Our Leading Lady, at MTC's Stage II
At MTC the other night, a cell phone went off in the first act. The ringtone was strange, feathery and ephemeral rather than percussive. The thing was, nobody moved. Everybody in our part of the audience looked at everybody else; the play sailed on; eventually the ringing stopped. It was horrible.
At the interval we were all subjected to the firmest inquisition that the management would dare inflict upon patrons. Nobody fessed up. I was terrified that we'd be asked to produce our phones. Mine was on. I usually don't turn it off, because I can silence it before it rings, thanks to preliminary vibrations. (I used to wonder rhetorically who on earth would be calling me, but wrong numbers are not confined to land-lines.)
It's against the law to allow an electronic device to disturb a play or a concert.
