Theater owners, confronted day after day by long lines of women (and, sometimes, men) clogging lobbies and snaking down stairwells while nervously waiting for an available bathroom, are excavating, annexing, converting and renovating their buildings to remedy the chronic inconvenience. The biggest landlords are also retraining ushers, experimenting with new methods of crowd control, and even reversing the genders on restrooms.
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This article brings up some very good points about some problems within Broadway theaters. Right before intermission you get the sense of urgency and right as the blackout hits a storm of people go and rush into the bathroom. On the other side of this right before intermission ends a bunch of people think they have enough time to go to the bathroom. There are problems with both of these situations. The first problem s that it takes me out of the moment as soon as people run up out their seats just to go to the bathroom. IN the black out its annoying seeing people getting up from their seats. With the latter issue, many people end up coming back to their seats late. They end up ruining the beginning of act 2 since they show up late and get in people’s way. I do agree that Broadway theaters should invest in getting more bathrooms. But at the same time can people just not wait the 2 and half hours to go to the bathroom?
Broadway theatres are, on the most part, small and rare pieces of history. Real estate is at a premium in NYC and expanding the bathrooms to the industrial size probably needed has to come from somewhere. Odds are, it will come from seating, which means decreased revenue each night. In addition, with expansion means they are taking the beautiful charm out of these landmarks of NYC. To agree with Evan too, it is so distracting, and frankly rude when people get up before the act is over to sprint to the bathrooms. There is a certain decorum expected at a theatre- this is not Cinemark. And with that people should expect that broadway theatres will not have room for a bathroom trip. Go before the show, at dinner, literally any other time because ultimately when you scurry into act 2 five minutes late, it is disrespectful to the people already there, who probably payed a lot to be there.
Though I never would have thought of it, in retrospect this is a real problem. It could make or break a viewer's experience in a show. Over winter break I did go to see a Broadway show and I got stuck in a crazy long restroom line. As the women’s restroom line slowly crept along, their was no one even in the men’s bathroom and I, and lots of other women, used the men’s restroom because we were being told that the show was going to start. I never would have thought to attribute the problem to the differences in how people consume food and drinks since the theater was built. I also thought that since women wore clothes that made it harder to go to the bathroom, the bathroom was more for fixing makeup rather the the toilet. This article shows that theaters are listening to the audiences and renovating the theaters so that this is less of a problem. Hopefully the addition of theses new restrooms will help to solve the problem for people at the theater.
I have been through the Waitress experience. Not once but twice I was swooshed into the men’s room with a group of impatient women as the house lights begin to blink. I can also confirm that people go f***ing wild when the house lights go up. Its like a black Friday stampede or an Olympic race to be the first to pee.
My favorite broadway theater bathroom catastrophe has to be the music box. They have an enormous lounge in the women’s restroom that you could definitely chill out in but when you’re wrapped in a line so long you are on a different floor the last luxury you want is an armchair in a bathroom.
Now that I think about it, I wouldn’t go as far to say it’s discrimination, but at most theaters women do have to choose between the restroom or the bar, you don’t have time for both.
I can’t wait to see these improvements that would really make the theater going experience better.
I cannot express how much I relate to this article. I always have to pee, and going to a theatre is no exception. Women, for whatever reason, feel the need to take ages in bathroom stall, when really it should be a pretty quick affair. I’ve probably waited years of my life in line for the bathroom, stressing over if I’m going to make it back in time before intermission is over. It seems like most theatres have taken to expanding the bathrooms: “The Hudson Theater, last used for Broadway shows 49 years ago, is reopening this weekend (for “Sunday in the Park With George,” starring Jake Gyllenhaal) after a major renovation that included a significant increase in toilets, from 12 to 27 (16 for women, 11 for men). The theater’s new operator, the Ambassador Theater Group, converted an old men’s smoking lounge into restrooms, knocking through a wall to gain space, and then demolished a dress-circle level area previously used for air conditioning units to add more stalls.” Which is great, I hope they expand the bathrooms quickly.
I think this is an issue that basically every theatre-going female has just learned to accept at this point. I am not entirely sure why Broadway theatres are just now coming to this conclusion, since this is a problem that has existed for as long as I can remember. There's nothing like the experience of stampeding to the nearest restroom the second the first act ends. Most of the time, the last ten or so minutes of the first act are spent trying to identify the quickest and most efficient route to the nearest restroom. I'll never forget when I saw Side Show on Broadway and I didn't pay attention to a good portion of Act One because I was trying to devise the perfect plan of attack in order to beat the bathroom line. I'm glad that theatres are at least recognizing this now and beginning to make changes, but I feel like it would have been a no brainer in the first place. This could have been done years ago, but oh well. The theatres that make these renovations are going to make a lot more money in drink sales.
