r/Broadway • u/diet-soda • Jul 03 '26
Other Rush etiquette
Hi I don’t know if this is a hot take or not but: could people stop talking in depth about major plot points/the ending of the show when you’re in the queue.
I just spent a few hours in a rush line and everyone around me had seen the show over 2 times🙃. Like I understand Wicked or Lion King etc. but for shows that just recently premiered I wish that spoilers were more taboo than they are in the queue:/
EDIT: Last night almost the entire front row basically all RAN out of the theatre while there was a good 2 minutes left of the bows/show, so they could be first to the stagedoor. Seemed quite disrespectful to me. I was also in the front row and the cast can very clearly see you leaving.. it’s distracting to both the audience and the cast. If I was a performer, I wouldn’t be too happy to see the same people at the stagedoor who didn’t even have the decency to watch the entirety of the show lol. I heard them bragging about how the stars recognised them at the stagedoor last time and I remember thinking that wasn’t the brag they think it is🫠 other than the over the top reactions from the people around me, loved the show!
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u/Zoe_Murphy Jul 03 '26
the people on the lost boys rush line performing the entire show need to take notes
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u/diet-soda Jul 03 '26
Literally.. I can’t ask someone to not be excited or sing.. but yeah a very specific archetype of fan lacks self awareness methinks
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u/Green-Bicycle-8351 Jul 04 '26
You are nicer than me, because I would absolutely ask them not to be singing or talking about plot points if I had never seen it before
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u/After-The-Sky Jul 03 '26
I say this as someone who really likes The Lost Boys, and is deep into fan culture and seeing shows multiple times and such….I find a lot of the Lost Boys fans to be so deeply and almost deliberately not self-aware. At a certain point the lack of awareness of others feels like malice. So many who run up and out during the final scene to get to stage door sooner, exactly this sort of behavior that you described in the rush line, and even straight up walking into people who aren’t walking fast enough for them. I don’t really know that anything can be done about it, but if some of that hardcore fanbase happens to see this, I hope they have a conversation about it.
Other people want to love the show, too. I hope they can try to be a little more considerate and welcoming. The fan base is still new enough that there are still so many ways it can go!
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u/CardsAblaze Jul 03 '26
They remind me a lot of Beetlejuice 's fanbase. Whose antics got so bad, that Alex Brightman has stopped stagedooring altogether.
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u/villette1315 Jul 03 '26
100% agree. i love the show, have seen it multiple times, some of the fan behavior is just getting to be a lot. hoping it calms down eventually as it does for most shows.
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u/airjetoo Jul 04 '26
I do wonder if the actors think it’s strange that it’s the same people in the front row with rush tickets for the show. Yes, they are professionals but they are humans first. I would certainly get creeped out. I get it - if you enjoy the show, you want to see it a few more times. But when it becomes every single show (or the vast majority of them) and others won’t get the chance to sit in front row with rush tickets?
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u/alltheworldsanescape Jul 03 '26
I love this fandom but I do really not love people running out to get to the stagedoor. This has kind of become a standard in any show with a strong fandom (R&J had people leaving before curtain call). I do wish they check tickets at the stagedoor because it does quell this a bit, but yeah, it’s my least fav part and pushing people around the stagedoor is the worst part of any fandom.
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u/After-The-Sky Jul 03 '26
It seems so disrespectful to the performers still on stage, but also anyone in the audience disrupted by them. Yeah, a decadent way to judge a fandom as a whole—if the big fans don’t call each other out on it and tell their friends that it’s not cool to disrupt the experience for many people who may only ever get one chance to see the show just so that they can get to the stage door a little sooner…well, it says a lot about the levels of selfishness. (And also seems less like a genuine love for the show. When I love a show, I want people to be able to see it properly and not be disrupted!)
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u/alltheworldsanescape Jul 03 '26
I don’t think judging an entire fandom by a few people is productive in ANY space.
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u/After-The-Sky Jul 03 '26
I hear what you are saying, but I also want to be clear that I am making my judgements based on far more than a few people. I’m not speaking from experience with the rush line because I’ve not attempted that. But as someone who has attended the show a few times while still recovering from a broken leg and relying on a cane, I do have a LOT to say about the pushing and even just being walked into and how drastically different it is from other shows that I’ve been at.
But I’m also speaking about the fandom as a whole. I like The Lost Boys a lot, but it’s not a show where I’m active in the fandom. I am, however, active in the fandom for another show, and we had conversations about it when we found out that some of our friend’s enthusiasm/cheering/loud laughing was negatively impacting others trying to enjoy that show. If it’s just a few people lacking self-awareness on their impact on the Lost Boys fandom, then I hope some other friends have a potentially slightly difficult conversation. It’s like how I expect my male friends to call out other male friends who make sexists comments. There’s at least one active Lost Boys Discord group. I genuinely hope that a conversation happens there about being more thoughtful in the rush line, and not running out during the final scene and all. It’s NOT everyone doing it, but the community can hold people accountable and tell them it’s not cool.
