4,579 posts
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Post by Mark on Mar 1, 2017 16:53:55 GMT
The standing ovation for And I Am Telling You at the first preview of Dreamgirls is something I will never forget. Everyone rising together -never seen anything like it!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2017 17:03:38 GMT
The standing ovation for And I Am Telling You at the first preview of Dreamgirls is something I will never forget. Everyone rising together -never seen anything like it! I'm the same, when I saw it, I will never forget that ending to Act I, it was quite extraordinary. The same in the final performance of Made in Dagenham. An image that I will never forget is the entire audience standing up at the beginning of the final song, staying standing the whole song, stopping the show for about two minutes, the whole curtain call and Gemma's speech. It was incredible, I will never forget that! But at the same time, that was a special performance.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2017 17:09:45 GMT
I'll never forget the standing ovation for Tom Bateman mid-show at 'Shakespeare In Love'. When the shirt came off, the crowd jumped to their feet.
Actually, come to think of it, I think that might have just been me.
Yes. It was just me.
It was well deserved though.
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1,870 posts
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Post by Marwood on Mar 1, 2017 17:19:08 GMT
I've got no problem with standing ovations (last time I can remember giving a standing ovation was for Reece Shearsmith and Ken Stott at The Dresser when I saw it a second time in January) - but I'm never the first to stand, I don't want to come across as some kind of lunatic fanboy trying to get everyone up on their feet, but I'll only do it if I really liked the show and thought the performers were excellent. I'm more likely to go out of my way to remain seated and keep the applause to a minimum if it's something I haven't liked (various people around me leaping up at the end of Everyman at the NT, Lord knows why, it was terrible)
The thing that bugs me more is when the majority of the audience is applauding, i.e. clapping, but you get someone who just can't be arsed and just pats their leg with the palm of their hand a few times - whats the point? No one can hear you (unless you've got a wooden/tin leg) and I would have thought that if you're on stage, it just looks like you are sitting there having a spasm rather than applauding.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2017 17:22:31 GMT
Urgh, that reminds me of a pet peeve of mine at the theatre. Usually a man (no offence men), but when they don't applaud after a song. I know it shouldn't bug me, but it does. When everyone is clapping at the end of a song and the person next to you just sits there with their hands on their lap. I know that is really irrational, but god it bugs me so much!
Moving on from my craziness.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2017 17:24:48 GMT
The thing that bugs me more is when the majority of the audience is applauding, i.e. clapping, but you get someone who just can't be arsed and just pats their leg with the palm of their hand a few times - whats the point? No one can hear you (unless you've got a wooden/tin leg) and I would have thought that if you're on stage, it just looks like you are sitting there having a spasm rather than applauding. That's usually me. It's because I normally have a glass of wine in the other hand. Or gin.
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2,051 posts
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Post by infofreako on Mar 1, 2017 17:26:36 GMT
Not sure it should be compulsory to applaud if you don't feel it worthy
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2017 17:32:45 GMT
Not sure it should be compulsory to applaud if you don't feel it worthy I didn't mean it like that haha, but even when they don't applaud at the end, it just really bugs me. Performers work their ass off and they can't find the energy to put their hands together at the end for 10 seconds? It does really bug me.
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18,845 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Mar 1, 2017 17:35:58 GMT
Oh and that awkward thing after a song when the dialogue starts straight away and the audience don't know whether to....or... not?...maybe? Someone else did so I will...oops they stopped now so no I won't....now the actors have paused for it.... Aaaarggghhh! That
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2017 17:42:18 GMT
The most awkward applause I have ever experienced, sorry Wicked fangirls, was when Rachel, Anita and Katie left Wicked. Because Elphaba's entrance is designed to have a few moments of applause if it happens (or, in that shows case, like a minute!) and Anita did kind of pause briefly every time I saw her, because she got entrance applause. But with Katie, Nessarose has never been an appropriate time to applaud, as she comes on midway through a sentence and the actors cant just pause for it in that moment. I get that people were being kind, and she was brilliant in that performance, but a group of fans in the Stalls did cheer and it only went on for like three seconds, sounding more like a heckle than a cheer, because it just wasn't appropriate at that time. It was really awkward. She got her deserved applause after her second act number, which was truly deserved!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2017 17:51:51 GMT
I once tried to calculate how much time in a year I spend clapping. I was on well over three hours before it occurred to me that I'd applaud more than just at the interval and end for a musical, and gave up. I'm sure clapping fatigue must be a thing, and even if it isn't, arthritis and carpal tunnel syndrome and other ailments are, so I would never judge someone who wasn't clapping. Plus, y'know, even if they don't have an issue that causes them physical pain, maybe they just didn't like the show that much. We're allowed as individuals to not clap if we don't want to, just as we're well within our rights to remain seated if a show was merely good.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2017 17:55:26 GMT
I'm giving up on ovations and going for the Nicole Kidman method from now on. 'nuff said.
