Broadway's Elsa calls out audience member for filming FROZEN performance

Caissie Levy (Les Mis, Ghost, Hair, Wicked) called out one audience member at last night’s performance of Frozen on Broadway, for filming the entire show.

After the show, Caissie took to Twitter to say “If you were the young woman about 8 rows back, center orch, filming our entire show on your iPhone tonight, please know you completely distracted me & made me almost go up on my lyrics. It’s scary when we see people filming us. Please stop & just enjoy the dang show.”

But some of the comments that followed, weren’t in support of Caissie’s comment, going to show just how deluded some people in this world can be.

One Tweeter said “The only way I got to see Hamilton is because it was on YouTube. I love theater but it can be elitist and exclusionary. Being filmed is part of being an actor. It’s one thing to be disruptive, and another thing to be quietly filming for those who can’t afford to come and see it.”

Yes, theatre is expensive but there are always ways to see shows at a more affordable price with ticket lotteries, rush tickets, day seats and online discounts. There is no excuse for someone distracting not only the entire cast on stage (as people still don’t seem to realise they can see everything going on) but also the entire audience who will be watching the show through one persons camera screen, lighting up the auditorium.

During the curtain call of the show, Caissie apparently made eye contact with the culprit in the audience pointed at her and said “you shouldn’t be doing that” and shook her finger. An audience member seated nearby in the audience said the woman was not apologetic at all and said “I’ll give her kudos for catching me.” after she was pointed out.

It’s sad that things like this happen still. Going to see live theatre is a way to escape from the troubles of the world for a few hours and immerse yourself into another world. It is just a shame that some people don’t see it that way and would rather pay a lot of money to watch the show through a camera screen in order to share a grainy, lacklustre video online.

Photo: Deen Van Meer
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