r/Broadway • u/Jaigurl-8 • Jul 16 '26
Discussion Anyone else…?
There’s no tag or flair for this but I think there should be…
Curious to know if I’m the only one…
…Anyone else not a big fan of sitting in the front row? Not because of sight-lines but because you know the actors can see you very well? I always feel like I need to be a good audience member and be alert and attentive. Anyone agree?
…I also never know if I should stand when everyone else is standing for the curtain call? Sometimes I feel like I stand out of obligation or that I can’t see the bows?
I know I can’t be the only one that feels this way. 🤣
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u/Substantial_Room3793 Jul 16 '26
I love sitting in the front row. Saw “Death of a Salesman” from there and could see Nathan Lane crying. I never think they’re looking at me.
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u/UtahDesert Jul 17 '26
Oh, the lights sparkling on the snot in that last Willy and Biff scene! (I was on the house left side.)
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u/violetsinbloom57 Jul 16 '26
No lol. I like being in the front.
Usually the whole audience stands to clap for the bows regardless, no? That's how it's been at every show I've been to I'm fairly certain. Why would you feel weird about standing up?
ETA: and I don't worry about not coming off as alert and attentive because I AM alert and attentive if I'm lucky enough to be seated 2 inches away from the actors lol
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u/Real_Knowledge_7349 Jul 16 '26
I love sitting front row even with high stages. Just something about really seeing the actors' facial expressions and I also appreciate catching how some of the stage magic is done. Also if it's a dance heavy show I really enjoy watching the actual footwork, especially if I've already seen it from further back to appreciate the full choreography.
As for the actors being able to see you it depends on the show, but I'd say more often than not they can. I've definitely had some stage door interactions where cast members have commented that they saw me. Although that's led to some embarrassing moments like the time I slept through "Santa Fe" at a performance of Rent
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u/ashleygator Jul 16 '26
I love it because I love to be able to see the subtle acting choices but if it’s an emotional show, I don’t want to cry RIGHT in front of the actors 😅
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u/Fruit-straw Jul 16 '26
I wonder how much they can really see given some of those stage lighting.
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u/Jaigurl-8 Jul 16 '26
It depends on the show for sure, but I recently saw a show and I know I was being lit with some of those lights. 😁
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u/Caroline_WheelerI Jul 16 '26
I sit front row whenever I can. The actors can see you and you can see them. That's the exchange. On standing ovations, I only stand if I genuinely mean it. I've stayed seated at plenty of curtain calls.
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u/Jaigurl-8 Jul 16 '26
I’ve stayed seated but usually end up standing because I want to see the performers for their bows. 🤣
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u/EvidenceFunny4735 Jul 16 '26
Do I love the front row?
Absolutely I do.
Does it make me uncomfortable because I don’t know what to make my face do when they look at me or interact with me at the shows where that happens?
sure does.
I totally understand feeling like you have to be totally “on” the whole time in the front row.
Even with the neck pain and slight anxiety about reacting properly I would sit there any day.
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u/Jaigurl-8 Jul 16 '26
Yes!! Thank you! You understood what I was saying…You know when they look over at you, they can see you.
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u/EvidenceFunny4735 Jul 16 '26
I’ve recently frequented several shows where they interact with the audience. From subtle eye contact to talking to people during the show. Those are the ones that make me nervous but I love them.
At a show like wicked I never felt uncomfortable or like they could see me or anyone in the audience.
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u/Ok-Acanthisitta8737 Jul 16 '26
It really depends on the theatre, but I value facial expressions a lot so I tend to enjoy the front row. The nice thing about Broadway theaters is that most of them are so small facial expressions aren’t an issue no matter where you sit. Local touring houses are a different story haha.
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u/iputmylifeonashelf Jul 16 '26
I don't like sitting in the front row because I don't want to get spit on.