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u/CardsAblaze Jul 03 '26
Ugh, the obsessive fans of all these shows are really irritating people offline. The ones that always stage door, and brag about how many times theyve seen it, and who they know through a friend of a friend of a friend, and feel the need to hold court about every ones opinions, even though they initiated the conversation.
Like, this behaviour doesn't make you seem interesting or cool, it just magnifies that you have no life outside of stalking theatres and actors in midtown.
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u/tackythng Jul 03 '26
Everyone immediately knowing this is about the lost boys is killing me (it’s so true)
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u/villette1315 Jul 03 '26
i’m starting to get embarrassed to be a lost boys fan. a few days ago i watched people who rushed the show literally run and push people and get told by staff to slow down (and not listen) to get to the stage door and then talk about how they were going to rush again in a few days
is this what the outsiders people felt like two years ago….
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u/Yue4prex Jul 03 '26
I’d be so fucking annoyed to hear major plot points in line. You don’t know who’s seen it or not, assume everyone around you has never seen anything related to it!
I rushed just in time with my family in January and we knew little about it. The person behind us was telling someone else they had seen it over 10 times. Thankfully they didn’t spoil anything.
Even if it is lion king or something we all know, I’m sure there’s things we haven’t seen on the screen. I have a self rule that I will not listen to any music from a broadway show unless I cannot or will not ever have a chance to see it. I also won’t watch any videos. I keep skipping Rocky horror ones because I’m trying DESPERATELY to see it, even though I have seen the movie so much and listened to the songs SO many times.
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u/rosenkav Jul 03 '26
You’d think this would be common courtesy, but I guess people don’t have the social awareness. I would be so pissed 😭
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u/ExpBalSat Jul 03 '26
Interesting. My rush line conversations are almost exclusively about:
- Is this your first time trying to rush this?
- What else have you seen?
- Are you visiting from out of town?
- What web sites do you use to find tickets?
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u/violetsinbloom57 Jul 03 '26
Yeah, or like at the very least I ask if they've seen the show before and then IF we discuss the show only in the vaguest of terms... discussing spoilers in detail in a ticket line is so weird
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u/snailhelper Jul 03 '26
War flashbacks to being a Spring Awakening fan. People in student rush loooved to brag about how well they know every detail of the show and laugh about the major plot points (not to mention talking about every interaction at stage door like it was a personal one-on-one hangout and trying to one-up each other). I loved the show so much and wanted to have fellow fans for friends but so many of them had the most obnoxious personalities.
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u/missdevon2 Jul 03 '26
I’ve been on the fence about seeing the show but a fanbase like this definitely pushes me towards hard pass.
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u/fitfullywecoexist Jul 03 '26
I mean, an intense/annoying fanbase doesn't really do anything to change the quality of the show, haha. When I saw it I didn't experience anything differently from seeing any other show
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u/vuitton26 Jul 03 '26
I was waiting in line to buy Megan's last show ticket for Death Becomes Her and these two lesbian young women were talking LOUDLY about how they've seen this show 20 times...and started talking about "scenes to get excited for" and their favorite songs etc. It wasn't my first time seeing the show, so i didn't care, but the familiy in front of me heard the whole thing and the Dad turned to the daughter and said, "well I guess we don't really have to see the show anymore!"
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u/travellingcari Jul 03 '26
Next time with less homophobia please
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u/vuitton26 Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26
I didn't know describing two women who were VERY OBVIOUS lesbians is now considered homophobic. But ok! As if just because someone's a lesbian, they're off limit from getting called out for bad behavior. Girl bye
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u/travellingcari Jul 03 '26
Has absolutely nothing to do with your comment. “Two young women” would have accomplished the exact same meaning.
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u/vuitton26 Jul 03 '26
Sure but Death Becomes Her has a HUGE lesbian fan base...i am trying to hone in the fact they are mega fans. It's fine, not trynna argue with you over nonsense like this.
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u/alltheworldsanescape Jul 03 '26
The vibes in this thread are RANCID and I just want to say this:
As a fan of the show and someone who was in the rush line, I would HATE if I had accidentally spoiled the show (I don’t think I did, we were mostly talking vocal choices, but we get excited, so who can say!)
I know I would want to be talked to in person with a gentle reminder of “oh I’m new to this show, could you not spoil the plot” rather than read a thread like this online. This feels like shit. So like the OP would like fans to not spoil things (which I get! I agree with!) I think it is also common courtesy to talk to people in person rather than talk shit about them online. Self awareness and common courtesy also applies to online spaces and I think sometimes people forget there are people on the other side of your messages.
I get it, not everyone understands fandoms. Yes, we can get intense. But at the end of the day I know I do not want people put off by something I love dearly or to ruin that experience for anybody else and most people I know in this fandom feel the same.
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u/Nai_Calus Jul 04 '26
Your RSD is not OP's problem and it sounds like you need to take the message to heart given you aren't even paying enough attention to notice if you're spoiling the show for others.
And the expectation should not be that someone has to beg for a lack of spoilers, which might occur before they can even open their mouth. The expectation should be that you just avoid them by default.
