Three cheers for Patti LuPones strike at cell phones

Publish date: 2024-05-06

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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