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3,057 posts
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Post by ali973 on Mar 1, 2017 18:00:27 GMT
Never stand up if you don't want to. Say no to peer pressure! I've done it so many times when I never stood up, at times even from the front row when the cast can see me crossing my legs, arms and eyes at everything.
I agree with you that only the basics leap for a mediocre, or even average show. I don't mind EVENTUALLY standing up to a show I would rate at 8/10, and mainly to more or less prep to leave and also for better eye sight of the stage if I am interested. But there were also times when I was very adamant over not standing up. I specifically recall being the only one in my row not to stand up at Memphis. I actually think I also remained seated at School of Rock.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2017 18:02:11 GMT
I'm giving up on ovations and going for the Nicole Kidman method from now on. 'nuff said. Ya know, even though people took the piss out of her clap, she really was the best dressed at the Oscars this year! Just stunning! Oooo and another thing that bugs me, we have already discussed curtain calls that come with musical that becomes clap alongs (hate it!) but, if a curtain call has a clap along, there is always that one idiot who can't clap in time when they are supposed too. Now that does bug me! More than life itself!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2017 18:10:38 GMT
Judging from your photograph, Caiaphas, you must be around 2000 years old - much like me. Haha! I'm not in the photograph actually- I was busy playing cards with Annas backstage, just before my curtain call. However, if you look really carefully, you will see someone who was to become Andrew Lloyd Webber's next leading lady (she's sitting next to Diane Langton.) And she's 68!
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2,813 posts
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Post by couldileaveyou on Mar 1, 2017 18:58:52 GMT
Fave
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2017 19:38:46 GMT
Never stand up if you don't want to. Say no to peer pressure! I've done it so many times when I never stood up, at times even from the front row when the cast can see me crossing my legs, arms and eyes at everything. I agree with you that only the basics leap for a mediocre, or even average show. I don't mind EVENTUALLY standing up to a show I would rate at 8/10, and mainly to more or less prep to leave and also for better eye sight of the stage if I am interested. But there were also times when I was very adamant over not standing up. I specifically recall being the only one in my row not to stand up at Memphis. I actually think I also remained seated at School of Rock. Me too... we're back to the start of this thread! I must have been the only person who refused to stand for the arena Superstar at the O2. And as a consequence, sitting on the front row, I lost my chance to appear in a DVD...! (It's incredible how the gap is panned over on film, as the audience seemingly all stand for the bows. I did, however, stand to have a bit of a bop to the Superstar musical reprise after the bows, although that has been edited out. No doubt to spite me. )
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18,845 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Mar 1, 2017 20:58:12 GMT
"Bop"?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2017 21:09:28 GMT
Sorry... bit of a 70s word that. I forgot that only about four of us on this board were around in the 70s... (It's all flooding back to me now... Oh I love to love But my baby just loves to dance He wants to dance, He loves to dance, He's got to dance Oh I love to love... The minute the band begins to swing it He's on his feet to dig it And dance the night away Stop I'm spinning like a top We'll dance until we drop But if I had my way... I used to love a bop to that. )
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2017 21:11:04 GMT
Sorry... bit of a 70s word that. I forgot that only about four of us on this board were around in the 70s... (It's all flooding back to me now... Oh I love to love But my baby just loves to dance He wants to dance, He loves to dance, He's got to dance Oh I love to love... The minute the band begins to swing it He's on his feet to dig it And dance the night away Stop I'm spinning like a top We'll dance until we drop But if I had my way... I used to love a bop to that. ) You enjoy yourself love, my Mum tells me it was great growing up in the 70's!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2017 21:22:32 GMT
I probably know your mum, daniel... Come to think of it, I could be your da- (That Pernod and black never did agree with me...) Oooh, bring back the 70s!
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1,179 posts
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Post by joem on Mar 1, 2017 21:38:48 GMT
I will rarely join in a standing ovation because if you expend all your superlatives on what is merely good or very good, what do you reserve for the truly outstanding?
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1,870 posts
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Post by Marwood on Mar 1, 2017 21:48:22 GMT
The thing that bugs me more is when the majority of the audience is applauding, i.e. clapping, but you get someone who just can't be arsed and just pats their leg with the palm of their hand a few times - whats the point? No one can hear you (unless you've got a wooden/tin leg) and I would have thought that if you're on stage, it just looks like you are sitting there having a spasm rather than applauding. That's usually me. It's because I normally have a glass of wine in the other hand. Or gin. Hmm - these are people that don't look sophisticated/intelligent enough to think to put a drink on the ground or stuff the glass between their legs when the opportunity to applaud comes up, the sort of person who thinks its just a little bit decadent to have had a latte from the nearest Costa before going into the theatre.