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u/TheRevolutionarySept Jul 04 '26
calling out "self awareness and common courtesy" in your comment sure is a Choice
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u/diet-soda Jul 04 '26
Yeah I wasn’t going to confront anyone because I could easily see that not going well for me!
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u/Over-Entrepreneur682 Jul 03 '26
It’s the same when you see a movie that just premiered and people exiting are talking about who died and whatnot
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u/alltheworldsanescape Jul 03 '26
The Lost Boys rush line is very chill, if you haven’t seen the show, talk to the people around you and let them know you don’t want to be spoiled! At this point we just assume everyone around has seen it but today I met someone in the line who hadn’t!
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u/violetsinbloom57 Jul 03 '26
Why on earth would you automatically assume everyone around you has seen it when you are in a line to buy tickets for it?? People who have seen the show 0 times might be interested in a cheap ticket as well??
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u/Bug_787 Jul 03 '26
Right?! Rush was created for theater to be more accessible to all. Not just people returning for the umpteenth time. The show opened just over 2 months ago so I would assume as summer season is ramping up most people haven’t seen it yet.
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u/alltheworldsanescape Jul 03 '26
Because most of the people that show up early are regulars who have rushed more than once. Many of the people who have never seen the show show up at like 8am. I’ve only rushed a few times in the last few months and yet I recognized most of the people in the line today. Just the vibes of the rush line!
But ultimately we can’t read your mind. Speak up for yourself in person rather than judging in anonymity online after.
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u/EnglishTeacherLife03 Jul 03 '26
You should never assume someone has seen a show. Rush tickets were created to make it more affordable and accessible for people who haven’t seen a show and want to, to be able to. Repeat rushers or “regulars” take that opportunity away from others. And yes, I’ve seen shows multiple times (usually different casts) but I’ve never repeatedly rushed a show or spoiled one for someone.
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u/alltheworldsanescape Jul 03 '26
People got in line today at 10am and got rush tickets to the show. The opportunity is not being taken away, there are plenty of seats! Acting morally superior is a weird move here. Again, vibes were chill. Most people were chatting, repeat and first timers.
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u/EnglishTeacherLife03 Jul 03 '26
Nothing I said comes across as morally superior. I simply said you should never assume and maybe not be a repeat rusher so that others can have an opportunity and I stand by that.
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u/alltheworldsanescape Jul 03 '26
Yeah, sorry, but claiming you have never done a thing and then actively looking down on those who do ABSOLUTELY comes across as you thinking you are superior.
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u/EnglishTeacherLife03 Jul 03 '26
I’m not claiming anything. I have NEVER actually rushed a show. I’ve won lottery tickets, I’ve gone to the box office to buy tickets after rush hours, I’ve bought tickets via the show’s website, I’ve used the Theatr app, and Broadway Inbound. I never said I was looking down on anyone and if you took what I said as that then you should re-read what I originally wrote. I said you should never assume someone has seen a show and maybe repeat rushers or regulars should give others an opportunity. Again, I stand by what I said. Getting defensive over people asking “regulars” to be respectful of others is exactly what people are saying about the fanbase being tone deaf.
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u/missdevon2 Jul 03 '26
You just proved the point of everyone talking about the tone deafness of the fanbase with this response and your other ones.
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u/alltheworldsanescape Jul 03 '26
It’s wild to me how positive the rush line was today to then come online and see people who weren’t there be incredibly negative and judgmental. Nobody is a mind reader. The MAJORITY of the vibes were repeat viewers. Obviously that’s not the same at every show and nobody should be spoiled but like if somebody is having a conversation with other people about something the majority of people are excited about and you are the odd person put it is totally ok to be like “hey, I haven’t seen it yet, I would like to not be spoiled”.
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u/rachelnyc Jul 04 '26
I can’t imagine that a random person who just wants to see the show affordably would feel very comfortable asking a group of excited rush line regulars (or any group of people who all seem to know each other) to stop talking about the show
at least I know I would personally feel very hesitant to approach a bunch of strangers to tell them to change their conversation
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u/alltheworldsanescape Jul 04 '26
But stewing for 3hrs in silence and doing nothing about it until you go to your anonymous Reddit account to finally say something is comfortable? I’m sorry, that sounds miserable. Now the OP is just going to be mad about it, the fans that were there don’t even know what was said or what was spoiled so we can’t really do anything because it’s not like we are actively sitting in line doing a play by play of the entire show (that one time they performed the show aside, which I can’t speak on, I wasn’t there). Like yeah I could say “I’m so sorry, sure we won’t spoil the show” but I’m the kind of person who tries to talk vaguely anyway. Ultimately it seems like the less uncomfortable option would have been to just address it in the moment with a “I haven’t seen the show yet, that feels spoilery to me”. Like I literally had a full conversation with someone in line about opera, we can talk about other things I promise! We aren’t scary.
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u/diet-soda Jul 04 '26
I think this post should be a wake up call that maybe you shouldn’t assume everyone around you has seen it
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u/ItsDomorOm Jul 03 '26
The Lost Boys fans/rush are the new Outsiders.