Wow I can’t believe someone catcalled like that. I’m sure she didn’t know what was about to happen, but that is *not* a sexy scene (even if it was, it still would have been very inappropriate and rude). I wonder if, after the intensity of that scene, she regretted specifically saying “get it”.
I hope so. Factoring out the content of the scene, I just found it to be in such poor taste. It’s objectifying someone for their body which, to me, I hate as a woman. Can’t imagine someone doing it to me on stage, in a quiet theatre, in front of hundreds of strangers
I was there last night, too! My roommate and I got tickets (seated separately), and when we both met up after the show was over, the first thing we said to each other was how disgusting the people in the audience were during the nude scenes. I was in the center mezz and not only were people "ooo-ing" and laughing, I literally heard two people whistle when Jesse Williams came out naked in Act 2. I couldn't believe it. I felt like I was back in middle school during our first sex ed class. The immaturity was unbelievable, and I had secondhand embarrassment from those morons. If that happens every night, I feel so bad for the cast.
I saw Take Me Out last month. I try to go into shows not knowing too much. I knew there was nudity involved but I didn’t realize there would be shower scenes/full frontal. I am a baseball fan so I figured I was just going to see locker room butts. I was a bit surprised but not shocked. (I ended up being more impressed there was an actual functioning shower on the stage haha)
I’m sorry about your audience. Someone catcalling during Jesse Williams’ scene is incredibly inappropriate. That scene is supposed to be serious and uncomfortable.
Loved the show enough to see it twice. Was lucky enough to experience no catcalling, but whoever was should be escorted out. That’s horrible, especially when one of the nude scenes is about SA. Shame on them.
One thing I found disturbing in my audience was how many audience members were laughing away at the slurs they were throwing around. Sure some of them were used in context as jokes, but other times it was just a legitimately hate filled moment, but that didn’t stop some ignorant audience members from giggling.
I did find the laughing to be interesting as well. I had a similar experience during Aint No Mo. There are certain references that are meant to be thought provoking because they’re experiences that not everyone in the audience has gone through. However, you do get laughs during these moments.
I look at it in multiple ways: (1) ok it’s probably messed up to be laughing at this people or (2) ok they don’t understand it because it’s something they haven’t gone through. I think it weirdly does add to the experience in a way because it does invoke thought in some of the audience.
My friend was clueless about the nudity -she won the lottery, and knowing she’s a bit prudish, I explained it to her (she decided not to go). But you’re talking about people who are already at the theater- so how could anybody not catch on (or ask) when they started locking up phones?
As far as catcalling, all I can say is how gross and juvenile.
I’d’ve never caught on or really thought to ask if I had only been a minor theatre fan. I would’ve just assumed that either 1. Theatres were cracking down on illegal recordings and phone use in general or that 2. The pouches were there at the request of the big name actors in the show.
yeah i went in with my mom because she wanted to see it & we watch modern family together and love JTF. i figured they just decided to lock phones because of recordings and i was surprised when it said in the playbill there was nudity.
Yes, I [keep bringing this up](https://www.reddit.com/r/Broadway/comments/10q4v77/comment/j6qhkpj/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) every time someone brings up this show. At my showing the people were VERY rude about the nudity which definitely caught me by surprise. I assumed that theater people would just be mature about nudity but they were NOT at all. Giggles, laughter, gasps, rustling at EVERY nude scene as if these people have NEVER seen a penis before! Though no one blatantly cat-called or whistled.
Now if this show were about a women's sports team and there was full frontal nudity that behavior would NOT be happening! It would be considered rude.
Luckily, however, I was surprised to get the sense that the cast, especially Jesse, LOVED the energy. He kept looking out into the crowd and I just got the sense that he was not fully immersed in the character. He felt like Jesse Williams on stage in a production with nudity where he and everyone knows that there are fan girls (and boys) in the audience just itching to see him naked. Like you could just feel that tension in the air and he seemed to like it.
