and walk everywhere. The people that get super dressed up have cars.
The only way I will "dress up" for the theater is if it's a special occasion. For example, I'm wearing a dress tomorrow because I'm going to an invited dress rehearsal and want to show respect to the people that so graciously invited me. Other then that, who cares?
#26re: Theater Etiquette-GRRR
Posted: 3/13/08 at 11:51pm
" Other then that, who cares?"
And that's my point. Sad.
<-----I'M TOTES ROLLING MY EYES
#28re: Theater Etiquette-GRRR
Posted: 3/13/08 at 11:58pm
Holey jeans = bad
Nice jeans = okay
Flip-flops = bad
Nice sandals = okay
T-shirts = usually bad
Polo shirts = okay
There are better things to get mad about...like grammar!
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
#29re: Theater Etiquette-GRRR
Posted: 3/14/08 at 12:11am
If you're dressed decently enough to walk outside your door, then you should be good for a show. That being said, I have a problem with people wearing pajamas outside period. That includes J.Lo matching sweat suits.
Some of us don't leave the house and go directly to the theatre. I've been out all day before, and then I go to a show in the evening. Also, I don't even own any nice clothes.
My everyday attire: jeans, t-shirt (usually graphic), hooded sweatshirt with a zipper, sneakers, and at least one accessory (scarf, hat and/or sunglasses). I think I dress fine.
Plus, tourists don't usually bring nicer clothes when they visit. It's more about practicality.
#30re: Theater Etiquette-GRRR
Posted: 3/14/08 at 12:47am
There are better things to get mad about...like grammar!
I love you, LizzieCurry.
"Winning a Tony this year is like winning Best Attendance in third grade: no one will care but the winner and their mom."
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
Tom148502
Featured Actor Joined: 5/21/07
#31re: Theater Etiquette-GRRR
Posted: 3/14/08 at 1:09amI vividly recall the first time I ever saw a man in a theatre audience who wasn't wearing a coat and tie or a suit and tie. It was a mid-week matinee of the original production of CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF. I couldn't believe that the guy's mode of dress was so out of line with everyone else in the audience. But soon, it became routine to just dress nicely in something other than a suit and tie. The night I went to see FOLLIES IN CONCERT at Lincoln Center, the person on my right was wearing a tuxedo and the person on my left was in jeans :)
#32re: Theater Etiquette-GRRR
Posted: 3/14/08 at 1:14am
I go to Broadway shows very often, and get dressed up even when I'm doing student rush and aren't sure I'll even get a ticket. When I was growing up and we went to shows, it was an all day event. we'd eat a meal, go to the show and then get dessert and go back home [I grew up in Hudson County]
no matter how often I go, I still think of Broadway as a special, even magic, experience. I like getting dressed up, and I think people should put at least some effort into what they're wearing. I don't get irritated unless I see the sweats and Ugg boots combination, or something similar.
I do remember, however, going to a concert at Carnegie Hall and seeing people in jeans and sneakers. that annoyed me more than it would at a Broadway show. I guess I've set up some sort of hierarchy? who knows.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
#33re: Theater Etiquette-GRRR
Posted: 3/14/08 at 1:29amI never wear jeans to a show regardless if it's Broadway, off-Broadway, regional, etc. I'm not saying that it's not acceptable for others if paired with a nice top- it's just the way I was brought up. What does make me crazy is the way people dress in the summer. I have seen people go to theaters in tank tops, long shorts, and flip flops. They looked like they should've been heading to Rockaway Beach, not the theater district. That is unacceptable....
Acting should be bigger than life. Scripts should be bigger than life. It should all be bigger than life.- Bette Davis
popular_elphie
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/3/05
#34re: Theater Etiquette-GRRR
Posted: 3/14/08 at 1:46am
When I was growing up and we went to shows, it was an all day event. we'd eat a meal, go to the show and then get dessert and go back home [I grew up in Hudson County]
See, this is what I'm talking about. Most of us don't make a whole day event out of this. We'll do some grocery shopping, homework, tidy up our apartments, etc. before we trek over to the theater.
I'm not exactly all "who cares?" - I'll snicker if I see someone wearing sweatpants or a sweatshirt, jeans, and Uggs at my theater, but I sympathize. I usually have 34938 things going on daily, even when I do get time off from my show and go see another. I'm presentable but comfortable in my cardigan and jeans.
#35re: Theater Etiquette-GRRR
Posted: 3/14/08 at 1:47amIt's not just theatre where the standards for attire have become more relaxed. I'm watching a talk show now and the host is wearing jeans. Fifty years ago, that was unheard of and now it's so normalized we wouldn't give it a second thought. Does anyone still wear a hat? It's not just events that are more relaxed, it's all clothes, so it makes no sense to criticize the trend in only certain circumstances and not overall.
