OnStage: When each unique snowflake of a student receives a gold star for every mediocre score, students stop learning, and the institution fails. When each performance brings an audience to their feet night after night, artists stop creating, and the institution fails.
Standing ovations have become the participation ribbons of live performance. In every school auditorium, local theater and national venue, audience members end every showing on their feet cheering as if their favorite team just scored the winning touchdown.
Jesse Mckinley of the New York Times referred to standing ovations as a “tyrant.” Audiences feel obligated to rise to their feet even when the performance does not justify it.
19 comments:
Though I think the sentiment behind this argument is accurate in many ways, I think it is arguing against a problem that doesn’t exist. At this point in time, standing ovations probably don’t hold the power they once did. People typically end up standing by the end of curtain call, though, you can still gather how much the audience really liked the show (and potentially which performers they liked) by when the audience stands, and also how loud they cheer during curtain call overall and during different points during curtain call. And, even if curtain calls were completely meaningless, that isn’t the only feedback artists get on their work. There are still reviews in newspapers and magazines, and people telling their friends about the show will still determine whether or not the show keeps selling. I agree that artists need criticism on their work in order to improve, but I don’t think a lack of a standing ovation provides effective criticism, nor do I think a standing ovation really functions as an effective gold star. If the only feedback performers ever got on their work was how enthusiastic the audience applauded, then I think this article would be right, but I think as things actually are, standing ovations aren’t as important of a motivator as this article makes them out to be. Of course, if someone wants to only stand for shows that were absolutely incredible, that is fine, but I don’t think someone standing during curtain call for a show they thought wasn’t really that good is actually detrimental to theater.
I was really on board with everything this article had to say, until it started to make some gross exaggerations about how this problem relates to how we make everything mundane when it comes to theatre by continually doing it. I definitely agree there is a problem with standing ovations, and I don't think I've ever been to a single performance of a show in my entire life that hasn't ended with a standing ovation, however, I think it mostly derives from a social shift, in which every performance does get a gold star for effort. It's just the way we tend to think nowadays, for better or for worse. The line of the article that I took issue with however, was the line that stated that when actors repeat the same lines or perform the same movements over and over again, they tend to lose their meaning, which essentially disregards every long running show in the history of time/
I agree with the article that there are too many standing ovations, but I also agree with the earlier comment that you have to stand at the end of a show anyway. Sometimes it seems like that is just being prepared to leave. I think that the author is reading too deeply into audience cheering. If an audience were truly providing feedback at the end of a show, then some audience members wouldn’t applaud, which most people would consider rude. If an audience cheered louder for the lead at curtain call simply because they were the lead and not because they did a particularly good job, then that would be deceptive feedback. Otherwise, I think the cast and crew should bear in mind that some audiences love cheering and try to schedule a talk back for actual, clear feedback.
"We should stand when we can no longer sit." I agree with this article and I still abide by what it means. While I agree with Brennan's sentiment about there being too many standing ovations, I also think it is possible to be selective and not appear to be too much of a stickler. Yes, good art deserves to be talked about the same way good theater deserves standing ovations, but I agree that it shouldn't be given out freely. I don't stand at a show where I think the performance was subpar, but that doesn't mean that I don't think it was good! I think what Brennan is catching on to is interesting-- if you don't standing at the end of a performance nowadays, I'm sure many people would think you to be extremely rude. It's the cultural shift and dynamic happening behind the scenes. However, I feel like for me the only exception where I will give a standing ovation blindly regardless of performance of the show is if I have a good friend involved in the production (especially at school). In that case, it is more of a "I support you!!!" sort of an ovation, but can and does often coincide with me being impressed with the production.
I think standing ovations have turned into the normal thing to do after a performance. They are becoming more and more common during curtain calls for all levels of shows especially Broadway. As an audience member you almost feel like you are insulting the actors if you do not stand up to applaud like everyone around you. As soon as a few people stand up to clap, most people will follow. If you are not standing you are probably being judged by the people around you and they think you are some sort of theatre snob that thinks that the performance was not that great. You can think a performance was great and not stand on your feet to applaud them. Most Broadway shows get standing ovations every night because people think that you have to stand since it is Broadway and is supposed to be the highest level of theatre. It is going to be extremely difficult to stop the trend of standing ovations at every show because there is no way to reach and influence every person that goes to see shows. I believe that standing ovations have lost their value since they have become the norm.
I love the sentiment of the educational theatre director in this article when they say you should do things not because you have to, but because you can no longer do anything else. I feel this is good sentiment to hold when both performing and reacting to a performance. I remember being in high school productions and getting the best reactions when we were all really excited to do what we do, and getting worse ones, especially from our director, when we just couldn’t get into the swing of things. Although I agree with the results of only giving standing ovations being negative, I do think there is more that can be done on the performance side, in that getting a standing ovation should motivate the performers to get another one. Ultimately a social normative issue among audience members, I think the author is correct and that standing ovations should reflect the performance’s quality, not the audience’s gratitude.
