This critic can’t stand ridiculous ovation
Ledger arts critic Lawrence Toppman isn't down with Charlotte's obsession for standing up to applaud at every performance
This review by longtime Charlotte arts critic Lawrence Toppman was published by The Charlotte Ledger on Feb. 1, 2025. You can find out more about The Charlotte Ledger’s commitment to smart local news and information and sign up for our newsletter for free here. And check out this link for Toppman’s archive of reviews in the Ledger.
Inside the standing ovation epidemic: We’re applauding everything — and it’s time to stop this polite pretense.
Audience members got on their feet following a performance of “Hamilton” at the Belk Theater last month. (You can read Lawrence Toppman’s review of “Hamilton” here.)
by Lawrence Toppman
Hey, don’t get up. No, really, don’t get…
You got up. Another performance fell somewhere between “meh” and “competent” on the quality scale, and you heaved yourself slowly out of your seat to applaud with tepid approval.
I’m not down with that. Or, rather, I am down with it, plunked firmly down in my seat while I supply the appropriate amount of applause.
The virus of faux ovations has become a stand-emic since I moved to Charlotte 45 years ago. They’re as much a ritual now at local performances as rising to salute the flag at sporting events. And they’re as meaningless as mouthing the words to the national anthem without thinking about what they convey.
There are four reasons to stand at the end of a show. First, it achieved a level of greatness seldom known in your experience, the kind you’ll talk about years later with eyes sparkling.
Second, you’re applauding a beloved star who has given you pleasure for years, however well he or she performed that night.
Third, you’re seated behind a tall person who has stood up, and you want to observe what’s happening during the curtain call.
Fourth, a dignitary has just risen or passed by, and you’re showing respect. That’s why British audiences first rose in 1743 during the “Hallelujah” chorus: King George II stood, and nobody sat while the king was on his feet. The first notes of that chorus produce the same ovine upthrust today, though nobody remembers why. (A fellow singer told me he stood because the music was sacred. I pointed out that every passage in “Messiah” comes from the Bible; shouldn’t he stand the entire time? “Shut up,” he explained.)
We Charlotteans are a polite bunch, sometimes in reality and sometimes by rote. I asked a Charlotte Symphony concertgoer years ago why he floated to his feet every time. He replied, “It’s a matter of politeness. The artists’ feelings are hurt if we don’t stand up.”
News flash: Artists know whether performances have been exceptional, adequate or sub-par. If you stand up for the latter two, an artist assumes you can’t tell the difference.
I speak from experience. I have been in 90 to 100 productions over the last 41 years for Opera Carolina, ranging from stunningly fine to embarrassingly mediocre. All are now greeted with the sight of patrons on their feet and clapping — sometimes barely long enough for the curtain to come down! This insincere response stopped gratifying me about 1998.
The worst kind of behavior is what a friend calls a “leaving ovation.” The audience stands, but only to more easily gather belongings and put on coats. Every so often, they bang their hands together absent-mindedly, having already forgotten what they saw.
A true standing ovation should propel you from your seat, smashing your hands together. As Macbeth says, “I would applaud thee to the very echo/That should applaud again.”
Think of it this way: If every performance is so great that you’re on your feet, doesn't that really mean they’re equally good or bad, and none is measurably better than another? Would you want your kid to be in a class where every student gets an A, however much or little work gets done?
Standing ovations aren’t good etiquette; they’re mealy-mouthing. And I assume they’re a Southern thing, because I don’t see them as much in New York. There, even the great ones really have to earn their praise. I saw Maurizio Pollini, one of the 20th century’s outstanding pianists, at Carnegie Hall in the ‘10s, and not everyone was on his feet at the end. (I was.)
That doesn’t mean an ordinary performance should be met with boos or stony silence. I’m not asking you to shut up or freeze up after a decent but unspectacular gig. Just don’t STAND up, I beg you.
Lawrence Toppman covered the arts for 40 years at The Charlotte Observer before retiring in 2020. Now, he’s back in the critic’s chair for the Charlotte Ledger — look for his reviews about three times each month in the Charlotte Ledger. Check out this link for Toppman’s archive of reviews in the Ledger, and you can listen to him talk about being an arts critic in this recent episode of the Charlotte Ledger podcast.
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