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Post by A.Ham on Apr 8, 2023 12:27:59 GMT
The story is now on the homepage of the BBC News app - The Bodyguard cut short in Manchester due to rowdy singalongs www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-65220527Including tweets from Ayden and quotes from Melody’s Instagram - saying she’s apologised for not being able to finish the performance. It’s hardly her who should be apologising!
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Post by marob on Apr 8, 2023 12:35:09 GMT
I genuinely hate ATG and I think it’s a shame the pandemic didn’t put them out of business.
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Post by hadeswasking on Apr 8, 2023 12:42:51 GMT
I genuinely hate ATG and I think it’s a shame the pandemic didn’t put them out of business. Then there would be barely any theatres for these tours to go to.
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Post by A.Ham on Apr 8, 2023 12:43:00 GMT
I genuinely hate ATG and I think it’s a shame the pandemic didn’t put them out of business. When I saw Shirley Valentine a few weeks ago, everyone entering the theatre is greeted by what I can only describe as a wall of Veuve Clicquot facing them as they walk into the main lobby - bottles all beautifully arranged on and behind the bar area. So clearly selling alcohol at premium prices (they want £11+ for a glass of wine) is a big part of their business model. Interestingly, the bar prices are much more reasonable at Delfont Mackintosh theatres but ATG seem more money-grabbing on a number of fronts in my experience. Editing to say I’ve just arrived at the Phoenix for Streetcar, and it’s the same here! Big display of bottles at the main bar and a champagne stall outside the dress circle bar. £17.20 a glass - chink chink!
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Post by Being Alive on Apr 8, 2023 12:53:33 GMT
The theatre itself (or the company who own it) will take a maximum of 15% of ticket sales and thus that is why everyone pushes bar and programme sales like crazy
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Post by mkb on Apr 8, 2023 12:54:39 GMT
Interestingly, the bar prices are much more reasonable at Delfont Mackintosh theatres but ATG seem more money-grabbing on a number of fronts in my experience. Very true. I'll often have a glass of wine at a DM venue, but never at ATG. There's always a pub within short distance of any ATG that does the job.
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Post by Figaro on Apr 8, 2023 13:11:43 GMT
They sell shots of alcohol at the Piccadilly after the show in the foyer as you leave!
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Post by fiyerorocher on Apr 8, 2023 15:27:21 GMT
I used to work in a theatre that wanted us to push alcohol sales so insidiously I refused to do it. They walked us through a whole 'scenario' showing us multiple ways we could coerce people into getting a double when they wanted a single, and then turning that into another preordered for the interval. All they care about is making money.
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Post by Peter on Apr 8, 2023 16:52:48 GMT
But I’m assuming these people must arrive already three sheets to the wind? Maybe I’m a cheapskate, but I’m not sure I could afford to get drunk at theatre bar prices…
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Post by richey on Apr 8, 2023 19:25:34 GMT
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Post by shady23 on Apr 8, 2023 22:29:16 GMT
From the clip it looks like the problem people were up in the Grand Tier. It’s horrifyingly steep up there. How anyone could be safely removed if they didn’t want to be I have no idea. With great difficulty it seems...
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Post by craig on Apr 9, 2023 9:19:30 GMT
This just makes me desperately sad. My partner and I have all but stopped going to the big crowd pleaser musicals because of audience behaviour. The videos of this are shocking.
Imagine not being quiet whilst Melody Thornton sings that song so beautifully! I feel so sorry for the cast and for the 99% of the audience who no doubt knew how to behave.
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Post by craig on Apr 9, 2023 9:22:55 GMT
Actually, it’s the theatre staff I feel most sorry for. It’s just not their jobs to police this stuff. I work in cusomer service and people can be truly awful sometimes, more so when alcohol is involved.
I was the Wycombe Swan recently for the first time in years and saw an audience member being extremely rude to one of the (volunteer) ushers. The usher looked to be in her late 60s. Why can’t people just behave?
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Post by theatrefan62 on Apr 9, 2023 11:20:32 GMT
I wonder if part of the problem is also in how watered down these productions have become, they have edged more into concert territory in how they are staged.
Not saying it excuses the audience, but some of these shows you do feel less like you're watching a story unfold and more like a concert these days.
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Post by kyvai on Apr 9, 2023 11:38:57 GMT
“Unprecedented levels of violence that asking them to stop (singing along with the show) caused”
This is the terrifying part. I have always been one to shush persistently annoying people near me in the theatre or the cinema, or ask directly people to put phones away if they are close enough to me to whisper to and them using their phone is distracting to me. If they’re not close enough to whisper to I have approached people at the interval to let them know they were disrupting us as well. I’ve had some occasional rude words in return (and one grown woman with a teen daughter blow a raspberry at me! Poor daughter was mortified) but generally even after an initial immature tantrum/refusal they shut up and behave because essentially I think they’re embarrassed to have been publicly called out and realise that everyone around them is seething at them. Sometimes they won’t return after the interval which is nice. But to become so violent and disruptive that the police are called? It beggars belief. There’s a definite recent change in a subset of theatregoers. These people are being enabled by a culture of individual entitlement, and now being egged on by prominent media figures supporting their main character worldview and validating their disruptive behaviour as the norm. And now physical violence is the result. Well done Alison Hammond and Vanessa Feltz, well done.
