Sometimes even things off-stage add to the drama, like this incident at a recent performance of San Francisco Ballet's Don Quixote:
To: Guy Who Screamed Obscenities at the Ballet the Other Night:
Another fantastic performance by the SF Ballet. I know you enjoyed it. Our whole section knows you enjoyed it. Every time a dancer would perform a particularly impressive jump, or a series of 3+ pirouettes, you would say, "Whoa!" or "Jaysus!"
...
Curtain comes up and the dancers begin to take their bows. You notice a few people standing up. Was it an ovation? NO! They were LEAVING! These people could not WAIT to get to their cars (they were obviously not MUNI riders, walkers or cab-hailers like most of us in the City)! They had no time for CLAPPING! They had to get out now!
It was then you yelled, in your beautiful gray-haired old crotchety man voice, "WILL YOU PEOPLE SIT DOWN AND LET THE *POLITE* PEOPLE SHOW THEIR APPRECIATION?!," slight pause, "YA A[bleep]S!"
more (warning: PG-13 language within)
While vocal fans like this man are very rare --- when was the last time you even heard a boo? --- we can promise you that the best live theater performances have an energy and excitement approaching that of a big football or basketball game. Audiences will clap, scream, and do whatever else they're moved to do. The energy between the audience and performers fills the hall, and you get to go along for a great ride.
Bet no one ever told you ballet could do that.
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