Like a firework unexploded
Wanting life but never knowing how
Wanting life but never knowing how
sszabo
Swing Joined: 11/19/07
#36re: Theater Etiquette-GRRR
Posted: 3/14/08 at 2:24am
There are some very interesting points being made here. I just spent my first semester of school in London and to fulfill my major I took an intro to theatre class which focused a lot on theatre in London, then I wrote a paper about jukebox musicals which some of you graciously answered a survey for.
In my research I found a quote by Stephen Sondheim talking about the state of theatre today. He said,
You have two kinds of shows on Broadway – revivals and the same kind of musicals over and over again, all spectacles. You get your tickets for The Lion King a year in advance, and essentially a family comes as if to a picnic, and they pass on to their children the idea that that's what the theater is – a spectacular musical you see once a year, a stage version of a movie. It has nothing to do with theater at all. It has to do with seeing what is familiar. We live in a recycled culture . . . I don't think the theatre will die per se, but it's never going to be what it was. You can't bring it back. It's gone. It's a tourist attraction.
thank you musicals101.com
I also think that attire and etiquette are two very different things. While I do like to primp up for the theatre (I usually wear nice jeans and shoes). I don't really mind what people wear to the theatre (I do agree about pajamas and those hideous JLO track suits) as long as they show up on time and stay through the entire show or at least wait till intermission to leave discreetly. But I think Sondheim's quote sort of sums up the issue with theatre today in regards to respect for it and attire. I don't disagree that going to the show is sort of a special thing, even if you go very often, but some people who hold the belief of dressing up for it can't see the theatre beyond going to see a spectacle, yet these people also seem to be the same ones that don't hold any respect for the theatre.
It's also interesting to me because in London people bring food and alcoholic drinks into the theatre ALL THE TIME. I was also told that before they changed the laws about public smoking people would smoke in the theatre. There, I got the sense too that people attended the theatre much more often but the govt. also subsidized the theatre and the market is such that they can be much more adventurous. And to them, while the policies about etiquette in London, the respect for it certainly does not to seem be any worse, and if anything it is better.
I don't know if these ramblings make a whole lot of sense but you certainly raise an interesting point. I think what it really comes down to is respect for the theatre, and as long as the audience shows respect for the theatre I don't mind what they wear. But I don't know how I feel about food, if they can be quiet with the food I guess I don't mind too much.
Yankeefan007
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/20/04
#37re: Theater Etiquette-GRRR
Posted: 3/14/08 at 7:10am
"It's not like going to see a movie, you're going to see people working and expressing their art."
So what do you call what film actors do?
#38re: Theater Etiquette-GRRR
Posted: 3/14/08 at 8:06am
I love Broadway and of course theatre in general. I dress up whenever I go, wheather it is when I am in NYC or locally. I am a tradionalist and old fashioned, but I am also a realist. It is 2008 and there are all kinds of people in this world with all kinds of circumstances. While I understand, I don't necessecerily condone dressing down to go see a show.
Wearing jeans does not make them any less of a fan or make the money they have spent less important to the theatre community.
"TO LOVE ANOTHER PERSON IS TO SEE THE FACE OF GOD"- LES MISERABLES---
"THERE'S A SPECIAL KIND OF PEOPLE KNOWN AS SHOW PEOPLE... WE'RE BORN EVERY NIGHT AT HALF HOUR CALL!"--- CURTAINS
#39re: Theater Etiquette-GRRR
Posted: 3/14/08 at 8:42amI'm just happy people are at the theatre!
Genius lasts longer than beauty.
#40re: Theater Etiquette-GRRR
Posted: 3/14/08 at 8:54am
I would not mind seeing a show sitting between a guy dressed as Hitler and a guy in a KKK costume so long as they were quite during the entier show.
Are you kidding? Do you know how hard it would be to see around that pointy hood?
PK2
Stand-by Joined: 3/2/06
#41re: Theater Etiquette-GRRR
Posted: 3/14/08 at 10:31am
I love to have many etiquette back in society - many theatre, many dinner's etiquettes, many children's etiquttes.
For Theatre, I don't think we can blame on the audiences only. When the theatre culture and producers start caring more about selling popcorn and candy and encouraging to bring them to the seats and eat while watching it, I don't think I can really ask for not wearing jean or dressing in a certain way.
#42re: Theater Etiquette-GRRR
Posted: 3/14/08 at 11:12amTo me, jeans is a non-issue. I could care less what anyone else is wearing, unless it's opening night. This past Saturday matinee at In the Heights, the woman seated next to my center aisle seat literally yelled at her pal located on the far aisle seat! During her third communicee, I just leaned all the way forward so she couldn't even see the pal. Funny...she left at intermission, PROBABLY because I was wearing jeans, lol.