I am all about this article. Maybe I am just a stubborn audience member, but I do not feel the need to give a standing ovation because the play was good. I do not care that you are my friend, or that you were able to make me laugh a few times, or that you actually remembered to say all of your lines. What warrants a standing ovation from me is a production where the company has really moved me to think about the content of what I just spent two and a half hours watching. I use this as a marker because it is the most quantitative box that this very qualitative thing can check. I was taught that the curtain call is a way for the audience to thank the company for the production and the bows are for the company to thank the audience. So I just want to say a simple thank you and be on my way. Too much too ask?
I have been frustrated with the regularity of standing ovations for a long time now. When I was younger, I understood them to be an indication of exceptional, masterful work: the kind of work that astounds. It is NOT and should not be an indication of just appreciation: that’s what clapping is for. It’s especially bothersome when you experience an underserved standing ovation started by a small number of instigators who then, essentially guilt everyone into participation. Nobody, including myself, wants to be the scrooge. Overuse has, like the word “awesome,” removed any potency from that action.
So, I share in the author’s frustration, but I don’t think it’s ultimately detrimental to the potency of theatre in general. Actors and directors are not unaware of the standing ovation’s overuse – they will look to other markers for success. Artists aren’t children looking for a gold star. Give them some credit. They have a much more sophisticated measure of good work and not good work.
The title of this article made me laugh, because I had a friend in high school who had very strong opinions about standing ovations. They basically happened for every single performance/ award given out at the Massachusetts drama festival our high school participated in, which made her upset, because she thought that standing up for every performance defeated the purpose of the standing ovation in the first place. I agree with the writer in that sometimes when I see a show I feel guilty for not standing at the end when everyone around me stands, so I’ll stand too, even if I wouldn’t have if I was by myself. Even though I agree that the effect is somewhat “cheapened” when it happens at almost every curtain call, I don’t think that there is inherently anything wrong with people being enthusiastic enough to stand up and applaud. In addition, a lot of the times I don’t think it has a lot to do with the quality of performance. How many parents do you see giving standing ovations at their kids’ crappy middle school shows? I say, stand if you want to stand, but don’t be annoyed at other people standing, because maybe they experienced something unique that you didn’t! Also, gosh, let people be happy and enthusiastic for once! Enthusiasm is a gift!!!
Wow, I am so in agreement with nearly everything the author of this article had to say. I like to think I was raised in an environment and a culture to appreciate hard, special work and treat it like it should be treated. When I was in high school, over half of each class attended the honor’s ceremony. I think that argument is pretty self-explanatory. So often now, especially at educational performances, I feel guilty when I do not stand when everyone is standing. I stand to adhere to the social construct more often than I do to appreciate the show I just saw. And I totally agree with the fact we are not aspiring to be curmudgeons, we want to treat extraordinary work in an extraordinary way. When you take the socially understandable way to do that and slap it on over 70 percent of performances, how am I supposed to indicate the performers my appreciation for great work.
I believe this important to remember and not to stand just because you feel obligated to, but I think we should also not judge other people when they choose to stand up at the end of a performance. Just because you didn’t consider what you just watched “good theatre” doesn’t mean it wasn’t special to someone else. Making unspoken rules for when an audience should and shouldn’t stand up teeters on the edge of becoming elitist. If people stand for theatre you consider low brow or not intellectually stimulating it does not mean that they are stupid. I also think that giving a standing ovation for personal reasons is perfectly legitimate. If your friend overcomes a crippling stage fright to star in a show, I think it shouldn’t be frowned upon to jump to your feet in celebration of their victory. And yes, I realise that reasoning will result in all the moms jumping to their feet at the end of a high school performance, but those kids are not professionals looking for hard hitting critiques of their work and I think judging those audiences does nothing for anyone. If the applause at the end of a show was the only feedback performances got I would see this as more of a problem, but it isn’t and so I think this author is blowing a minor issue way out of proportion. Shouldn’t we be focused on racial representation or institutional sexism in theater rather than whether or not someone wants to stand and clap for their friend?
I agree to a certain point. I think saying that we shouldn't applaud people because "not everyone deserves a ribbon" is stupid - just clap, jack ass. It's tradition to clap. Clap. They tried, at least, acknowledge they tried.
The standing ovation thing? I agree. I rarely ever stand at first, I only stand once everyone else has stood and I would look like a huge asshole if I didn't at that point. At high school shows, it's the worst, because people will stand when their own kid comes out, and then everyone else feels obligated to jump up as well. The most recent show I saw that the audience apparently was not moved enough to jump up was surprisingly our very own production of the Playboy of the Western World. About five people stood up the night that I went, and I was not one of them. And that's okay. It's okay to not feel particularly moved. Maybe it's just because of the amount of shows I see, but after a while standing up at the end really does get old. There's no further reward to someone who did something truly amazing.
I agree with the author of this article when she says that one should stand when one can no longer sit. I feel like we have all been to at least one show where it is so utterly amazing that you cannot contain the praise you have for this production in a sitting position. This is when it is perfect to have a standing ovation. However, I feel like it has been engrained in modern theatre going culture that one stands when one likes the show. You don't need to feel overwhelmed with emotion to give a standing ovation. There have been plenty of shows where I have stood at the end because everyone else in the house was doing so, or I stood to get ready to leave. That is not necessarily a bad thing, it just means that standing ovations are not what the author wants them to be. One way you can judge how well an audience liked the show is by the sound of the cheers. The louder the cheers, the better the performance. A standing ovation might mean less today, but it might also be less necessary.