This is kind of an absurd, niche article, but actually I got a lot out of it. I hadn't considered at all not only how big of an issue, and in some ways a hazard this is, and also how hard it is to fix. Broadway theaters are so tight together, and have barely any space to add any bathrooms, making it an expensive and long procedure. One part of the article described bringing an excavator into the theater and excavating in order to make a place for more restrooms. It's no wonder that the process hasn't been done until now, where it's finally becoming a disaster. I am actually surprised that New York City hasn't required this reservation--it seems like something that should be in the code for theatre spaces in the city--it seems almost like a health hazard or risk in general to not have any.
This is kind of an absurd, niche article, but actually I got a lot out of it. I hadn't considered at all not only how big of an issue, and in some ways a hazard this is, and also how hard it is to fix. Broadway theaters are so tight together, and have barely any space to add any bathrooms, making it an expensive and long procedure. One part of the article described bringing an excavator into the theater and excavating in order to make a place for more restrooms. It's no wonder that the process hasn't been done until now, where it's finally becoming a disaster. I am actually surprised that New York City hasn't required this reservation--it seems like something that should be in the code for theatre spaces in the city--it seems almost like a health hazard or risk in general to not have any.
This is such a major issue that isn't talked about nearly enough. I have had to wait a ridiculously long line every time I've gone to the bathroom at intermission on Broadway, and it's gotten to the point where I just don't even try anymore. Usually I'll try to go before the show, however even this is a problem at some of the older spaces. When I went to go see Hamilton (I know, I really shouldn't be complaining because I got to see it but it's a good example) the only bathroom was in the basement of the theatre. I got to the theatre about 15-20 mins before curtain but still only made it to my seat with two minutes to spare after waiting in a enormous line. If I had needed to go at intermission by the time I made it down to the basement the line would have been so bad that I wouldn't have even had time to go before Act 2. The reality is that I can hold it for a two and a half hour show if I need to, but some people aren't that lucky. My solution would be to reclaim the areas from the bars and coat rooms and turn them into bathrooms, or to just let women into the men's room at all times. There are a lot of flaws with both of these ideas, but it's better than having people come back late to Act 2 of a show saying "What did I miss?"
At some point in their life every person who uses the women’s restroom has come face to face with this problem: do I hold it in or do I risk not being able to get back to my seat in time? Honestly what surprises me more about this article is the fact that people are actually giving this serious thought. I would have honestly assumed that people just accepted this as a fact of life. I certainly had. I assumed that dealing with this was my (and millions of others) personal problem. That individually we had to find ways to work around the crowd, but that organizations couldn’t care less. However, it turns out they do and finding a way to restructure the bathrooms at a performance venue such that women don’t have to jump out of their seats and run (literally) to the bathroom at intermission if they have a hope of getting back to their seats in time would be quite a feat. I don’t know if it can be done successfully, but I do know it would relieve a level of stress that comes with going to any crowded venue.
This was a problem that I never really thought of as a problem. Up until now I had always accepted it as something to expect when going to see a Broadway show, or any show in general really. I have never been to a theatre where there wasn't a huge line for the restroom, so it simply became the norm for me. And while I do think this is a major issue, especially since some people do have a bladder concerns, I am not sure if there would be an easy solution to this problem. Theatre spaces, especially on Broadway, are already small enough as it is, so it would be incredibly difficult to simply add more bathrooms. When I went and saw Waitress on Broadway, there was a women ushering people in and out which I found to be rather helpful. It kept people moving and organized, without having to change the space. I do think that if intermissions were increased by five minutes, there would not be as much of a concern. I do not think this is a problem that could easily be fixed, but I do think that there are small things that can be done in the meantime to improve it.
This problem is just a gateway to the massive amounts of this wrong backstage in Broadway's theaters. Yeah, it might look pretty on the outside and they create some of the most amazing, world-class spectacles but the venues that are offered in the theater hub of the world is a little embarrassing. Intermission is just a living HELL for bathroom lines and it makes sense that they'd be so long. Not having enough bathrooms isn't the only other spacial issue but backstage areas, production team offices, and generally the parts you don't see in a theater are CRAMPED. Whenever I toured backstage at these shows, it was actually kind of insane how little space there is in such a prestigious industry. Along with this, even though things have changed dramatically in the past few decades, there are still strip clubs, sex shops, and peep shows right along Broadway in the theater district, which is a wider issue outside of theater. In this sense, I'm glad theater is branching out and theater hubs all around the country are forming in other cities because NYC is running the fuck out of space.
I think it's great that people are actually spending time thinking about this. I always plan ahed for shows, specifically to avoid this problem. I think ushers are actually a great way to lessen the craze of the women's bathroom line, streamlining the process and hopefully making things more efficient. I also do like how this article mentions some dangers of waiting in line, and dangers that having a line that extends so far out of the actual bathroom can make. I too have been angrily pushed out of the way and told to move, when there is nowhere else for me to go, pressed up against the handrail of a staircase. Most Broadway staircases were not built to handle 3 rows of people, one up, one down, and one for people waiting to use the bathroom. I do hope they don't resort to taking any backstage area to solve this problem, that is small enough as it it, but I do hope thy can find a reasonable solution so that people can stop resorting to leaving Act I early, or arriving to Act II late.
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