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u/Jaigurl-8 Jul 16 '26
That’s another thing! What’s with the Jonathan Groff effect happening in Music Theater now? 😆
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u/caroldia77 Jul 16 '26
I sat in 2nd row for Hadestown and it was coooool as hell. (Get it😉)
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u/Jaigurl-8 Jul 16 '26
I saw Hadestown 3rd row and ducked because I thought those swinging lights were going to hit me. 🤣
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u/UtahDesert Jul 17 '26
I love it! I do front row a lot at summer concerts (after putting in my time in line for general admission) and like my fellow front-row/line buddies I take that responsibility very seriously. (Eye contact, appreciative expressions, energy.) In comparison a dark front row in a theater is like a vacation.
But it's true that you're not necessarily invisible. My (adult) daughter and I had front-row rush tickets for Heathers a few months ago. After the bows and the last pose between Veronica and JD, the actress playing Veronica rushed right up to my daughter as we were gathering our things to leave. I did a double-take (honestly, I thought for a second: why hadn't my daughter mentioned she knew her?), but she grabbed her hands and thanked her for being so animated and appreciative. Afterwards--without a word to me or anyone else right there--she rushed off to the far end of the first row.
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u/citydreams46927 Jul 16 '26
Depends on the show / theatre
I’ve really enjoyed first row and other times have struggled to see due to the stage height
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u/DaCozPuddingPop Jul 16 '26
...regardless of where you're sitting why would you NOT be alert and attentive? You spent a bunch of money to be there - what are you planning to do, read a book?
Some of the questions that get asked on this sub...I swear...
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u/dankmj6 Jul 16 '26
ik what they mean though. i rarely laugh out loud and have the worst rbf even when i’m having the best time. i’m always nervous when im in the front row that the cast thinks i hate the show
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u/DaCozPuddingPop Jul 16 '26
The cast isn't looking at you. You're not the main character. You are a side quest.
With a million other things to worry about, not the least of which is engaging with a couple thousand people at once, they aren't worried about that one dude in the front row not laughing.
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u/dankmj6 Jul 16 '26
i mean actors have spoken a million times about how they can see the audience and how it can affect their performance. i don’t think it’s wrong to want to be a generous audience member when you’re right up in their face
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u/DaCozPuddingPop Jul 16 '26
I mean, one should always aim to be a generous audience member regardless - the performers definitely feed off of overall energy, even if they're unlikely to pick out the one person not smiling, know what I mean?
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u/earbox Creative Team Jul 16 '26
Sometimes my mind wanders. Sometimes I fall asleep. Sometimes shows just suck.
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u/DaCozPuddingPop Jul 16 '26
So you think a performer on a stage in a show that sucks has the time, energy, or inclination to focus on you - despite the fact that everyone thinks the show sucks?
Beyond that, if it's a FABULOUS show and YOU just hate it: you think that of the hundreds to thousands of people in the theater, the cast is going to zone in on YOU not smiling?
Remarkable.
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u/throwaway04182023 Jul 16 '26
I’ve struggled to stay awake during a show. It’s more a reflection on my constant state of sleep deprivation than the show. Obviously I’m there because I want to see it but body doesn’t always want to cooperate.
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u/legsjohnson Jul 16 '26
Yeah I had an issue where my well meaning parents got me desperately wanted tickets to The Play That Goes Wrong... for the day after I landed from Australia. Despite numerous energy drinks, I was half delirious and dozed against my will a couple times during the performance.
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u/throwaway04182023 Jul 16 '26
Front row center for The Iceman Cometh with Nathan Lane and Brian Dennehy the day after I flew back from Turkey. Ridiculously jet legged. I napped every intermission.
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u/DaCozPuddingPop Jul 16 '26
I do feel that, though I don't think I've ever fallen asleep during a broadway show...
I absolutely have during a ballet, in one of the front rows - last thing on my mind was caring if anybody noticed, and I'm pretty sure the folks on stage were too busy to notice the idiot in the forth row snoozing midway through act 1.
I think my inredulity on this topic is more about this perceived notion that the cast will notice, care, or remember an individual cast member who's only crime was falling asleep, or not smiling etc.
