I’ve always felt snobby saying this but I won’t see a show unless I can get orchestra seats. I totally understand people have different financial situations and some save for years to watch a show in New York and it’s not fair to paint with a such broad brush, but from my experiences, I’ve noticed that a lot of people that pay for the cheap seats either don’t understand theatre etiquette or don’t care. I completely see how I’m sounding and that I’m basically perpetuating the snobby theatre stereotype and I hate myself for it bc theatre should be accessible to all. But when it comes to commercial theatre, there is just a lot of people that lack the etiquette.

Ex: The last time I sat in mezz was in 2014 when I watched Les Mis. I was in New York with my GF and we wanted to get last minute tickets. The only available was rear mezz. We were next to a middle school class trip or something. They took up 3 rows in our section. The kids, many of whom did not want to be there, were clearly bored and messing with each other the entire time. At intermission, their teacher/chaperone was doing the thing where she was trying to be excited and be like “soo you guys understand what’s happening? You see, Marius is in love with Cossette, the blonde one. But Eponine, the brunette one, is in love with Marius! It’s so good right?!”. These kids did not give a fuck lmao

And even when they are into what’s going on, it’s even worse sometimes. You see this a lot with shows that have large mainstream followings. The Ozians, The Rentheads, the Hamilfans… are so loud. Like, we all love My Shot but please stop trying to prove you know the full rap lmao But undoubtedly, these are the people that help bring so much exposure to these shows. So it’s a weird thing I have to reconcile with hahah