Glenn Close Stops Broadway Show Mid-Performance To Yell At Fan Taking A Photo

Glenn Close is currently starring in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Sunset Boulevard, on Broadway. The 70-year-old is enjoying the role of Norma Desmond, a fading silent film star who is trying to cope as the media changes, and is reviving the role she played almost a quarter of a century ago.

However, multiple sources who were at a matinee performance of the show confirm that Glenn Close stopped the show in order to yell at a fan for taking a photo during one of her numbers.

As most theater goers know, it is strictly prohibited to take photos or videos of Broadway, West End or other professional productions during a performance. Not only is it a violation of copyright for the writers of the show, but it is also extremely distracting for the actors who are trying to perform. Because it can be so distracting, photos are generally only taken of theatrical productions during specific photocalls or rehearsals in which the actors are already aware that a camera will be capturing them.

Due to this, Glenn Close wasn’t happy with a fan who whipped out their cell phone during one of her numbers and started taking photos of the famous actress.

The star was reportedly singing Norma Desmond’s ballad, “With One Look” halfway through Act I when she stopped the show to tell off the audience member.

“I’m sorry. Stop the show. Someone there is taking photos. You must know how distracting and disrespectful that is. Now, we can have a show or we can have a photo shoot.”

The star then asked the conductor to restart the song so that she could perform it from the beginning. The rest of the matinee occurred without a hitch, and hopefully, the audience wasn’t too upset at the audience member who nearly ruined the whole show for all of them.

Glenn Close reportedly has also stopped the show during a performance of Sunset Boulevard in the 1990s for someone also taking pictures of her. This likely would have been far more distracting in the days without cell phones, as a whole camera going off during a show would have created a huge problem.

The audience was said to have given Glenn Close a standing ovation for her moxie to stand up to the fan during her 1994 performance, and the rest of the show went off without a hitch.

According to Page Six, Patti LuPone once snatched a cell phone from an audience member’s hand during a performance at Lincoln Center while they were using it during a show. LuPone has said that the problem of audience members using technology during shows has become so bad that at times, she questions whether or not she wants to continue working in the theater.

She also famously stopped the show during a 2009 Broadway performance of Gypsy, in which she was playing the iconic role of Mama Rose. The Broadway and West End vet went off on the anonymous audience member for a whole two minutes, which was ironically recorded by another audience member and went viral online. She stated that she hated that when she went on stage to perform she had to “marshal the audience” and play someone who enforces rules in addition to the role she is playing on stage.

In 2003, a potential bill was introduced to help stop people from using cell phones in live theaters due to how distracting they can be to performers, as well as fellow audience members who can cough up to $150 per ticket for a night at the theater. Thus far, nothing has been introduced to ensure that this problem does not continue.

[Featured Image by Brad Barket/Stringer/Getty Images]