The Phantom of the Opera
Yesterday afternoon, Prairie and I got a call from her sister H offering us tickets to the closing night show of The Phantom of the Opera at the Paramount. She’d gotten sick earlier in the day and just wasn’t up to going out, so she and P decided to see if we wanted to go. We, of course, were happy to take them (after passing on our sympathies, of course), and headed out for an unexpected but not unwelcome night out at the theater.
I’ve grown up with Phantom, from having the soundtrack nearly as long as I can remember to owning the behind-the-scenes book The Complete Phantom of the Opera to having performed a few of the numbers during my days in the Anchorage Children’s Choir, and this was my second time seeing the show. While not unfamiliar with the show — its nearly impossible to have an interest in modern theater culture and not know about Phantom — this was Prairie’s first opportunity to see it on stage.
The show itself, while enjoyable for the spectacle, wasn’t at all a great show. The performances were good, though I wouldn’t really rate them much better than that, and much of the spectacle felt a little rushed, like you didn’t really have time to appreciate the moment before being whisked off to the next scene. There were no flubs, it certainly wasn’t a bad performance, and we both enjoyed the grandeur of the whole thing. It just wasn’t stellar.
Additionally, we’re curious if we might be more appreciative of the less-expensive balcony seats for our next show at the Paramount. Each time we’ve gone to a show and splurged for floor seats, the sound mix in the theater has been surprisingly bad, with the actors overly loud compared to the music and many of the group numbers turning into a muddled, unintelligible mess. We don’t remember having this issue when we’ve seen shows from the balcony, though, so we’re curious if the acoustics in the Paramount happen to favor the balcony. For our next show, we’re going to stay away from the floor and see what we think.
Lastly, two points that I’ve touched on before but that, unfortunately, still need to be addressed (and, realistically, probably aren’t going to change in the foreseeable future):
It’s truly distressing how few people think of theater as Theater (with a capital ‘t’). Both Prairie and I were brought up to see a night out at a show as something special. It’s not something that happens every day (or even every week or month), and so it’s not something to be taken completely casually. It is something that should be dressed for: I’d argue for good business work clothes at the minimum, if you’re not actually going to take the time to dress up. Above all, jeans and t-shirts? Not acceptable!
The crowd at last nights show, admittedly, was a bit better than we’ve seen at other shows in the past. That said, I still hold that ratty jeans and tracksuits should be unacceptable at the theater.
One last thing: a standing ovation should be given for extraordinarily good performances. Not for every performance you happen to be at. Not for slightly above average performances. And certainly not for performances with flubbed lines, broken props, and bad sound. I’ve noticed this trend a lot lately, where it’s more rare to be at a performance that doesn’t get a standing ovation than to be at a performance that does. That’s really not how this is supposed to work, folks. A standing ovation is something special, to be reserved for those truly stand-out performances, not used for every performance you bother to attend.
Prairie and I just sat in our seats last night. The people around us probably thought we were being rude (ironic, given that I had to shoot the twit on my left a few glares when she started singing along with the show), but it just wasn’t an ovation-worthy performance. Good, yes; worthy of applause and appreciation, yes; worthy of a whoopin’ and hollerin’ standing ovation? Certainly not.
Regarding the acoustics in the Paramount: They are bad. I’m in the Seattle Men’s Chorus and we were relegated to the Paramount one year when Benaroya wasn’t available. Almost universally everyone said that the acoustics in that “barn” were bad.
As for the Phantom itself, just spectacle and box office payouts alone (falling chandeliers, helicopters etc.) do not a great show make. Many people have pointed out that ALW’s music is blatant rip-off of Puccini.
I’m less inclined to worry about what others wear to the Theater and more inclined to care about how people behave during the performance. But in general I believe the two are related and often appear together.
Honestly, I have to take an opposing position to yours, Mike, and I spent most of my high school and college years involved in theater (including a theater B.A.). I’m more of a populist about theater … now, mind you, I’m not saying that people need to be answering cell phones or talking to each other. Respect the performance, yes. But at least in my own opinion, I’d rather have someone IN the audience and wearing a T-shirt and jeans than not in the audience at all. If you were looking at Shakespeare’s audience, trust me, they were not in the least bit in finery, nor were many, many, many theater audiences throughout various incarnations of theater throughout the ages.
In Shakespeare’s time, there were indeed people who didn’t “dress” to go to the theater. These people also paid very little for their seats (or they stood), and they were separated from those who paid more for their seats (who did dress up to go to the theater). Traditionally, those with the better seats dressed the part. The social aspect of the theater scene was almost as important as the play itself.
Part of the fun of going to the theater today, especially when paying for expensive seats, is to be surrounded by people dressed in their best and acting appropriately. I’m tired of people who pay $100 per ticket and show up in jeans and sweat shirts. If people are going to dress like they’re ready for an afternoon at the mall, they should pay $9 and go to a movie.
I’m with you on acting appropriately. And personally, with regard to my own choice of clothing, I’d dress more formally.
But I just can’t get on board with the idea of theater being exclusionary to those not somehow “appropriately attired.”
If people pay $100 per ticket and show up in jeans and sweat shirts, if people are going to dress like they’re ready for an afternoon at the mall, they should go in and enjoy the show just as much as the person sitting next to them.
But perhaps we’re caught up on a semantic point. There are requirements and there is what “should” be. If you’re saying “should be”, then I’m with you. If you’re saying “required”, then I’m not.
I don’t see a problem with there being a dress code, but the realist in me knows that there would be no way to enforce it. I’m simply bemoaning the loss of niceties like dressing appropriately for special events that seems to be overly-prevalent in contemporary society. Call it nostalgia if you like. People used to have a sense of decorum and style, and I think it’s sad that so many people have lost it.
I can definitely agree with you regarding bemoaning the loss of the sense of decorum that people used to have.
It’s just with going to the theater that I’m a bit more casual, because of the “theater evangelism” I used to have.
Isn’t dressing up part of the fun? Why don’t people chose to embrace that aspect of “a night at the theater” when it is in fact part of the glorious experience? I don’t have a lot of nice clothes, but I sure as hell tried when I went to RENT last year (and I know what you mean about a shotty performance. They were great performers with singing, but the acting was so HORRENDOUS with over-exaggerated movements and robot like dance scenes that it wasn’t ovation worthy, and I love RENT with all my soul). People just don’t give theater the esteem it deserves these days, it really ISN’T the same thing as going to the movies as the $90 ricket difference should tell you.
Remember when people would dress up to fly on an airplane? It was a ‘special’ event. Perhaps the specialness has gone out of attending a theatre performance, too. Or perhaps it’s an east coast/west coast thing. I’ll bet those attending a Broadway performance on Broadway aren’t dressed in jeans. But let’s get back to the topic. I attended the show on October 5th with my 13 year-old – eager to show her about ‘real theatre’! This was to be a unique and wonderful experience for us — but the Phantom left us cold in more ways than one. The theatre temperature was too chilly, our 12th-row-from-the-stage seats were great for watching but not for listening, and there was minimal emotion from either ‘Christine’ or ‘Phantom’. The audience was given a ho-hum performance, and I agree that it was not standing-ovation deserving! Where can I get my refund (!).