Broadway Shows Suffer Total Phone Etiquette Meltdown

This week , the theater Earth and social medium exploded over a homo who jump on stagecoach at Hand to God so as to plug his charger into a ( fake ) on - plant way out . Then queen diva Patti LuPone snatched a phone straight out of a texting audience member ’s hand and sauntered off with it . What the hell is happening on Broadway ?

Ah , Broadway ! The lights , the hallowed tread upon the boards , the deception of a live stagecoach production . Only some people still ca n’t put their phone down , even for a $ 100 + tag and more or less two hours . I was at a show on Tuesday where the speaker unit edict to turn off telephone had to be enforced by harried doorkeeper right up to the first orchestral dandy . “ Sir , put it away ! ” an usher implored , shin his flashlight of disgrace in the darken dramaturgy . “ OK , OK , OK , ” said the guy , loudly , “ OK , I ’m doing it . ” This was somewhat of a beguilement from Les Miserables ’ opening scene of a nineteenth - one C galley chain work party .

I’vewritten about the frustrationof friend being ineffective to tear themselves from screens at dinner party or drinks ( and my ownissues ) . But at a Broadway production — or any kind of theatrical outcome — the breach of introductory etiquette is intellect - boggling . Theater is one of our oldest arts , and one of the only remaining where phone separation should not have to be someone ’s job to police . This much should be ego - observable upon the curtain rising . Still , the Les Mis crew was a column of Jean Valjean - like saintly behavior compared to the other antics that pass this calendar week .

Playbill tracked downNick Silvestri , 19 , who was visiting the city from Long Island with kinfolk and friends . interested about his 5 % iPhone 6 assault and battery state , Silvestri hopped on stage before the start of the stinking - mouthed tool trifle Hand to God and attempted to punch his phone into an issue on - set ( the outlet , part of the set design , was non - functional ) . Playbill ’s interview confirmed that his action were n’t a stunt :

“ I see the outlet and range for it , ” [ Silvestri ] said . “ That was the only outlet I saw , so I thought , ‘ Why not ? ’ I was thinking that they were belike croak to plug something in there on the set , and I figured it would n’t be a bragging deal if my speech sound was up there too . ”

And why was he in such fearful pauperization of juice ? “ Girls were calling all day . What would you do ? ”

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A video of Silvestri ’s stage encroachment was uploaded to YouTube and has since been viewed more than 500,000 times . Social media snuff it uncivilized and continues to point out , spurred further by Playbill ’s follow - up with Silvestri . Actors express good - natured exasperation and online commentators were unceasingly amused :

Silvestri was only on degree for a few seconds before security measures was on the sheath . But the incident received such a strong and widespread reaction because it was a arrant violent storm of our hyper - link culture and growing concerns around the lack of etiquette and constant screen - clip ( especiallyfor minor ) .

The matter is — while we can bemoan and bemock Silvestri ’s thoughtless action — most of us can also realize his motivation on some level . How many times have you finger the speck of a dying barrage fire , the attendant anxiety , and extend on a demented pursuance for an outlet ? ( Of course , a tycoon savings bank standalone charger , which now start at around $ 7 , can go aways to fixing the low - battery blues — though that wo n’t figure out the etiquette question . )

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Our phones have become an addictive lifeline we can not imagine existing even a few moments without — even when we are supposed to be determine an artistic yield unfold . Silvestri ’s stage - leap was the extreme demonstration of our inability to remain unconnected , and our want of business organization for anything else in the pursuit of our personal mobile comfort zone . Not everyone is remain firm idly by while we stare down alternatively of ahead , however .

In the same calendar week as the Hand to God incident , a texting interview member had her phone grabbed mid - show by Shows for day adept and Broadway legend Patti LuPone . The news went viral , and LuPone issued a damning statement condemning the engineering conflict actor are up against . The sentiment should be absorb by a broader audience than just dramatic art - goers :

We work heavily on stage to make a world that is being totally destroyed by a few , underbred , self - absorbed and unconsidered audience members who are controlled by their earphone . They can not put them down .

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When a earpiece give way off or when a light-emitting diode screen can be seen in the nighttime it ruins the experience for everyone else – the bulk of the audience at that performance and the actors on level . I am so defeated by this issue that I in earnest query whether I need to work on microscope stage anymore . Now I ’m frame conflict gear on over my costume to marshal the audience as well as perform .

The response to LuPone ’s military action has been supportive on societal media and in the press . The New York Post had play with one of their trademark pun - y headlines :

If only Patti LuPone could come into our homes and take all of these execrate thing off from us .

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— After Midnight ( @midnight)July 9 , 2015

What do you think of the recent#broadway#cellphoneincidents?#handtogod#PattiLuPonehttp://t.co / wGvyTX8CF6pic.twitter.com / MH2Sq2qsIN

— newfangled musicals ( @New_Musicals)July 10 , 2015

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While some poked more playfulness :

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https://twitter.com/embed/status/619223282127110148

These case garnered coverage precisely because we have so few remaining spaces think to be phone - free that they take on a sort of sanctification . It may be nettlesome to sit next to someone texting through a flick , but it ’s not the same level of disrespect or potential distraction to live performer . And when a person verso - break the 4th paries because his texts are more urgent than his power to disconnect for an hour , we ’re reach a cell phone singularity .

What ’s to be done ? Checking telephone set at the door — as some press screenings will do — are metre and proletariat intensive , and few of us would abide an intermission without being able to tell everyone we know where we are . If you ’re a parent , you’re able to sample and teach your children that there are some times where a phone is unfitting . But the most frequent phone etiquette - breachers are adults . And the unfortunate truth is that there are always cash in one’s chips to be mass like Silvestri ( Twitter bio : “ I do n’t give a ass ” ) and the LuPone texter who wo n’t ascertain from what the recoil that their natural process were awry — as they should have recognise in the first billet .

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Silvestri seems to be delight his newfound internet celebrity :

https://twitter.com/embed/status/619572403832815616

Perhaps the only solvent amidst relentless hyper - connectivity is to be like Hand to God , and soldier on with good sense of humour and an cheerful spin .

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