Returning to the theater after a pandemic-induced hiatus was one thing I needed to face up and cheer — till the very finish of the efficiency, when all I needed was the fitting to stay seated. Sadly, I rapidly discovered that the interruption of Covid-19 had executed nothing to cease the wild proliferation of the standing ovation. As performs reopen for the autumn season, I hope others will be a part of me in standing as much as the social stress by staying seated.
Over my lifetime, the cultural norm of standing ovations has gone from uncommon to frequent, which makes it onerous to acknowledge an precise masterpiece.
Over my lifetime, the cultural norm of standing ovations has gone from uncommon to frequent, which makes it onerous to acknowledge an precise masterpiece. The now ever-present standing ovation appears to be a part of the efficiency somewhat than a mark of appreciation for it. Has there been a single “Hamilton” present that didn’t get an ovation? On the efficiency I went to in Chicago, we had been on our ft because the final notice rang out. It was a great efficiency, however not a terrific one.
Certainly, it typically feels as if the standing ovation is anticipated earlier than the primary line is spoken or the primary notice sung. Perhaps it’s steep ticket costs that create a self-fulfilling prophecy; a efficiency needs to be nice to justify spending per week’s pay on an evening out. Maybe it simply makes for a greater selfie if you’re standing on the finish of a efficiency. Or it’s executed unreflectively as a result of performances could be staged in such a manner as to govern this response. It’s additionally attainable this phenomenon is an extension of the “everybody will get a trophy” tradition. And if right this moment’s viewers grew up realizing solely standing ovations, then this habits can appear as applicable to them as realizing to not clap between actions on the symphony feels to my technology. .
Regardless of the trigger, it generates one other drawback: the requisite encore. Hardly ever does an encore really feel spontaneous lately. As a substitute, it’s typically deliberate as a part of this system. At a classical music live performance I attended just lately, the soloist left his violin backstage throughout his bows as a transparent signal that there can be no encore regardless of the calls for of the viewers. As we headed out of the theater, I overheard grumblings of disappointment that he had not acquiesced to the decision for extra. We don’t anticipate each sporting occasion to enter additional time in return for giving the groups a standing ovation, so I’m not positive the place this sense of entitlement comes from for the performing arts.
I’m conscious that by remaining seated it could possibly seem as if I’m making a press release of displeasure or disappointment. Nevertheless it doesn’t essentially imply that I didn’t benefit from the efficiency and even assume it effectively executed. It simply didn’t match my private standards for a standing ovation: an unforgettable expertise of the best caliber. I fear that my habits comes throughout as snobby or unappreciative, even perhaps, dare I say, outdated.
However in my (perchance old style) view, the surprising is a part of the mystique of dwell efficiency. I favor to permit the efficiency to maneuver me somewhat than realizing from the outset {that a} standing ovation is anticipated. And I fear about how this impacts the performers themselves. How does the viewers response have an effect on their self-assessment? Do they recognize realizing they’ll get a standing ovation from the get-go, or are audiences seen as much less discerning? Are the performers much less motivated to carry out? Would the dearth of a standing ovation function a wake-up name that the efficiency is slipping or merely be written off as a commentary concerning the viewers?
Once I traveled to London in February 2020, moments earlier than the pandemic put us all in entrance of our screens on a nightly foundation, I had hopes that the ritualistic post-performance exuberance won’t have made it throughout the pond. However on the first efficiency I noticed there, a heartfelt manufacturing of the musical “The Prince of Egypt,” the gang was on its ft because the final chord ended. Reluctantly, I joined in in order that I may see the ultimate bows, which had been choreographed as a part of the present.
Two nights later, although, I unexpectedly discovered myself surrounded by a theater full of people that, like me, remained seated on the finish of a present. I used to be at one of many first performances of Tom Stoppard’s “Leopoldstadt,” based mostly on the expertise of the British playwright’s household in Vienna from 1899 to 1955. The play ended all of the sudden, the stage went darkish, and the viewers, shocked by the ability of the play, was silent for a number of seconds. Then, as the burden of the expertise sank in, fingers started to clap, tears had been dried, and actors took their bows. The viewers filed out quietly as we tried to regain our bearings.
Mockingly, the absence of a standing ovation that evening added to how memorable an occasion it was. As a result of the content material of the play is sober and darkish, such a gesture would have felt like a celebration and been in poor style. As I made my manner again to my resort, I needed to inform everybody I noticed on the Tube to go see it. However principally, I needed to reassure the actors. “You had been nice,” I needed to inform them. “Please perceive it was your forceful efficiency that stored us in our seats.”
Once I noticed a latest commercial for the opening of “Leopoldstadt” in New York in early September, it gave me hope that perhaps Broadway can be importing a extra discriminating strategy to appreciating a efficiency. Till then, I stay in viewers purgatory.
