Standing O

I can think of only a few live performances after which I've jumped to my feet to cheer and applaud:

1. A Chorus Line (at the Orpheum Theater in San Francisco in the late 1970's).

2. Billy Joel's Glass Houses concert (at the Oakland Coliseum in the early 1980's)

3. The Phantom of the Opera (at the The Orpheum Theater in the mid 1990's)

Actually, I think there is a culture of standing ovations or not. I'm not the most tuned in, but I perceive it exists.


I remember going to a club/theater in mexico city with a friend from there, and the audience was supportive but in a considered way. That is a long time ago for me to describe, but it involved, then, a savvy audience not speaking as a whole, but reactive.

Never mind me, I was just a visitor.
I'd like to hear Fbaezer on this..

what I remember, is that the audience was engaged.

I have not been to New York in about thirty five years.

I was a kid there in 1950, just that year. I think I visited with parents once after that, a couple of years later. I didn't get there again until 2003.

I loved it..

I semi follow new york and environs, have done.

I was here 35 years ago, Edgar. What's your excuse?

I plead ignorance.

I'll accept that.

Cheers, a plausible tale.

The standing ovation has become almost obligatory at certain events. I've been to plenty of concerts that were perfectly adequate but far from overwhelming, and yet half the audience rises to its feet in an adulatory wave of enthusiasm at the end. I blame our educational system.

On the other hand, when I was in Vienna and got a spot in the Stehplätze at the opera, I gave every performance a standing ovation.

I don't know what's going on in schools these days, so I can't agree or disagree.

I'm inclined to blame TV shows like American Idol. Audiences are not even remotely discerning. If someone doesn't drop dead on stage, it's worth a standing O.