I 100% support a lot more clear rules being sign posted and prominently announced at performances, also include them in ticket emails and programmes etc. State that people will be removed if they are persistently disruptive (singing, talking, using phones etc) and follow through. Refuse service to drunk people, or just rude people. Maybe we will have to employ trained and licenced security staff in venues who have the capability to safely and legally eject people. Sad times.
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Post by deej4life on Apr 9, 2023 12:44:30 GMT
It really is amazing how your theatre experience can be completely ruined by the simple flip of a coin of who will be seated near you.
To add some much needed levity, I once had a wonderful experience in Liverpool where I attended a performance of Wicked alone at the Empire Theatre. I started talking pre-show to the two ladies sat next to me and we had a wonderful conversation about our love for theatre.
At the interval, they came back from the concessions area and had bought me an ice-cream, for no reason other than pure kindness. It's those wonderful experiences that make me hold out hope for my future audience experiences at the theatre!
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Post by shady23 on Apr 9, 2023 14:48:27 GMT
“Unprecedented levels of violence that asking them to stop (singing along with the show) caused” People scroll through social media feeds absent mindedly while doing other things and just read the snappy click bait headline that people were thrown out for singing. They don't read the whole story. I imagine some reading that will be going intending to sing MORE. "I've paid for my ticket and nobody is going to tell me what to do. I am enjoying myself and they're just sat there". Just sat there taking in the experience is seen as not enjoying in some people's eyes. I think it is statistically more likely that people around them won't return. I remember my one and only trip to the Thriller Live tour where a gang of very drunk women ruined the show with their constant standing up, singing, frequent loo and bar trips and spilling drinks over people around them. This culminated in a loud verbal fight with front of house staff during "Billy Jean". None of us behind could hear or see a thing. Lots walked out. However, what I have noticed that I do disagree with is the huge pile on that seems to be happening in the comments section of these news stories, where anyone innocently questions why they cannot sing along. Not everyone is in the frankly privileged position of having attended musicals before and may be completely unaware what as good "theatre etiquette" (I really hate that phrase). I think the theatre community need to politely try to explain rather than say "just don't go then". That really is not helpful.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Apr 9, 2023 15:08:11 GMT
And let’s not forget that only a couple of weeks ago there was a very big, splashy Saturday night MT concert on tv, filmed in Manchester and showing very loud audiences singing along and filming the performers, one of whom was Melody Thornton. Mixed messages?
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Post by richey on Apr 9, 2023 16:37:57 GMT
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Apr 9, 2023 16:48:00 GMT
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Post by oxfordsimon on Apr 9, 2023 16:51:30 GMT
I was threatened with violence during a performance of Bombay Dreams because I politely asked the couple behind me to stop talking through the first half.
'We've paid for our tickets, we can do what we like'
Rude, disruptive audience members are sadly nothing new
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Apr 9, 2023 16:54:59 GMT
Sarah sounds rough as houses. “We’d only had a couple of drinks”
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Post by oxfordsimon on Apr 9, 2023 16:56:38 GMT
She needs to do the same on screen. And do a feature to explain how audiences should behave. Twitter apologies aren't enough
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Post by theatrefan62 on Apr 9, 2023 17:44:21 GMT
And Katherine Ryan has replied saying she didn't need to apologise and its people criticising who are the problem. That's so disappointing from a performer.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2023 17:47:40 GMT
She needs to do the same on screen. And do a feature to explain how audiences should behave. Twitter apologies aren't enough I will be massively disappointed if This Morning doesn't address it, considering the scale of the issue over the last few days and the BBC has discussed it with members of the theatre community, it would be wrong if they didn't.
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Post by theatrefan62 on Apr 9, 2023 17:51:47 GMT
She needs to do the same on screen. And do a feature to explain how audiences should behave. Twitter apologies aren't enough I will be massively disappointed if This Morning doesn't address it, considering the scale of the issue over the last few days and the BBC has discussed it with members of the theatre community, it would be wrong if they didn't. This Morning/ITV ignore/cover up plenty when it comes to their presenters so I wouldn't hold your breath.
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Post by shady23 on Apr 9, 2023 18:36:17 GMT
That news article is hilarious for all the wrong reasons
"A woman has claimed three security workers 'dragged' her partner out of the Palace Theatre after he 'waved his arms' during a performance in The Bodyguard musical"
I'm sure the real story is a little different!
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Post by theatreliker on Apr 9, 2023 18:37:47 GMT
I'm seeing The Bodyguard in a few weeks and plan to scream through My Heart Will Go On During the final number. Is that allowed?
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Post by richey on Apr 9, 2023 18:39:13 GMT
I'm seeing The Bodyguard in a few weeks and plan to scream through My Heart Will Go On During the final number. Is that allowed? you'll have a long wait
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Post by capybara on Apr 9, 2023 18:41:48 GMT
That news article is hilarious for all the wrong reasons "A woman has claimed three security workers 'dragged' her partner out of the Palace Theatre after he 'waved his arms' during a performance in The Bodyguard musical" I'm sure the real story is a little different! I get the feeling that pissed up audience was dead set on ‘pushing boundaries’ and seeing how much they could get away with, egged on by This Morning and the original MEN review. The same morons who were out marching during the first lockdown. Big babies who think they’re railing against some sort of system when actually they’re just very sad individuals. Desperate article from the MEN again.
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