As I mentioned earlier, I went to see My Fair Lady at the Lincoln Center while in New York. Yes, My Fair Lady is my all-time favorite musical. Yes, this was my first Broadway show. And yes, this was the best show I have ever seen live. It was like the perfect storm; first time in NYC, first show, and it happened to be My Fair Lady AT THE FRICKIN’ LINCOLN CENTER!! Dream come true indeed.

I will not forget any moment of this; the performances, the pageantry, the overall feel of being in such a place.

And I will never forget the audience, namely the people that sat a few seats away from me.

Let me explain…………

Three seats to my left, two seats preshow were open. Hmmm, wonder if they were going to be empty the entire show.

10 minutes into the show, an usher comes in view, escorting an older couple (around 55ish) to their seat. Right when sitting down, they started to chat. Late and chatty. Great. But it gets worse……..

They chatted so much that the people in front and behind started to ‘shhhh’ them. Right in the middle of this live performance! And you know they didn’t want to ‘shhh’, but they had to. After the temporary silence, the lady busted out her phone. WHAT!!! Unbelievable. Lucky for us, there was no reception, so she quickly shelved it. But it gets worse……..

Both her and him were singing along with the show. WHAT!!!?!?! Can you believe that? Singing along with the show. Broadway show. On Saturday night. At Lincoln Center. Needless to say, more ‘shhhh’s occurred.

Anyway, intermission came and they left. And something I have never seen happened…….

The entire section upon them leaving all chatted each other and vented about how awful these people were. I mean this is my first show in NY, so I thought maybe this was normal. But I assure you, it certainly was not according to these others. We all bonded in a sense, much like an army unit going through battle and later come together through a shared awful experience. Hopefully they would not return.

But they did. 5 minutes after Act II started. And did they stop chatting or singing?

No.

At the end of the show, the entire section relayed their complete annoyance with them and tried to convince them that what they did was completely rude and unacceptable.

They had no clue.

Amazing.

Lucky for me, I was sitting just far enough to not fully experience the full extent of this rudeness. But I know it was there. And it was shocking.

Why did the ushers intervene? Why were they even allowed to be late and be seated in the first place? How can these people, obviously familiar with musical theatre, behave like that? The entire thing is utterly shocking.

But I still loved the show. :)