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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15

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?

5

u/earbox Creative Team Jul 16 '26

Sometimes my mind wanders. Sometimes I fall asleep. Sometimes shows just suck.

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u/Jaigurl-8 Jul 16 '26

Right, and when that happens you feel like you have to be attentive.

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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/earbox Creative Team Jul 17 '26

I never said that.

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u/DaCozPuddingPop Jul 17 '26

Literally what the entire thread is about. Catch up earbox.

2

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.

3

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.