A pet peeve.

Last night, a friend and I went to see Wicked at the Gershwin Theatre. It is based on the eponymous book by Gregory Maguire, which tells the story of Oz from the Wicked Witch of the West's point of view. The book and musical are very different, however, although the latter was inspired by the former. When I read the book last month, there was no way I could have seen a muscial based on it if it was a close adaptation. However, the musical was a very fluffy and light take on the book, many details different and "Disney-fied" to make it an entertaining and lavish production. (I actually dont' know if Disney had anything to do with the musical.) The leads' voices were simply quite amazing, though. Amazing. They made the show worth it.

My pet peeve, though, is that standing ovations have become rote. I really think that they're rather overdone. Every performance does not require a standing ovation. I did a search on "standing ovation etiquette" on the web, and unfortunately every site says "standing ovations are cool." Yes, they are. Yes, the cast probably enjoys them. However, I was raised to believe that one only stands while applauding when one is absolutely blown away by a spectcular performance. Oh wait. I found a site that agrees with me:

Applaud an especially fine scene or individual performance only in cases of rare "show stoppers," and reserve standing ovations for truly outstanding perfomances.

If this McGraw-Hill Ryerson school wasn't in Canada, I would send my future children there. The fact is, now that people always give standing ovations at the end of each performance, the cast has come to expect them, as if it's their due. That shouldn't be the case, and it rather annoys me.

Plus, the only reason I give standing ovations now is that every single other blasted person is standing, and I can't see the cast anymore. That's annoying too. As were these wretched people sitting behind us, with the most godawful nasal voices that just projected. Combine a southie Boston accent, a Cockney accent, and a Queens accent all in one horrible voice, and that's what we had to sit in front of. Of course the woman kept a running commentary throughout the production. Obviously everyone wanted to her her exclaim, "This set is the most expensive ever! How much did you think it cost? 10 million?" or "You paid $4 for this bottle of water? That's over $5 Canadian! I would have rather gone thirsty." Yes, go thirsty and let your thoat dry out so you can't screech anymore. Maybe she's the Canadian version of a weapon of mass destruction. I'd surrender in 3 minutes if I had to listen to a steady stream of that voice.