Pleasant Surprises

Theater-goers are turning off their cell phones and staying in their seats.

By: Stuart Duncan
   Somebody asked me just about a week ago: "Does anything surprise you anymore in the theater?" Good question. After all, I have been reviewing shows since 1984, and lots of things have changed during that time. Dramas have become raunchier; musicals have certainly become louder (many, many years ago, they didn’t use mics; performers learned how to "project"). Nowadays some technician merely turns the volume up on one of his many dials and another group of youngsters become deaf.
   But surprises — well, yes. And the most surprising thing of all is that audiences have become more civil and better behaved. A few years ago, it was common for two or more cell phones to buzz or tinkle during a show (always it seemed at an important, quiet moment). Now, albeit with constant admonitions, it is unusual for even one. A few years back, audiences chatted with each other as if in front of their own television sets at home. It’s rare now for even a whisper to ruin your concentration.
   And another sign that audiences are growing up: those dreadful standing ovations are less common. Oh, you still have a few of one performer’s friends making themselves look silly by standing in clumps when that particular actor takes a curtain call, but you can forgive them — they have made the trip from New York, probably, and just want to let him or her know they went out of their way to show up. In some theaters it hardly happens at all.
   Don’t misunderstand. The shows are as strong as ever; we are blessed in this area to have possibly the finest range of theater anywhere in the world — from professional to college and university with plenty of community thrown in. An extraordinary array, actually, and well attended. It’s just that in order to earn a standing ovation you really have to work for it — and you should. It’s not enough that everybody remembered most of their lines; local audiences have become hardened to excellence and now hesitate to splurge on their approvals. Not a bad thing.