I have often heard my director say the reason musical theatre exists is because the characters are feeling such strong emotions that they just can't talk anymore and they have to sing. I do think that a lot of standing ovations arise because the audience just can't stay seated, but I think a lot of them, especially on Broadway or with well-known shows in general, it has just become a tradition. I have often been in an audience, only to get to the end, have everyone stand, and thought "Oh, here we go, and everyone's standing" and felt obligated to stand as well. If you don't stand at those moments, everyone thinks you're rude. In that sense, I do think that standing ovations have become a bit arbitrary and meaningless, but I dos till believe that genuine standing ovations do happen, so we shouldn't discredit the acknowledgment as a whole. I even think that standing ovations from parents when their kid walks on stage is, in a way, justified because they are feeling a strong emotion; they're probably very proud and want to let that person know that, it's just not a feeling shared by the rest of the audience.
It seems that overtime, people just end up giving an ovation because it seems like the thing to do regardless of the performance. When a touring show in my experience comes through town, it usually gets high praise, because not too many people get a chance to see professional theatre. Of course when you start classifying the areas of theatre that are a bit more to put it lightly not as good, it’s more like moral support; aka high school and elementary school. Most of the time you have family and friends rooting you on on-stage, so they are going to support you. I used to be that guy all the time, now that I’m more immersed with my surroundings, I become more aware between the good, the bad, and the ugly. Although I’m not so self-centered or cynical to say a performance was terrible. There has only been one production I’ve seen that I came close to walking out, but I had to stay because it was homework. Don’t worry it wasn’t CMU.
skipped an entire scene, went up on every line, a set piece fell over, 5 props did not make it to the stage, 3 wardrobe malfunctions, 2 late entrances and a bird flying from the rafters. No this was not a Youtube fail video for theatre, this was a Sunday matinee performance for The 39 Steps I worked on in 2012. Nonetheless, that afternoon ended with a standing ovation and many audience members congratulating us in the hallway. I can promise you all those mistakes were visible. So why did we receive a huge raving applause and such high congratulations. We did not receive it and yet some of the less experienced members of the cast and crew left that evening thinking our work wasn't half bad. That is why it is bad to receive a standing ovation every night. We should not allow ourself to be caught up in how our performance is received. Instead we should ignore the clapping and the flowers (whether good or bad) so we can focus on our work and how it can be improved from show to show throughout a run. Not every child deserves a gold star every school day just like not every actor deserves a bouquet and applause every performance.
I cannot agree with this article more. It encapsulates everything I feel about the way we use the standing ovation in this country. It’s become a mindless knee jerk reaction that represents nothing but the shell of what it was supposed to. It’s the pat on your back that your mother gives you for being her son, not the pat on your back that your coach gives you for doing well. It’s meaningless, pointless, and to be quite frank, a masterbatory display of satisfaction that requires nothing but reaching the low bar of the completion of the performance. I don’t want people to stand for work I’ve helped create unless it moves them profoundly, unless it changes something about the way they view the world, unless it could bring them to tears. It’s not rude to not give an expression of high praise after every single goddamn play that you see, it’s saving a great compliment for something that deserves it so that when it is actually given it’s meaningful.
As soon as I saw the title of this article it made me remember a talk our technical director gave us after one of our biggest shows yet back at my high school. The show we were putting on was one of our greatest because we had so many new, qualified members added to the production team that semester that all worked extremely well together on all of the designs and bringing the show to life. Those few nights that the show went on for were probably the one nights we got standing ovations for in our high school. Yeah sure maybe once or twice before a proud parent or two would stand up for their kid but I mean like the entire theater was standing for us. It was such an amazing feeling and I don't think it ever happened again. That's the way I like to remember standing ovations--when you really, REALLY do a great job.
When reading this article, I can totally see why standing ovations have just become the average round of applause that happens at pretty much every show. Whenever I go to Broadway shows, I follow the traditional ideal of standing ovations--out of all of the shows I've seen on Broadway, I've only stood for two that have really had an impact on me. Standing ovations should really be there for those shows that REALLY make it. A production that went off after half a year of no real success shouldn't.
I both agree and disagree with the opinion the author has here. While I think that standing ovations are often overdone and silly, at the same time I also think that in a lot of professional theatre it is common courtesy to stand up at the finale of the show. In most Broadway theatre it is just commonplace--since most Broadway shows, at least that I have seen are outstanding, it is well-deserved. That being said, I don't think we should stand for every high school show or half-assed production--because I think with that the standing ovation loses its value. While it may be polite, I have seen and been part of some high school shows that do not in any way deserve a standing ovation--but I have also been part of shows where the audience is on their feet before the finale lights come up. And those have been well deserved. So I think it should still be a judgement call, and the audience shouldn't feel obligated to do it after shows they disliked.
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