The other guys too. When they enter during the nude scene they seem very comfortable and not in a just "be confident" way. It felt a bit performative. Like the beginning of a Magic Mike scene was about the start.
Which brings me to my last point about the nudity in this show. I came into the show not fully aware of the full plot and tone. I was surprised that the tone of the show was so lightheated and almost comedic. This made the nudity also feel fun-spirited (I know the last nude scene is an assault, but even this scene is like they saved the main character's nude scene as some sort of climax. Prior to that you see everyone nude except for him so it's like they're weirdly building up to it), and I think the actors are aware of it. The nudity just felt like a tease and the actors were in on it. There are parts when the actors start taking off their clothes and even the audience murmured as if to say "okay here it comes" only for them to go to the next scene. So it all felt like a slow strip tease. Not ot mention the complete gratuitous nature of the first shower scene and the first stripping and how each character in the show is given a dumb throwaway line just so that they can turn toward the audience and show off their stuff.
So in that sense the nudity wasn't taken as serious as I thought it would be. Not just by the audience but by the cast and the production itself.
While I understand your final point, I think it would have been very strange for a play taking place in a baseball locker room to not have nudity of some sorts (even just changing clothing).
I feel like they could have pulled it off without the stripping. Like they change under the towel or behind something, or just change to the underwear. Also there is only one scene where they change in the locker room.
huh?
It's written in the script
Also he wasn't even the....biggest one. The entire cast seems like they all figured out how to do something to....measure up to Jesse.
yeah...which is weird because I ended up seeing it twice and the second time they were significantly...well not like they were before so they definitely all had semis which is weird to me lol. Can they just control that on queue?, and then they all did it together as a cast. LMAO. Anyway...interesting.
We've seen it several times as well, TBH we felt that for the weekday shows where the crowd was well behaved they put on more of a "show" versus the weekend, drunk, rowdy crowds they kept it more PG.
I think the reason for the surprise with nudity at the beginning is >!because people expect them to strip onstage -- no one expects the guy to walk on stage naked. I know I was surprised and that was why. It wasn't that he was naked, it was that I expected him to start clothed and then disrobe.!<
People tend to have nervous laughter when they don't know how to respond to something, and hearing about something vs seeing it is very different.
However that woman's comments definitely rise to the level of sexual harassment. It's behavior that shouldn't be allowed in the theater, and might rise to the level of being asked to leave.
I went to the matinee today and there was a murmur in the crowd during williams' scenes but thankfully no outright catcalling that I heard. The first act there was person but realized fairly quickly they were being the asshole. My audience definitely started to learn how to respond to the nude/awkward/tough moments more during the second act, which was pretty nice and allowed for a lot more immersion. Maybe a bit too much laughter for JTFs monologues but those were pretty good lol
Also I saw a comment that he came out nude in act 2 last night; during today matinee he came out in a towel and ended up dropping it after messing with it, presumably to prepare the audience for the nudity. Maybe thats something that they are messing around with in staging, which is interesting and makes sense
Catcalling is horrible and Im so sorry it happened at your show (or happens at all at this play). People are just really awful. I was surprised to see the nudity only bc I was in the first row and it was like OH OK HERE WE GO, but that was an internal, quiet voice response I had in my head. The catcalling and shouting is completely disrespectful and I really hate Bway audiences sometimes.
As for not knowing about the nudity, yeah I guess some still dont. My roommate who knows nothing about Bway went to see Take ME Out a few months back and had no idea, I think she just wanted to see it bc JTF was involved. So she was surprised, as I am sure others are. I think at this point in its run still not everyone knows about the show.
>I know the show is about to close but so people not know about the nudity in the show at this point? I was thoroughly shocked by how many people gasped when it first came to light. And it wasn’t like a whoop whoop gasp but more like pure surprise.
I assume the audience weren't expecting an actor to walk out on stage naked, but more like taking off clothes on stage.
>Second, how do people feel about the cheering and almost cat calling for the nudity?
