Superfans

Yikes, if you define it as only 10 times then I must be a superfan of quite a lot of shows! I've seen Phantom, Les Mis & Mamma Mia 10+ times each and I wouldn't say I'm a superfan of any of them. It's more that they're always there & I wander in every so often. There are other shows that I've loved more but have seen less because of their short runs. I saw Wicked a lot 2007-9 but then went off it and have only seen it once since so I guess I'm an ex-fan of that.

Favourite shows that I managed to see 10 or more times are:
Zorro - 22, plus 2 in Paris
Lend Me A Tenor - 11
Crazy For You - 10
Top Hat - 26
The Play That Goes Wrong - 22
Peter Pan Goes Wrong - 11
(The Comedy About A Bank Robbery will be joining the other 2 Mischief Theatre shows soon at the rate I'm going!)

I'm not sure I'd put improvisation shows in the same category, since you're not seeing the same show repeatedly, but I've seen Lights! Camera! Improvise! 10 times & Showstopper 12 times, having only discovered improv fairly recently..

Not sure if the wicked statement or the cure is weirder. I did see The Clash five nights on the trot at the Lyceum in 1981. Doesn't make me a superfan but writing this I am incredibly smug.

I remember having a disagreement on the old forum with someone who thought it was acceptable to whoop and screech (along with their superfan pals) every time a line was sung differently, or a riff was inserted 


My point was that 99.9% of the audience wants to hear the music as imagined by the composer and lyricist. Not some bit-part understudy's version which she's using to impress, well... Someone. 

Superfans? Enjoy it. It's there for you. But you're never ever EVER more important than the rest of the audience. 

I struggle still with the whole muck up matinee at cast changes for the same reason. The majority of audience members are there to see the show performed at its best.

Oh, how I hate that. Some fans go to watch the show, and some fans go to show off that they watch the show. If the show itself was what mattered then they'd sit quietly and experience it properly.

I'm a Superfan, but I feel uncomfortable admitting it in this day and age as you get lumped with a certain type. The type mentioned in some of the above posts. I like to think that I was a Superfan before it became "fashionable" to be one, and I only ever became one by accident really, as I fell in love with one or two productions, and became interested in what different actors brought to the show and how it changed dynamics. I also loved spotting any changes made, and the introduction of new scenery or props. I never sing along, although my fingers have sometimes drummed the beat of a particular moment on my leg if something really hits the spot! I no longer collect memorabilia from my chosen shows. I have drawers full of the stuff that's nice to look through every now and then. If a new production of my show is mounted, I'm along like a shot. I love seeing a fresh take on my shows; sometimes I love it, sometimes I hate it and long to see the original concept from yesteryear all over again...

I agree there is some level of stigma attached with being a superfan. Just watching the Whatsonstage video from the first preview of Cursed Child, they were chatting to people outside the theatre who were saying things like "I've read Harry Potter start to finish 17 times (119 books)" and "We got married two days ago and now we've come to see the show on our honeymoon", but there was no level of criticism or amazement in the comments section as most of them could imagine being that person and even envied them.

The superfan of theatre thing is a bit more difficult because as people have said, we're lumped in with the 15 year olds who are as distracting and attention seeking in the auditorium as can be, not to mention irritating the hell out of cast members at stage door - I know somebody who went 5 times in a week once, and were every bit as annoying as you're probably picturing them. Honestly, I see the show because I like the show. I'd say at least 50 of my Wicked trips I've gone on my own, sat, watched the show, then went straight home, and another 40 on top of that watched the show with someone else... then went home, without burdening poor Fred who is trying to get home but can't because a horde of teenagers are asking him what it was like performing with the 3rd cover in a certain ensemble track for the first time, and unsurprisingly he hadn't noticed, or if he had he's biting his tongue trying not to tell everyone interrogating him to "f**k off and not come back".

It's a shame that 98% of superfans let the other 2% down

I've seen both of my favourite shows 4 and 6 times in a week respectively, but they were for special reasons (one was a special visit abroad, the other was the closing week). I've never gone to the stage door for either of them. In fact I've only 'stage doored' once and failed. I never know what to say other than thanks for a great show haha.

I occasionally find myself miming along to a song but never singing or dancing (well maybe a little bobbing of the head to a good beat).

I agree that the term 'superfan' does have negative connotations and so I would never class myself as one, even though I guess by definition seeing a show loads of times makes you one. It's just that over time other actions have been added to the definition because of a minority of theatre-goers.

Do do you mean what I think you mean?

Billy Elliot had a LOT of problems. And there's a lot of bitterness between fans and management as they had to shun a few Ruthie Henshall fans and a few genuine show fans in an attempt to urgently fix quite a huge problem with males over the age of 35 coming to stage door. But that's not my place to say.

I've seen a show 6 times in a week before (actually I also saw Showstopper 10 times in 8 days, but as someone pointed out, that changes), but only stage doored once. When Savannah Stevenson starts adding the word "again" to "nice to see you", you know it's time to slow down.

So they had child actors coming out to meet these weirdos people at the stage door?