Wicked bad, Betty

Just watched Ugly Betty's Wicked episode. I love me some Ugly Betty. I love Justin and his showtune club, and I love tonight's episode for presenting going to theater as something that normal people do. (See, I don't hate Wicked! Really! And I also love Ugly Betty for casting Marlo Thomas as a cougar. And Henry, who I've loved since he was Harrison on Popular.)

But I'm also peeved with Betty for setting a bad example of awful audience behavior. Betty and Henry spent most of Wicked in the audience texting to each other, not to mention the whispered, non-show-related conversation among Betty, Gio and Daniel.

It just so happens that I spent some time today on, um, the Broadway-fan message board All That Chat—I swear to GOD it was work-related, I was curious about what the commenters were saying about the first few previews of August: Osage County (and so far the feedback is incredibly positive), and the experience of going on the boards did prompt me to turn to Christopher and say "Internet message boards may be the worst thing that has ever happened to humanity"—point being, I found this thread today, which is entitled "I consider texting/emailing during plays to be the new scourge..."

This is nothing new to us. Mr. Piatt addressed this scourge in a TOC blog post last spring, and that was of course preceded by Tracy Letts's April post on the Steppenwolf blog.

Last night I attended a performance of Eduardo Machado's Chicago premiere of The Cook at the Goodman (review to come next week) with my friend Neal. At the open of the show, we heard the now-requisite chuckles at the preshow announcement to turn off cell phones and unwrap candies and cough drops. At intermission, we lamented the fact that, despite the chuckling, we heard an hour's worth of unwrapping cellophane and two ringing phones in the first act.

So thanks, Betty, for encouraging this kind of obliviousness to continue. I'll keep watching (after all, tonight's ending was frickin' heartbreaking), but consider yourself On Notice.

(Also, I left the TV on while writing this post, which means I saw my first-ever episode of Grey's Anatomy. Man, Grey's, you are a dumb show. But I still love you, Sara Ramirez.)

Comments

[Dianna]

this is one of those things that I'm not sure has a solution. and that sucks.
I was at a show last night (New Leaf's "Dining Room", highly recommended, btw), and I know that even having my cell on vibrate, the hum is loud and can easily be heard, so I shut if off entirely. Strangely enough, one of my party of 3 was running late - i stepped into the lobby, turned my phone ON, called to check in with her, then SHUT IT OFF and took my seat again.
There are PLENTY of conscientious theatre and filmgoers who know to just shut it off. Not vibrate, not "text instead of answer".... just shut it off. And for those that don't? Those that feel that the text that says "hey where R U?" needs to be answered RIGHT NOW? What can you do? This is a human nature issue. That same person, who coulnd't care less about interrupting YOUR experience by texting, is the same type of person who talks during movies, opens the candy, arrives late to theater and needs to be seated late.... it's all just a selfish state of mind, and there really isn't anything we can do to change human nature.
The only people that are allowed to answer their cell phones during ANY type of performance are ON CALL DOCTORS. They are the reason beepers were invented, and have now morphed into this.
When I was stage managing in college, I wore a theatre department provided beeper (man, I am REALLY dating myself by admitting that...), and it was used for cast members to be able to contact me about running late and not making it to rehearsals, etc. However, I shut the damn thing off when I was in class. Mostly because I felt like whatever number appeared on my little analog display would still be there when I turned it back on after Englisgh Lit III, and since I wasn't awaiting the delivery of an organ to give to one of my patients, then I could easily turn it off.

People, theatre and film and other forms of likewise entertainment are meant to take you away from your present life. And if you can't unplug yourselves from your life for an hour or 2, then maybe she shouldn't leave the house.

[Stephen]

So far, my favorite moment of this kind was looking down while I was on stage playing Richard in TimeLine's THE LION IN WINTER and seeing the teen directly in front of me going to town on his GameBoy.

So, I changed my blocking and just stood there, directly in front of him, looking right at him, delivering all my lines towards him until he looked up. When he did, the GameBoy went off and the play resumed as usual.

If I had been just a few years older and had slightly more backbone, I would have just shouted, "Hey kid, turn off the friggin' GameBoy and get your head in the play or get the Hell out!"

But that would break the 4th wall, wouldn't it? :)

[Erin]

No theater goer I, but I had to cringe when I watched that scene, too. It seemed out of character.

Great episode, though. :)