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Friday, August 21, 2009
Arts / News As you were on standing 'O's'
Posted By Perry Tannenbaum on Fri, Aug 21, 2009 at 2:39 PM
Late last month, the Big O (The Charlotte Observer) published a big putdown of Charlotte audiences who unconscionably give everything that plays at Belk Theater a standing ovation. The broad implications were that Belk audiences were unique and that Charlotte’s indiscriminate standing O’s exposed our pitiful provinciality to ridicule. Well, here’s my answer to Larry Toppman and his “Sit down!” vitriol: you need to get out more.
Up here in New York, we’ve seen a half dozen shows, on Broadway and off. Whether we went to In the Heights, still boasting robust audiences after a year-and-a-half; the ragtag Toxic Avenger: The Musical over on the west side; or 9 to 5: The Musical, expiring ignominiously after a run of less than five months; the story was the same. Every night, you could count on a standing O. It made no difference that the critics had lambasted 9 to 5 – and no difference that an understudy had taken over the lead at In the Heights.
So relax, Charlotte. You’re no more ignorant or provincial as a theater audience than the theatergoers in the Big Apple. We can’t say that about Toppman – unless we cut him some slack.
Now, I do agree with Toppman that indiscriminate standing ovations cheapen the value of the gesture. Ticket prices for Broadway theater do enter into the equation. If you’re paying $121.50 for prime seats, you’re expecting something special. And there are dozens of people onstage, backstage, in the light booth, or potting sound who are busting tail to make sure it all lives up to those pricey expectations.
But the idea that performers are somehow offended by a lukewarm ovation is naïve. I could go into a long disquisition on how current Broadway and touring shows are choreographed to ensure a standing O, but I’ll cite one example:
At the end of Hair, railings are rigged alongside steps leading up to the stage, and audience members are invited to join the cast onstage. You tell me how the severest critic alive is supposed to remain seated in his aisle seat during such a jubilant bacchanal.
So go ahead and ignore the curmudgeonly fulminations of Grandpa Toppman. Meanwhile, I’ll deliver my critiques of current Broadway and off-Broadway shows in coming weeks – plus some dips into the FringeNYC festival.
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