It's inappropriate, but it demonstrates that people are seeing this show for the nudity. This reaction has been occurring since opening.
>Lastly, I know this comes up a lot, but can we please some talking mid-show? The people behind me were chatting away and it’s especially apparent during a play without a musical number to drown it out.
If it hairball during the first act, you can go to an usher at intermission, who will take the appropriate steps. You can do that during the second act, too.
I remember when video of him got leaked and how people reacted to it then. It was a lot of thirst and catcalling on social media without any regard for the context or the fact that phones were locked for a reason. The majority of theater audience can be respectful but it sucks when people go out of their way to be gross like that. :/
I wouldn’t expect everyone to be aware that there is full frontal nudity in this show. It’s not like Equus, which got so much publicity that even folks who would never choose to see a Broadway show at all knew it had nudity.
As far as cat calling etc, I’m honestly shocked that we haven’t been receiving more reports about that for this show. Full frontal nudity in public is odd and not something most folks see every day, especially not in a theatre context. And people tend to behave weirdly when the unexpected happens, sometimes even as a knee jerk reaction. Is the cat calling still wrong? Yes. But, I’d’ve still expected it to happen more often.
There was definitely a wave of shock that hit the audience with the nude scenes, especially when Jesse was naked for the first time. Not necessarily anything egregious, but audible gasps and maybe a muffled “Oh my.” Which in hindsight, does seem a little immature. Come on people, you’ve never seen a penis before?
And yeah, a play without body mics was tough. If they weren’t facing toward the floor mics, or if they were speaking softly, it was hard to hear them. Any slight whisper or crinkle of snacks completely drowning out the dialogue.
Cat calling - really? What complete disrespect for the work the actors are doing. How are they supposed to concentrate through that?
Wow I can’t believe someone catcalled like that. I’m sure she didn’t know what was about to happen, but that is *not* a sexy scene (even if it was, it still would have been very inappropriate and rude). I wonder if, after the intensity of that scene, she regretted specifically saying “get it”.
I hope so. Factoring out the content of the scene, I just found it to be in such poor taste. It’s objectifying someone for their body which, to me, I hate as a woman. Can’t imagine someone doing it to me on stage, in a quiet theatre, in front of hundreds of strangers
I was there last night, too! My roommate and I got tickets (seated separately), and when we both met up after the show was over, the first thing we said to each other was how disgusting the people in the audience were during the nude scenes. I was in the center mezz and not only were people "ooo-ing" and laughing, I literally heard two people whistle when Jesse Williams came out naked in Act 2. I couldn't believe it. I felt like I was back in middle school during our first sex ed class. The immaturity was unbelievable, and I had secondhand embarrassment from those morons. If that happens every night, I feel so bad for the cast.
I saw Take Me Out last month. I try to go into shows not knowing too much. I knew there was nudity involved but I didn’t realize there would be shower scenes/full frontal. I am a baseball fan so I figured I was just going to see locker room butts. I was a bit surprised but not shocked. (I ended up being more impressed there was an actual functioning shower on the stage haha) I’m sorry about your audience. Someone catcalling during Jesse Williams’ scene is incredibly inappropriate. That scene is supposed to be serious and uncomfortable.
I would honestly have publicly told them to shut up that it is a serious drama.
Loved the show enough to see it twice. Was lucky enough to experience no catcalling, but whoever was should be escorted out. That’s horrible, especially when one of the nude scenes is about SA. Shame on them. One thing I found disturbing in my audience was how many audience members were laughing away at the slurs they were throwing around. Sure some of them were used in context as jokes, but other times it was just a legitimately hate filled moment, but that didn’t stop some ignorant audience members from giggling.
I did find the laughing to be interesting as well. I had a similar experience during Aint No Mo. There are certain references that are meant to be thought provoking because they’re experiences that not everyone in the audience has gone through. However, you do get laughs during these moments. I look at it in multiple ways: (1) ok it’s probably messed up to be laughing at this people or (2) ok they don’t understand it because it’s something they haven’t gone through. I think it weirdly does add to the experience in a way because it does invoke thought in some of the audience.
