Several weeks ago, along with thousands of others, I attended a spectacular performance by Andre Reiu and his Strauss musicians at the San Diego Sports Arena. It should have been a glorious experience, but due to the lack of etiquette by those around me it was less enjoyable. Let me give you some examples:
Many of the people around me arrived late. I don’t mean a few minutes late when everyone is just getting settled. No, over an hour late. There is not much leg room at the Sports Arena, and people had to stand so others could climb over them. Many were in the wrong seats, thus necessating ushers to come with their flashlights to remove some people from the seats they were in to send them somewhere else where they could annoy and disturb others. Others left to get food to bring back to their seats because they could not wait until intermission, thus again disturbing those trying to enjoy the program. Several people were using their cell phones to make outside calls so that the people around them got to hear their conversations, as well as be bothered by the light from the phone.
Others had cameras with them and continuously took pictures throughout the performance. Some of these pictures were taken by their cell phones – again, the light – and some brought cameras with them. There is more, but I believe the point has been made. So some advice from “Dear Judi”:
1) A performance of this nature is not a football, baseball or hockey game.
Eat before you arrive or wait until intermission to purchase your meal. (Hint: Put a few cookies or carrot sticks in your purse and munch on those until intermission.)
2) Leave your cell phones off. If there is something so important that you need to keep checking your phone you probably should not be in the theater anyway.
3) Arrive in plenty of time to park the car and find your correct seat. $15 is a heck of an amount to pay for parking, and I know you want to park somewhere where the cost is less. Leave your house earlier to find that spot.
4) Make sure you are in the right seat before the performance begins. Just because there is an empty seat does not give you license to sit in that reserved seat.
5) Leave your camera at home. Do you really think that the picture you take is going to be better than the picture available in the program? Flashing lights can be a danger to the performers and, in this instance, a danger to the elderly people trying to navigate the steps that do not have handrails for support.
6) Do you really think that leaving early allows you to get out of the parking lot sooner? Do you know that Mr. Reiu had at least five encores? Do you know how many people you interrupted by leaving early? (Hint: Plan on staying through the entire performance. People in the audience, as well as the performers, would appreciate it, and, more important, you will relieve a lot of stress by just enjoying the performance and not worrying about beating the traffic.)
Although a long diatribe, I hope that it makes a difference in the next performance of a major personality.