Patti LuPone might as well be hailed as the modern-day hero of Broadway. Wednesday saw yet another notable Broadway performance by LuPone as she wowed the audience who gathered to witness her craft in her latest play, titled "Shows for Days." Although the six-time Tony Award winner had been immersed in her scenes, she shared that the ambience in the theater kept getting disturbed by the beeps of mobile phones. Speaking with New York Times, LuPone relayed her frustrations over the lack of appreciation and respect for the arts nowadays as well as her opinion on the increasing dependency of people to technology.
Describing the disturbances as "cacophony of noise," LuPone revealed that the performance was disrupted four times due to cellphones beeping - twice from the same user. She shared that the rest of the cast and crew were "deeply upset" and "distressed" by the behavior of the audience member. Appalled and disheartened by this turn of events herself, the actress decided to take matters into her own hands - literally. Spotting the "perpetrator" at the second row from the stage, LuPone, without breaking character, glided towards the young lady, who appeared to be too engrossed with the text message exchange she had been having throughout the play, and swiped the cellphone from her hands.
"We could see her text," recalled LuPone. She went on to describe the incident and said, "She was so uninterested." Lupone shared that the audience members even "showed her husband what she was texting." She then described the manner by which she executed her plan to get rid of the annoying gadget and go on with the play undisturbed. LuPone relayed, "When we went out for the second act I was very close to her, and she was still texting. I watched her and thought, 'What am I going to do?' At the very end of that scene, we all exit. What I normally do is shake the hand of the people in the front row. I just walked over to her, shook her hand and took her phone. I walked offstage and handed it to the stage manager, who gave it to the house manager."
LuPone then vented out her frustration over the growing number of people allowing their phones to disrupt theater performances. She said, via Broadway.com, "We work hard on stage 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," she said. The Broadway star added, "They can't turn it off and can't stop looking at it. They are truly inconsiderate, self-absorbed people who have no public manners whatsoever." Truly dejected over this current state, she said, "I am so defeated by this issue that I seriously question whether I want to work on stage anymore." She continued to say, "Now I'm putting battle gear on over my costume to marshall the audience as well as perform."
Here are some reactions from fans via social media:
Without breaking character, Patti LuPone snatched a rude woman's phone and walked offstage at Shows for Days tonight. Will they never learn.
"” Diane Snyder (@DianeLSnyder) July 9, 2015
PATTI LUPONE TOOK SOMEONE'S PHONE MID-SHOW BECAUSE THEY WERE TEXTING "” Travis (@heytravistravis) July 9, 2015THAT TIME YOU STAY FOR THE 2ND ACT & WATCH PATTI LUPONE TAKE A TEXTING WOMAN'S CELLPHONE FROM THE AUDIENCE & WALK OFF STAGE WITH IT IN HAND.
"” It's about time. (@_its_about_time) July 9, 2015
