Three cheers for Patti LuPones strike at cell phones
Art met reality this week when Patti LuPone, without breaking character, walked offstage at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater with the phone of a texting audience member in her hand.
Consider this a standing ovation.
LuPone, who plays a small-town theater diva in the comedy “Shows for Days,” was already teed up after ringtones disrupted that day’s matinee — creating, she told The New York Times, “a cacophony of noise.”
So when a woman seated at the end of the second row took to texting throughout the evening show, LuPone took matters into her own hands — literally.
The Tony-winner usually shakes hands with an audience member as the second act’s first scene ends. This time, she made off with the phone — while staying in character.
The actress told Playbill: “We work hard onstage to create a world that is being totally destroyed by a few, rude, self-absorbed and inconsiderate audience members who are controlled by their phones... When a phone goes off or when a LED screen can be seen in the dark, it ruins the experience for everyone else.”
Sadly, the message still hasn’t gotten through: Despite LuPone’s personal request before Thursday’s performance, another phone rang near the musical’s climax.
Have some respect, folks. If you can’t put your (muted) phone away for the length of a show, don’t go.
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