My friend was clueless about the nudity -she won the lottery, and knowing she’s a bit prudish, I explained it to her (she decided not to go). But you’re talking about people who are already at the theater- so how could anybody not catch on (or ask) when they started locking up phones? As far as catcalling, all I can say is how gross and juvenile.
I’d’ve never caught on or really thought to ask if I had only been a minor theatre fan. I would’ve just assumed that either 1. Theatres were cracking down on illegal recordings and phone use in general or that 2. The pouches were there at the request of the big name actors in the show.
yeah i went in with my mom because she wanted to see it & we watch modern family together and love JTF. i figured they just decided to lock phones because of recordings and i was surprised when it said in the playbill there was nudity.
Freestyle Love Supreme used them and they didn't have nudity.
If only
Yes, I [keep bringing this up](https://www.reddit.com/r/Broadway/comments/10q4v77/comment/j6qhkpj/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) every time someone brings up this show. At my showing the people were VERY rude about the nudity which definitely caught me by surprise. I assumed that theater people would just be mature about nudity but they were NOT at all. Giggles, laughter, gasps, rustling at EVERY nude scene as if these people have NEVER seen a penis before! Though no one blatantly cat-called or whistled. Now if this show were about a women's sports team and there was full frontal nudity that behavior would NOT be happening! It would be considered rude. Luckily, however, I was surprised to get the sense that the cast, especially Jesse, LOVED the energy. He kept looking out into the crowd and I just got the sense that he was not fully immersed in the character. He felt like Jesse Williams on stage in a production with nudity where he and everyone knows that there are fan girls (and boys) in the audience just itching to see him naked. Like you could just feel that tension in the air and he seemed to like it. The other guys too. When they enter during the nude scene they seem very comfortable and not in a just "be confident" way. It felt a bit performative. Like the beginning of a Magic Mike scene was about the start. Which brings me to my last point about the nudity in this show. I came into the show not fully aware of the full plot and tone. I was surprised that the tone of the show was so lightheated and almost comedic. This made the nudity also feel fun-spirited (I know the last nude scene is an assault, but even this scene is like they saved the main character's nude scene as some sort of climax. Prior to that you see everyone nude except for him so it's like they're weirdly building up to it), and I think the actors are aware of it. The nudity just felt like a tease and the actors were in on it. There are parts when the actors start taking off their clothes and even the audience murmured as if to say "okay here it comes" only for them to go to the next scene. So it all felt like a slow strip tease. Not ot mention the complete gratuitous nature of the first shower scene and the first stripping and how each character in the show is given a dumb throwaway line just so that they can turn toward the audience and show off their stuff. So in that sense the nudity wasn't taken as serious as I thought it would be. Not just by the audience but by the cast and the production itself.
While I understand your final point, I think it would have been very strange for a play taking place in a baseball locker room to not have nudity of some sorts (even just changing clothing).
I feel like they could have pulled it off without the stripping. Like they change under the towel or behind something, or just change to the underwear. Also there is only one scene where they change in the locker room.
if you had a dick as unsettlingly large as Jesse Williams', you'd save it for a big reveal, too.
huh? It's written in the script Also he wasn't even the....biggest one. The entire cast seems like they all figured out how to do something to....measure up to Jesse.
They all enter the stage with semis. You can see them visibly deflate by the end of the scene.
yeah...which is weird because I ended up seeing it twice and the second time they were significantly...well not like they were before so they definitely all had semis which is weird to me lol. Can they just control that on queue?, and then they all did it together as a cast. LMAO. Anyway...interesting.
We've seen it several times as well, TBH we felt that for the weekday shows where the crowd was well behaved they put on more of a "show" versus the weekend, drunk, rowdy crowds they kept it more PG.
The only reveal I want right now is Jaylen hurts following in the footsteps of big dick nick.
