Definitely not the cheapest show in town.
Mrs. Wanders and I went to see Hamilton in Philadelphia last fall. I felt no need to compare it to other shows. We loved it even though our back-of-the-house seats were pretty pricey. But we had this crazy experience. The show started, and this group of about eight women sitting behind us kept talking, and it was distracting. They weren't directly behind us, they were behind the couple to my right, and the women were sitting four-and-four, four people on the row behind us, and four behind them. They'd clearly gone for drinks and were feeling pretty relaxed. One lady kept asking everyone in her group what the actors were saying, and I thought, if you'd stop talking and listen you could understand. It seemed like they had no idea what they were attending, and I started to believe they'd won their tickets on a radio contest. At one point, one of them started playing a video on her phone, but pretty quickly turned off the sound. Still! I turned to give them the stink eye once or twice, but to no avail.
When the lights came up for intermission, the lady sitting next to me turned to me and looked at me as if to say, "Help." I said, "Are they bothering you as much as they are bothering us?" She said she had kept turning around, and even asked them to be quiet, to no avail. That's when I took action, not for me, but for the couple sitting directly in front of them. I stood up, looked at the group and said in my most intensely restrained Dad voice, "You Have Got To Stop Talking During the Performance. It is Rude and ruining the show for everyone else." They all froze and stared at me, and then all of them got really quiet, and some were even embarrassed. The others around us were clearly on my side. I sat down, and the husband of the woman next to me leaned over and said, "If you want to do that during the second act, I've got your back."
But it was completely quiet behind us during the last half. I turned around to discover eight empty seats.
Folks, even if your tickets are free, please don't talk during live performances. It is incredibly rude. Also, don't compare it to French cabaret. It isn't fair, since nothing can compare to French cabaret.