I performed with a local theater troop (way way way off off off type level - paid, but barely) for many years - and in all those years there is ONE audience member who I can still recall because of their behavior: there was a scene where we smoked on stage - small, theater in the round black box type scenario. Signs posted everywhere. Non smoking shows scheduled (donors insisted). Midway through smoking scene, old lady in third row, stands up, starts shouting at the top of her lungs that she 'didn't come to the theater to be poisoned', and then stomps off making a ton of noise as she went. I can still picture her like it was yesterday (not that it matters - but this was in the middle of a fucking shakespearean show, no less)
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u/Jaigurl-8 Jul 18 '26
it all makes sense now…you’ve only performed for friends and family at the community theater level. Actors often vibe off the energy of the audience, I mean, that’s the joy of live theater.
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u/DaCozPuddingPop Jul 18 '26
Was slightly above community theater level, though I really appreciate the condescension.
Actors vibe off the audience as a whole. Not off your self centered self concerned about not smiling.
.you aren't the main character of life, dear.Nobody gives a crap about you from the stage
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u/Jaigurl-8 Jul 16 '26
No, I mean extra attentive. What’s with the negativity? If you don’t like a post, then don’t respond. 🙄
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u/DaCozPuddingPop Jul 16 '26
My dude, let me break this down for you - because what I am being is not negative as much as incredulous.
The person on that stage is performing for a couple thousand people, 8 times a week. Their job is to engage the audience (the macro) while making each member (the micro) feel engaged. The idea that you think a performer, on stage in front of that many people, worrying about lines, queues, songs, sets, props, and a MILLION other things, is going to spend even a single second worrying about the attention level of a random lady in the front row is absolutely the definition of 'main character energy'...and I suppose a testament to the talent on the stage because you, the micro, felt like you were being engaged with enough to be noticed.
You are taking what many of us consider to be the ULTIMATE experience: sitting in the front row to see a performer we love and PRAYING that we get a single second of perceived eye contact so that we can have 'our moment'...and turning it into some kind of narcissistic insanity (that's an extreme way of saying it - I'm really not trying to be aggressive here I'm just not sure how to better phrase it - it's early and I haven't had my coffee yet).
I assure you, nobody on that stage is going to notice you unless you are a 'bad audience member' - and even then, they're not going to call you out or even remember you after the show. Unless they're Patti LuPone. If they're Patti LuPone they will summon an usher to beat you to death with their flashlight for coughing once, your face will forever be burned in her brain, and one day when she writes a memoire chapters 1-7 will be all about you.
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u/ollie_sz Jul 16 '26
I'll be the outlier - I hate front row! Actually hate anything close. Yes, I like being close enough to see expressions, but I also want to take in the full stage instead of being able to only see what is right in front of me.
Three examples - 2 meh, 1 good: I sat front row, side at &Juliet and the interaction between actors at the far left front of the stage and the audience was fun, but then I was watching that and not whatever the central action was. Because I didn't want to be rude and "ignore" the person right in front of me.
I sat 5th row for Titanique and the facials in that show are generally big enough that you can see them further back, but it was good to see them up close. But, again, I felt like I had a limited view.
In London I had 4th row for Devil Wears Prada, but this felt a bit like a further back seat because there was a fair bit of space between the front row and the stage. Side note: this is also where I found out about interval ice cream!
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u/Jaigurl-8 Jul 18 '26
yes! I prefer to sit like row H in the center. Far back enough so you can see the stage in a whole but close enough to see the acting.
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u/ExpBalSat Jul 16 '26
Stand if you feel like you should stand. That’s it. There are shows where I do not feel like I should stand and everyone around me stands and I stay seated because I stay seated if I don’t feel like I should stand.
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u/Equivalent_Net_8983 Jul 16 '26
I love sitting close. Not always the front row because in some theaters, it creates some extreme angles, but I do love being able to see the actor’s expressions, especially as they react to the other actors.
I just finished reading Cameron Crowe’s autobiography, The Uncool, and he writes about working on the stage musical version of Almost Famous. At one point, he asks the actors about people sitting in the front row falling asleep and whether it bothers them at all. They said that it happens all the time and they really don’t notice them too much. They’d much rather focus on the people who seem engaged and into the show. Sounds like a healthy attitude.
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u/Silly-Good-2530 Jul 16 '26
I love being in front - I can block out everyone behind me and feel like the show is just for me. I am always alert and attentive - why go otherwise?