| This loud, intrusive overreaction from the audience to a performance is the "American Idol" effect. The audience wants to be part of the show, which ruins it for everyone who is there to observe and not be part of the show. In my experience, this phenomenon was probably the worst at last season's revival of "Into the Woods," a Sondheim musical that was the first to be part of Musical International's Broadway Junior series, in which traditional musicals are cut down for middle-school consumption. A lot of the people in the audience must have grown up with this musical, and so needed to scream and applaud wildly at the introduction of every song, as if it were a long-lost old friend. Broadway audiences, unlike audiences elsewhere in the world, also applaud lavish sets and costumes. This acknowledgement of the scenic and costume design even occurs at the Met Opera. Again, elsewhere in the world, opera audiences don't applaud sets and costumes. Regarding plays, many playwrights of color are now writing brief essays, published in their respective play's program, that encourage audiences to respond verbally to what's happening on stage and not to feel threatened by "the white gaze." Things could be worse. People could just stay home and watch tv. |