Eponine3
Understudy Joined: 12/7/06
#43re: Theater Etiquette-GRRR
Posted: 3/14/08 at 11:14am
I worked in the theater district for years and still never went to a show in Jeans. I always wore Business Casual attire or Dress Attire.
Also, even before I moved to New York When I visited as a tourist.. I still managed to find time after running around the city all day to go back to my hotel and shower and change before heading out to a show.. so the "They have been running around all day" holds no water with me.
I agree that people should practice basic theater etiquette. I can not stand to hear people talking or phones ringing during a performance. I also feel that with the prices we pay for tickets that absolutely the theater should be considered an event and you should dress and behave as such.
Back in the day when people with to the theater they wore evening gowns and tuxedos and you still see some of that today when people go to the Opera. Asking people to dress in Business wear is not that big of a deal.
Lynnespock2
Broadway Star Joined: 5/14/04
#44re: Theater Etiquette-GRRR
Posted: 3/14/08 at 11:22am
I don't care what others wear. Etiquette should be about how one behaves as an audience in the theater. So many people chat while I am trying to listen or rattle candy wrappers, leave their cell phone, pagers, etc.
Rather than focus on what people are wearing, I am focused on the performance. Jeans are fine.
Live long and prosper.
Marriage equity now!
Updated On: 3/14/08 at 11:22 AM
#45re: Theater Etiquette-GRRR
Posted: 3/14/08 at 12:06pm
"Wearing jeans does not make them any less of a fan or make the money they have spent less important to the theatre community"
But no one is saying that what you wear makes you more or less of a fan.
I'm just saying that the dress code seems to have changed over the years.
<-----I'M TOTES ROLLING MY EYES
Updated On: 3/14/08 at 12:06 PM
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#46re: Theater Etiquette-GRRR
Posted: 3/14/08 at 12:09pm
Also, even before I moved to New York When I visited as a tourist.. I still managed to find time after running around the city all day to go back to my hotel and shower and change before heading out to a show.. so the "They have been running around all day" holds no water with me.
Well, case closed, then!
#47re: Theater Etiquette-GRRR
Posted: 3/14/08 at 12:16pm
I'm with those who say that it's not about the outfit, it's about the attitude. I don't care what people wear as long as they are respectful of the show and the audience. I wear casual clothes to the theatre all the time.
In fact, I'm wearing jeans and pink sneakers right now and plan to see "August: Osage County" tonight dressed like this.
"My name's Lenny. What's yours?"
Updated On: 3/14/08 at 12:16 PM
#48re: Theater Etiquette-GRRR
Posted: 3/14/08 at 12:23pm
An interesting point is being made about the connection or lack of between dress and etiquette.
Years ago, when I was still teaching, this point was brought up in reference to having a dress code for teachers. It was thought that the way a teacher is dressed could improve the amount of respect they could earn from the students. Yes, I know respect is earned from within, but all things being equal, a teacher dressed in a mode above jeans, t shirts, sneakers, etc. is preferable.
I'm not sure how I feel about it.
<-----I'M TOTES ROLLING MY EYES
#49re: Theater Etiquette-GRRR
Posted: 3/14/08 at 12:34pmI agree with everyone who says jeans that look nice are appropriate ... however, I think looking at the list of songs with your cell phone flipped open (but tilted towards yourself) is fine so you can see the titles of the songs. Is there anything wrong with that?
#50re: Theater Etiquette-GRRR
Posted: 3/14/08 at 12:43pmI'm an actor too. I don't think I care really what people wear. I'd rather see people in the theatre being who they are. Though I am the one to dress up for a Broadway or touring shows. I don't dress up for high school or some local theaters. The only time I didn't dress up for a Broadway show is when I went to see Spring Awakening. Which some would say it's fine. I wore a polo shirt, plaid shorts (Jonathan Groff said he liked them), and my favorite white NIke slip on sandals. I was going to dress up, but by the time I got to my hotel I noticed I didn't have much time to dress and get to the theatre on time. I honestly don't care what people wear and if I don't feel like dressing up, I wont. I mean I wont be the one that looks thrown together, roll out of bed. But I defiantly wont be dressed up.
Broadway Shows I've Seen: Hairspray, Chicago, Little Shop of Horrors (2003), The Wedding Singer, Spamalot, Riverdance, Rent, Beauty and the Beast, Spring Awakening, Wicked, Legally Blonde, Phantom of the Opera, Sweet Charity (revival), Drowsy Chaperone, The Lion King, Dreamgirls(2010 Tour).
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