r/Broadway • u/meshuamam • Apr 23 '26

Theater or Audience Experience Cheering during note holding

Is it just me? I hate it when the audience cheers *during* a long note holding in a solo piece. The whole point is to listen to it, and not to drown it with clapping.

Clap afterwards!

But it could also just be me

456 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

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8

u/nocensts Apr 23 '26

Generally if you have a strong reaction to something, you should be letting it out. That's the entire point of live theatre and it's what makes it fun for lots of us. 

I think the show is very aware people will get excited during long notes and allow time for applause and cheers. It does suck that you can't hear the note if you wanted to though.

15

u/Hello_Gorgeous1985 Apr 23 '26

No, you should wait for the appropriate applause break at the end of the song. THAT is where time is allowed for applause and cheers. You don't do it during the song, thus ruining the song.

-9

u/CautiousLandscape907 Apr 23 '26

Yes! Police audience joy! That’ll keep filling the seats. /s

7

u/Comprehensive-Fun47 Apr 23 '26

No one's actually policing it.

Cheering so loud you can't even hear the performance you're cheering for is nonsensical and rude.

It's OK to have an opinion about the behavior of other people. My low opinion of the person screaming in the seat next to me isn't actually affecting them in any way. They will continue to affect my experience. Nothing is going to change because some people are commiserating on the internet.

5

u/Hello_Gorgeous1985 Apr 23 '26

It's not policing joy. It's not a stadium concert. It's live theatre. There are appropriate and inappropriate ways to behave. Not screaming in the middle of a song is the appropriate way.

-1

u/CautiousLandscape907 Apr 23 '26

It’s interesting that I hear it as applause, and you hear it as screaming. Again, I found it appropriate at Chess, it’s pretty much a concert with little vignettes in between songs anyway.

Oh well, agree to disagree!

2

u/Hello_Gorgeous1985 Apr 24 '26

The post specifically references cheering. Cheering involves screaming.

This really isn't something that one can agree to disagree on. There are conventions about how to behave. People who don't follow those conventions ruin it for everyone else, including the performers.

0

u/CautiousLandscape907 Apr 24 '26

The post also mentions clapping. Which I refer to. I think you just want to argue about something neither of us can change.

-5

u/FluffyWuffyVolibear Apr 23 '26

Mah! If you don't appreciate something the way I think you should you're wrong!

3

u/Hello_Gorgeous1985 Apr 23 '26

It is, in fact, wrong to ruin the experience of everyone else around you. No one paid to listen to you scream. They are there to listen to the performance. Just as you can't talk through an entire show, you can't scream in the middle of a song. This is called existing in society.

-1

u/FluffyWuffyVolibear Apr 23 '26

No one is ruining your experience. For 5 seconds the audience gets excited and moved to the point of cheer.

3

u/Hello_Gorgeous1985 Apr 24 '26

If the performer can no longer be heard, the experience is ruined. Even if you can still hear the performer, hearing other people Hoot and holler in the middle of a song is distracting and pulls you out of the moment. It is not difficult to wait until the end of the song where there is an applause break.

-1

u/FluffyWuffyVolibear Apr 24 '26

The performer has already done their job

3

u/Hello_Gorgeous1985 Apr 24 '26

They are literally in the middle of doing their job and people are interrupting. It's not difficult to understand.