| all the doors were open | |
| Posted by: steven_carter 09:14 am EDT 05/03/24 | |
| In reply to: re: Did Broadway theaters used to let people in earlier than half hour? - lanky 10:43 pm EDT 05/02/24 | |
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| Yes, and it wasn't just an issue of everyone sort of crowding in. The managements opened ALL THE DOORS in each lobby at half-hour. So there was no need to queue up, no lines down the street. You could enter any theatre from the left side, right side, or center lobby doors. And the key is, pre-9/11, there was no thought of security being needed. When the managements started to make us line up in big, long queue lines (and theatres keeping some of their lobby doors closed) in the days after 9/11, I thought that it would just be temporary. Unfortunately it has remained, and makes entering a NYC theatre often a tense, unpleasant experience. Remember the security at Scott Rudin shows rudely grabbing water bottles from people's shoulder bags and throwing them away. Or the security guards who bark at you for having an umbrella on a rainy night, because it made you "beep" so they have to wand you-something that happened to me multiple times this season already). I know security is important BUT the Shuberts, Nederlanders, etc... could still open ALL doors and let people enter from multiple sides as they did for about 75 years before fall 2001. There could be several scanners (if they are indeed needed), and security could treat patrons civily instead of as likely criminals. And if we have to have all this security, I think the Ambassador Theatre Group has a better idea of opening the house much earlier than half-hour. At their buildings there are far fewer long lines outside snaking down the street, blocking the sidewalks and making access difficult (sometimes people mistakenly end up in the wrong line for the show they are trying to see, something that would NOT happen if patrons could simply access all the lobby doors.) If we have to live with going thru scanners, etc... we need more than half-hour to comfortably enter the house and be in the right mind set to be taken away when the curtain rises. |
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| Previous: | re: Did Broadway theaters used to let people in earlier than half hour? - portenopete 11:17 am EDT 05/03/24 |
| Next: | re: Did Broadway theaters used to let people in earlier than half hour? - Likeitlots 10:41 pm EDT 05/02/24 |
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