As the world now knows, Hugh Jackman was not a happy camper when an audience member's cell phone rang twice during last Wednesday's performance of A Steady Rain, and he let the whole house know as much. Stopping the performance, though still in character, Jackman berated the theatergoer: "You wanna get that? You wanna get that? Grab it, I don't care," opening up a watershed of commentary on talk shows and blogs alike about theater etiquette on-stage and off.
One former Broadway star, Harry Connick Jr. does not agree with Hugh Jackman's decision to blast an audience member with a ringing cell phone and is speaking out.
Connick Jr, a two-time Tony Award nominee and star of the 2006 Broadway production of The Pajama Game, said he also encountered the ringing cell phone episodes during performances but chose to ignore them and continue with the performance for the sake of the other audience members.
"Hugh is a great guy," Connick Jr. said during an interview Tuesday on The View. "He's a nice guy, but I wouldn't have done that...It happens, but for me, you just have to roll with it...What are you going to do?...Stop and break character?"
Perhaps the solution is just silencing the cell phones in the first place.
A Steady Rain opened last night, September 29th at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. Tickets range from $140.00 to $66.50. The performance schedule for A STEADY RAIN is as follows: Tuesday at 7pm, Wednesday through Saturday at 8pm, with matinees Wednesday and Saturday at 2pm, and Sunday at 3pm. Tickets are also available at www.telecharge.com (212.239.6200).
