ATTN: All of the statements in this blog are marked in red so they stand out... or something. It's like all the stuff Jesus says in the bible, except it's not Jesus.
Jason, a cast mate and friend from Joseph, invited me to catch the opening night of the 10th Anniversary Tour of FOOTLOOSE: The Musical at the Granada in downtown Santa Barbara. Of course, we were the youngest people in that theater by a good twenty to thirty years. But I never expected the old people there to be such senile assholes.
We were very excited for the show and we knew it was the type of show where cheering was appropriate. Just like Mamma Mia and Rent, the actors in Footloose feed off of the audience reaction to their stage work. So, Jason and I were fully prepared to support these recent college grads in their professional debut. And they deserved it.
So, we sat down in our Row U seats which were actually very good. When the houselights went down and the music started, Jason initiated what became a very raucous opening applause. He even "wooed". The show started and the cast was phenomenal. The first female soloist in the title song set the bar for the show very high. She got some applause and a woo from Jason. The end of that song also got good applause and a Jason woo. Totally appropriate. But every time the two of us applauded or Jason wooed, the bitch sitting in front of us turned around to scowl. Also, the people sitting next to us on my side moved to the end of the row to get away from us because we were being "too rowdy".
The first act went on and I began to join in the wooing when it was due. At the first act finale, we cheered as a crowd normally would, and we were not the only wooers this time. However, the above-mentioned bitch turned around and said, "I know you're excited because you're young and you've got friends in the cast, but it's too much. It's very rude and it's right in my ear." She looked like she was in her forties to fifties with black hair and looked like an old Demi Moore, kinda, which is weird since another person looked like Demi Moore at Joseph. Anyway, Jason said, "We don't have friends in the cast. We're just excited and we like the show." And the bitch replied, "Well, you need to tone it down." So, we got up for intermission and I said, "Okay, I want to switch seats." I wish we had been seated next to the ladies at the end of our aisle. When we passed them, they said, "Oh, if you're by us, you have to be fun. Are you gonna be fun?" Good sports, you two!
So we got up because Jason needed to pee and smoke. On the way out of the aisle, I overheard the ancient couple who had moved away from us talking. The woman said, "Those two young men should be thrown out." WHORE!! Of course, she didn't know I was right behind her, and her husband looked embarrassed. One of the younger ushers heard the remark and smiled at us as if to say she thought the lady was being a bitch.
I was just so pissed because the show was all about the generation gap and how young people should be allowed to be energetic and have fun. So, we asked the nice usher if we could move seats because people were bothered by us. She said, "Don't worry about it. I can't kick you out for being excited, but you can move to the other side or back a few rows to any available seats. It's an energetic show, so there's no problem with how your acting." So nice! So we moved back one row and away from the bitch, only now we were closer to the old couple who then started to talk about us again. Then, the bitch, who was going back to her seat, turned to us to say, "Thank you for being thoughtful and courteous." AKA, thanks for moving, assholes. "You can be excited back here." I quickly said, "No, we can't because they don't want us to be," motioning to the older couple who looked embarrassed and angry. BTW, in the second act, we did tone down our already low cheering and noticed that there were lots of cheers coming from elsewhere. Still, I felt my heart rate speed up every time I clapped.
Why in the world were there so many old people at a young people show like Footloose? They were probably old when the movie came out! And at a show about letting young people be free-spirited, they were completely trying to shut us up. We were not being distracting. We only cheered when there was applause. We didn't randomly yell stuff. We wooed when we thought it necessary when a song was OVER. I don't go to the theater just to go. I don't go to the theater and clap my hands ten times after each song because that's polite. Especially not at Footloose.
So that's my story. Here are some highlights of the rest of our night:
During the "Answer the train" scene, when Ren yells about his father (I HATE YOU!!!!), it was a very dramatic moment and somebody in the audience said, "... whoa...". It was so funny. Jason and I were stifling laughs like crazy. Good thing we had moved AWAY from everyone else.
Lol, afterward, during the Exit Music, I asked an usher where the stage door was, and Jason started singing along to "I Need A Hero" in girly falsetto. The Usher said something like, "That was good! I'm sorry you two didn't enjoy the show!" and laughed. And she was old! The ushers there rocked.
When we first got to the theater, Jason asked, "Where's the restroom?" and the usher answered, "The Ladies room is to the right." Then, she realized he was a guy and said very quickly, "And the mens is to the left." So funny. Jason loved that.
We were the only ppl at the stage door and we waited for like half an hour, but the cast was getting notes. So when they finally came out to get on the bus, they ALL came out at once and we were so scared! We had expected to be able to talk with a lot of them one on one as they came out, but it was a line of them! So we tried to call out our favorites, but our girl ignored us... "KARA!!! KARA!!!!!" However, we were able to talk to the actor who played Ren. Jason was gushing, and later felt so embarrassed at how he'd acted in front of his future husband. "You're a star, Eric!" Hahahaha! Such a great night.
I can't wait until Mamma Mia, when I will be cheering no matter fucking what. Look out Ancient Bitches of Santa Barbara! There WILL be cheering.
