The (now obligatory) Standing Ovation

"I paid for my ticket same as you, therefore I'm entitled to express my appreciation for the cast if I want to!!

What you pay for is to see the show.

When I go to the theatre, all I do is watch.  I don't eat, play with my mobile, chatter, sing along, wave my arms, go out to the loo, dance in the aisles.  I do nothing whatever to impede your concentration on the show.  It is selfish of you not to accord the same courtesy to me.

As for people saying that standing ovations 'go with the territory', they only go with the territory because people like you are selfish enough to go in for them.

By the way, I wonder whether the fad for standing ovations has something to do with those talent-show things on TV.  The producers love to have shots of an audience rising to its feet AS ONE PERSON for Susan Boyle or whomever.  Of course, real audiences are not made up of one person, and it behoves everyone to be considerate of everyone else.

I think you did make such a dig.  Your said, "Your choice if you want to join in or not. And if you are physically incapable of doing so, then in this day and age you buy a ticket knowing perfectly well that people may stand up in front of you to give the cast a well deserved ovation.
"

That is to say, the flippant "Your choice" was followed by a callous disregard of the fact that disabled people can't make that choice and just have to put up with people like you blocking their view.




Read more: theatreboard.co.uk/thread/1322/42nd-street-theatre-royal-drury?page=66#ixzz4e7aHHmUJ

Yes, I pay to see the show, and when the bows come around I have seen the show (the whole point of the cast taking bows is that the show has finished) and am therefore entitled to show appreciation and respect to the cast if I wish to do so.  A standing ovation is a tradition that has been around longer than any of us have been going to the theatre for performances that one thinks are worthy of more praise than mere applause.  And when I see such performances, I want to give the performers who have worked so hard for the last 2-3 hours to give me (and the rest of the audience) entertainment.  If it's a choice between being more respectful for two minutes to the people who've given their all on stage for hours giving the best of their craft or to the audience member behind me who has been sat watching for the past 2-3 hours without their view being interrupted for that whole time, then I know who I'll choose.   For me, it's about being considerate to the performers I've just watched if it's been especially good, and it's usually maximum two minutes of time.  If a couple of minutes of people showing appreciation to the cast offends you that much, then of course it's your choice not to join in.  There are plenty of times I don't join in an ovation when I don't think it's deserved.

I have never said it's ok to block someone's view mid-show (though people who fidget in their seat are as bad as mid-show ovations in that respect), but you know exactly what you're missing if a standing ovation is occurring - people walking out on stage and bowing.  I've never seen a show where people didn't sit down if there was a subsequent curtain call, except shows like Mamma Mia where you are expressly invited to stand and join in the fun.  I'm afraid I therefore really don't see why anyone has the right to tell people not to give a standing ovation at the end of a show if they feel it's merited, and I'm afraid I will do so if I see a show I like enough, so apologies in advance if you ever end up sitting behind me for the two minutes of your view that might be blocked.

Of course I appreciate that some people cannot stand, but given more shows seem to attract standing ovations now, my point was that it does seem to have become an occupational hazard of going to the theatre.  There are of course ways to mitigate against it if you're organised enough and can afford to do so - sitting in the front row of any level of the theatre, in a box or on an aisle for starters, then your view is unlikely to be completely blocked.   But all of that does seem rather a lot of fuss for a couple of minutes of time when you can still at the very least take in the atmosphere as I do when I don't give a standing ovation.

What would you do with very tall people? Chop their heads off?

Either is fine by me.

Love,
Miss P Pocket x

I think mid-show standing ovations can be more jarring because they literally do stop the show. I have seen a few (Wicked and Gypsy notably). When I saw Dreamgirls, the audience were all up on their feet once Marisha hit the last note of And I Am Telling You, and stayed standing and going crazy when the other girls came on for the last few moments of Act I. The same thing happened after Listen, but that was fewer people rather than the whole room.

Re: BGT I had the misfortune of being an usher on several recordings. Short answer: no.

The audience shots are 'selective' but they're also whipped up into such a frenzy by the time the acts actually perform that I think they get excited out of sheer relief at having 'entertainment'. They have an (actually very good) warm up guy who comes on between acts to keep the 'hype' levels up and encourage them for the next act.

The one I didn't see much enthusiasm for it the Cardiff show a couple of years back when they filmed outside for 8 hours for 4 fairly duff acts. The audience was so frozen by that point that no amount of encouraging got much out of them...

They do however move audience members around according to attractivness. It's no conincidence for example that there always seem to be a pack of younger girls behind Cowell and co.

The panel of course also stand up for anything. Though sometimes it's hard to read certain people's expressions due to the fact their face doesn't move much anymore...

"I was just so moved by your performance"

"I was bored"

It's a good job you said because otherwise we'd be none the wiser.

I wasn't there, but rumour has it one year filming was delayed by 2 hours because Cowell was in the bath at his hotel ....

Whilst on the topic of BGT, it's made me remember being dispatched to a West End theatre box office a few years ago with strict instructions to only book tickets when 'the vile....' was definitely not performing. I therefore had to ask the box office when this BGT panellist was on a scheduled holiday or guaranteed not to perform.

Worryingly I was told I was not the first to make such a request. I only had a hazy idea of who this person was at that point but kind of understand the vitriol a little bit now.


No names, it's beneath me.....

Sounds better than Jarred Christmas at the PPGW filming, who I found deeply annoying. Mind you, I don't think I could have jumped up even if I'd wanted too as it was so hot in the studio that I was pretty much stuck to my plastic seat!

I tend to save it for spectacular performances, however, I do find myself reluctantly standing if people have done so in front of me just so I’m not aimlessly looking at their bottoms and can see what’s happening on the stage.

Oh please don't get certain people started on this again, I feel like it is a topic that has been done to death on various threads here...


Anyway, my view on it is simple - if you feel the show is worthy of a standing ovation in your personal opinion, then give one if you want to. If you don't, then don't.

Whether a show "warrants" that sort of reaction is and always will be entirely subjective and what everyone else around you feels about the show is irrelevant - plenty of people stood when I saw Company but I didn't overly like the production, so I didn't. My prerogative. The people sitting beside me didn't stand at A German Life, I did. Their prerogative and mine!

It's nothing more complicated than that, and there's certainly no "should" involved, unless you choose to make it that. If people feel they have to stand up, that's nothing more than a personal choice on their part, no-one is forcing them to do it.