All Advertising, All the Time

When I was growing up in New York, my parents attended the theater often and took me and my sister along to the hit musicals. The lights of Broadway were thrilling, as was every minute of every show. From the first notes of the orchestra to the exciting finale, the magical world of make-believe was always engrossing, capped with the crescendo of wild applause from the audience. I loved it. 

Hoping for that feeling again, a few years ago my husband and I bought season tickets to the Maine State Music Theater, located one town over. 

Despite great sets and talented performers, whatever magical feeling that may have surfaced during last night's production of West Side Story was squashed at the outset by an infomercial for the theater. The marketing director himself yammered on for too long, plugging the theater's sponsors. Among them were local bars and restaurants, a few banks, a curtain shop and a deli, their logos projected onto a black screen while the names of each were read aloud. The audience was invited to give each one of them a hand for their generosity. (Clap, clap, clap.)

The theater's marketing director doing his job -- onstage.

After that came descriptions of next year's roster, each one deserving more applause. Then special events -- clap, clap-- with discounts available in the lobby -- clap, clap, clap. I wonder -- does clapping for a bank or a grocery store differ from clapping for the actual performers? 

This boring litany happens at every show, diluting any enthusiasm one might have had going into the evening. But last night there was a bonus: Besides the pre-game yammering, a video shown during the intermission featured a giant talking head -- that of the Artistic Director this time -- spouting the same information we had heard 90 minutes earlier. Far from being magical, it was more like being at a used car auction, or maybe a bank foreclosure of mobile homes. (We're not going back.)