I see you watching me.

I was compelled to write this evening and that's what I'm going to do. I'll start with a link - Tony Winner Patti LuPone Responds to Times Blog.

Now, we've all heard this story (and if you haven't then you're clearly not a theater person), and this is actually the second time that LuPone has done this. Now, I commend LuPone for taking a stand on what she believes in. That takes guts and she sure does have them, we all know. Now, I don't know if I would go as far as to stop a show (your own is one thing [Lord knows I wanted to tell a few people off during the second performance of Sign o' the Times], but a full Broadway production is another). She could easily have just told stage management to handle it, and that would have sufficed. It's always a treat when people think they've gotten away with something, but then are stopped before they leave the theater and told to either delete the material, or the camera is taken away. But hey, that's not what she chose to do.

The reason I've decided to bring it us is this - tonight at the show we had 2 people in the first 2 rows of the theater recording the show. Now, I'm not gonna act like I don't have audio from The Wedding Singer and The Color Purple on Broadway. That's not the issue. And yes, it is illegal, but people have been doing it for years and it'll continue to be done. MY issue is that these people don't even have the sense to be slick about it. Don't hold your camera up in the air and record the show from the front row. That's just not smart. You know we can see you, right? Why do audience members think we can't see them when we're on stage? Where did this thought come from? This isn't a television folks, wake up! And it's insulting. It's like your taunting us with your video camera. Have some fucking sense and hide it.

So basically what it comes down to it this - I don't really know what my stance on the situation is. Yes, it's illegal to record shows when you go see them, but I've done it (only audio, not video). But I've never been stupid enough to wave the recorder around for all to see. It's just idiotic. So yeah, people please, keep it to yourself if you're going to record. We don't want to know about it. And on that note, see ya on YouTube!