An audience member of a Broadway show was so desperate to charge his phone that he jumped onto the set and attempted to plug the device into a fake outlet. Pre-show music had to be halted and the gentleman was removed from the stage before the show continued.
We've all been irritated by people showing a severe lack of mobile manners when it comes to their smartphone. Usually, this involves talking way too loudly, blasting a private conversation on speakerphone or bumping aimlessly into someone while walking and looking down at a smartphone.
Now, in what has to be the absolute height of poor cell phone etiquette, a man actually jumped onto the set of the Broadway show Hand to God while the pre-show music was playing and attempted to plug his phone into a fake outlet that was part of the set.
The music had to be halted as the man was told to return to his seat, and an announcement was then made alerting other audience members not to repeat the move. Two of the shows stars, Sarah Stiles and Marc Kudisch, tweeted about the ordeal, along with audience member Chris York, who summed up the experience and the general reaction:
"At Hand to God tonight I saw on audience member climb onto the stage right before the show and plug his cell phone into a (fake) electrical outlet on the set. ON. THE. SET. The crew had to stop the precook music, remove the cellphone, and make an announcement as to why you can't do that. Truly. I am a quiet and reserved person and I took great joy in loudly heckling the idiot when he returned to take his phone back. Moron. Has theatre etiquette — heck, Common Sense — [really] fallen that far??"
Several years ago, Broadway diva Patti LuPone made news when she halted her performance of Gypsy mid-song to chastise an audience member who was taking pictures of her with his smartphone. "Who do you think you are?" she challenged, to audience cheers. She pulled a similar move in Vegas when she noticed an audience member texting. Luckily for the man who jumped on-set to charge his phone, LuPone is not a member of the cast of Hand to God.