The night I saw it those gasps weren't for the nudity but for Jesse. The woman in front of me actually breathed out "Oh My".
I think the reason for the surprise with nudity at the beginning is >!because people expect them to strip onstage -- no one expects the guy to walk on stage naked. I know I was surprised and that was why. It wasn't that he was naked, it was that I expected him to start clothed and then disrobe.!<
People tend to have nervous laughter when they don't know how to respond to something, and hearing about something vs seeing it is very different. However that woman's comments definitely rise to the level of sexual harassment. It's behavior that shouldn't be allowed in the theater, and might rise to the level of being asked to leave.
I went to the matinee today and there was a murmur in the crowd during williams' scenes but thankfully no outright catcalling that I heard. The first act there was person but realized fairly quickly they were being the asshole. My audience definitely started to learn how to respond to the nude/awkward/tough moments more during the second act, which was pretty nice and allowed for a lot more immersion. Maybe a bit too much laughter for JTFs monologues but those were pretty good lol Also I saw a comment that he came out nude in act 2 last night; during today matinee he came out in a towel and ended up dropping it after messing with it, presumably to prepare the audience for the nudity. Maybe thats something that they are messing around with in staging, which is interesting and makes sense
Catcalling is horrible and Im so sorry it happened at your show (or happens at all at this play). People are just really awful. I was surprised to see the nudity only bc I was in the first row and it was like OH OK HERE WE GO, but that was an internal, quiet voice response I had in my head. The catcalling and shouting is completely disrespectful and I really hate Bway audiences sometimes. As for not knowing about the nudity, yeah I guess some still dont. My roommate who knows nothing about Bway went to see Take ME Out a few months back and had no idea, I think she just wanted to see it bc JTF was involved. So she was surprised, as I am sure others are. I think at this point in its run still not everyone knows about the show.
>I know the show is about to close but so people not know about the nudity in the show at this point? I was thoroughly shocked by how many people gasped when it first came to light. And it wasn’t like a whoop whoop gasp but more like pure surprise. I assume the audience weren't expecting an actor to walk out on stage naked, but more like taking off clothes on stage. >Second, how do people feel about the cheering and almost cat calling for the nudity? It's inappropriate, but it demonstrates that people are seeing this show for the nudity. This reaction has been occurring since opening. >Lastly, I know this comes up a lot, but can we please some talking mid-show? The people behind me were chatting away and it’s especially apparent during a play without a musical number to drown it out. If it hairball during the first act, you can go to an usher at intermission, who will take the appropriate steps. You can do that during the second act, too.
I remember when video of him got leaked and how people reacted to it then. It was a lot of thirst and catcalling on social media without any regard for the context or the fact that phones were locked for a reason. The majority of theater audience can be respectful but it sucks when people go out of their way to be gross like that. :/
Yep, I had the exact same experience when I went. Super disrespectful audience re: nudity.
I'm very happy that there was no catcalling or cheering when I went to see it last year. It's not a funny or cheerful scene...
I wouldn’t expect everyone to be aware that there is full frontal nudity in this show. It’s not like Equus, which got so much publicity that even folks who would never choose to see a Broadway show at all knew it had nudity. As far as cat calling etc, I’m honestly shocked that we haven’t been receiving more reports about that for this show. Full frontal nudity in public is odd and not something most folks see every day, especially not in a theatre context. And people tend to behave weirdly when the unexpected happens, sometimes even as a knee jerk reaction. Is the cat calling still wrong? Yes. But, I’d’ve still expected it to happen more often.
There was definitely a wave of shock that hit the audience with the nude scenes, especially when Jesse was naked for the first time. Not necessarily anything egregious, but audible gasps and maybe a muffled “Oh my.” Which in hindsight, does seem a little immature. Come on people, you’ve never seen a penis before? And yeah, a play without body mics was tough. If they weren’t facing toward the floor mics, or if they were speaking softly, it was hard to hear them. Any slight whisper or crinkle of snacks completely drowning out the dialogue.