This right here is an article after my own heart. I have always found the practice of people showing up late for live performances absolutely inexcusable. It's bad enough that it happens at movie theaters where the only people being disturbed are audience members whose toes are being stamped on in the dark. But for people to show up late to performances where the artistes' concentration can be interrupted, that's just disrespectful.

So, it's good to know that performance halls in New York are taking a stand and not letting tardiness go entirely unpunished. At the Metropolitan Opera, latecomers are ushered into a small auditorium where they can watch the action on substandard screens until the first break in performance -- the end of an Act, for instance. Then, they are shown to their seats, having missed the live viewing of the first bit. Some other halls allow people into the back of the auditorium where they have to stand in the dark until a break. And if there isn't a natural break in the performance, artistes are consulted ahead of time to decide on an appropriate moment to allow late seating.

Coming from a country where these rules aren't yet enforced widely enough (only a few theaters in India insist on closing doors until the end of the first Act), it's heartening to see that artistes in New York, at least, are being accorded the kind of respect they deserve. In India, stage actors have begun to bristle at the lack of respect and, often times, will interrupt their own performances to berate a latecomer. I'm all for this practice. In fact, I'm all for shutting people out entirely if they show up more than 10 minutes late. Why seat latecomers at all?

The Times article does explain this, though:

Some such routine happens every night in performance halls around New York, with house managers maintaining a delicate balance of power. On this side, they have to accommodate latecomers done in by traffic or tardy baby sitters. On that side, they must shield the punctual and performers from disturbances. The problem is made more acute by potentially astronomical ticket prices and the New York habit of cutting it close.

The "New York habit of cutting it close" is definitely not acceptable. But, I suppose, the tardy babysitter excuse is hard to penalize people for -- after all, their only other option is to leave the little one home alone... and then face charges of neglect. Of course, genuine excuses vs. lazy excuses are impossible to tell apart, so theaters have to err on the side of allowing the undeserving in as well. I suppose the only real solution is for everyone -- babysitter-needing parents and last-minute patrons -- to just allow for more than enough time to get anywhere. If it takes a half hour to get to the Met, leave an hour ahead of time. If you need the babysitter at 7, ask her to come at 6:30. There are ways around lateness. It's essentially about learning to respect.