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239 posts
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Post by dizzieblonde on Mar 2, 2017 8:28:57 GMT
That's usually me. It's because I normally have a glass of wine in the other hand. Or gin. Hmm - these are people that don't look sophisticated/intelligent enough to think to put a drink on the ground or stuff the glass between their legs when the opportunity to applaud comes up, the sort of person who thinks its just a little bit decadent to have had a latte from the nearest Costa before going into the theatre. I rather suspect there is some intelligence involved in NOT wanting to put your (plastic) glass of red wine between your legs - especially if you're wearing a light colour, a skirt or dress - or the alternative of on the floor, in the very restricted space in front of a theatre seat. You ever tried to pick up a glass of red wine, from the floor of a darkened theatre, when you don't actually have the space to bend down properly, and you can't see it, without jostling your neighbours and/or spilling it?!!! After a few near misses and other adventures - and, yes, not being able to clap after performances - I've decided that a 'no drinks except a bottle of water' policy during performances is best for me. I tend not to have a drink in the interval either. I'm a lightweight, so under 20 minutes to down a glass of wine, or any other alcoholic drink, is a recipe for disaster! I now get to the theatre early, to relax in the theatre bar beforehand with a drink, and I spend my intervals in the inevitable toilet queues instead!! At Funny Girl on Saturday evening, the party in front of us (front stalls) spent the entire performance drinking full bottles of wine, and passing them up and down the row, plus having a 20 minute rant about getting their interval drinks delivered incorrectly. I'm also fairly sure that one of them was vaping throughout the entire performance - she was inhaling on something that looked like the blocky part of an e-cig, but there was no vapour so I'm not actually sure what it was!!!! BTW, the FG standing ovation, at the end of the show, was deserved and there was none of the 'stretching it out' malarky I've seen at other shows. There was a single bow from the performers, Sheridan came on, big standing ovation, whole cast took a final bow, and everyone was off stage. I've been to shows where they took endless minutes of bows and repeated on and offs, plus reprises and encores! Honestly, I don't mind mid-show ovations, the very few I've experienced have been well deserved by the performer(s). It's the dragging out at the end that's mildly annoying - you end up with half your arm in your coat, thinking the shows over, and they're cracking into the 2nd repeat of the finale song, and you have to keep clapping!! Just a mini peeve of mine!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2017 9:07:09 GMT
Mamma Mia's curtain call is never ending! If I remember rightly, it is the entire cast, then they all exit and they have the the ensemble, then the main cast members bow individually, and then the medley after, such a damn long curtain call!
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239 posts
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Post by dizzieblonde on Mar 2, 2017 9:40:34 GMT
Mamma Mia's curtain call is never ending! If I remember rightly, it is the entire cast, then they all exit and they have the the ensemble, then the main cast members bow individually, and then the medley after, such a damn long curtain call! That's the one that made me so annoyed! Endless, and pretty much undeserved for it's length, as though they were all Liza/Barbra on their farewell tour! Juke box musicals, for the most part, are the worst offenders for this. Not sure why, but I suspect they are all determined to send their audience out after a great big 'fun' singalong, in order to erase the memory of the slightly mediocre 2 hours that preceded that! I'm very much not an audience participation kind of person, so the enforced 'get up and dance' of an elongated encore and curtain call is hell for me!
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2,764 posts
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Post by daniel on Mar 2, 2017 22:23:56 GMT
Time to wade in with my two cents worth! Basically, my attitude is live and let live. If someone wants to stand, cry, scream, whoop, I let them get on with it (though I must remember my earplugs next time I'm at a show with danieljohnson14 ) as long as they are behaving themselves, of course. For me personally, standing isn't the norm. I'll only stand if I've been super impressed and blown away. If someone in front stands up and blocks my view, sometimes I'll get up if I want to see what's going on, sometimes I'll just stay sat. Generally for me, if I have to think "do I want to give a standing ovation?" then I've thought about it too much so I won't stand. The one that always stands out for me is Blood Brothers. Every time I've seen that show, the standing ovation is instantaneous. Opening night at the Empire last year, 2500 people all rising to their feet at the same time, gives me goosebumps again just thinking about it.
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239 posts
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Post by dizzieblonde on Mar 3, 2017 9:37:12 GMT
Blood Brothers does have the ultimate 'yank your heart out and make you cry' finale! The standing ovation is deserved, but a cynic would suppose that the script helps massively, at that point in the show, in creating the perfect atmosphere for the audience to respond to the performances! I do love the show though, and remember leaving the theatre with very smudged mascara!
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Post by finalperformance on Mar 3, 2017 16:31:04 GMT
Once this starts at the end of a show I usually excuse myself and leave. I am not the first one out of a New York theatre, there are others who do the same.
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5,593 posts
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Post by lynette on Mar 3, 2017 22:25:41 GMT
I don't like it when people stand right in front of me. I don't care how wonderful they think the show has been. Unless we all stand up, stay in your seat madam.
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