Good Morning, World!

[@lottebowbrick8788]

It's Lotte like "Lottie" 😂

[@Avril.]

👋

[@tahneemeasday6242]

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[@EyeGlassTrainofMind]

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[@Mai2727]

The Candy Store story made me remember Amy Lovatt’s video where someone from front of house was doing the candy store choreography

[@aliceloftus]

Mai2727 that’s what i was thinking

[@lailam1292]

the girl who went on was jen caldwell i think. she is now an alternate on the six uk tour, and after she went on for the role at the arts, she ended up joining the cast :)

[@SamWest96]

That is the story dreams are made of as an actor!

[@SarahDocwra]

One of my FAVOURITE bits of working FOH is telling someone rude they're wrong! The theatre I work in seats over 3000 people so the Stalls goes up to row z and then double lettered up to NN and I thoroughly enjoy telling the rude patron that in fact they are in the wrong seat and they should be about 25 rows further back :)

[@supernnnnlive]

🤣🤣

[@msballet101]

I worked front of house when the play that goes wrong was on tour and on opening night the security guy on duty wasn't told that some of the actors come out front of house before the show. The security guard thought one of the actors running around front of house was some kind of intruder and rugby tackled him to the ground. The poor actor I felt so bad for him but it was hilarious to watch.

[@lifeaccordingtosarah5036]

I work FoH at a big venue in London. Best job ever. Yeh, there are some horrible, rude, customers, but the lovely customers far outweighs the douchebags! Also, had the absolute pleasure of meeting Carrie when the Olivier awards were at my work, so yeh, that was a good shift! And yes, trying to get out of stage door when it's surrounded by teenage girls wanting to meet their fave celebs is hard, but semi funny when you know the celeb is either going to spend hours in the backstage bar or has already left through the loading bay! :')

[@melinanicolestratigos]

Actor who works FOH here - Thanks so much for acknowledging us and for sharing success stories of ushers who made it onstage :)

[@helenbrown5369]

The front of house at the haymarket theatre were brilliant. They even joined in the “beautiful”bit at the end of heathers. They were also really good at organising the “stage door” at the front.

[@SamanthaMayMusic]

LOVE a video about FOH! I work FOH and it's the best job ever. I miss it! I once had a situ where we moved everyone from the upper circle to the dress circle (cause of capacity) and a woman complained at me for moving her when I had literally moved her to (arguably) the best seats in the house haha! I also work in a playhouse so when we were open, we would get short runs of shows which kept it interesting. Also with our company we're trained across the board (bar, VIP area, merch and normal FOH ushering) but yeah, bar staff do finish earlier.

[@phoebe3428]

omg that story about the arts is about jen caldwell who was working foh there !! she then landed a role as an alternate in six on tour and then got transferred to the arts for a while in february !! she's properly come full circle and it's soooo cool.

[@charliestrains9826]

i never realised she worked FOH at the arts! Because i thought before that she worked on other shows, or maybe it was FOH and then after that performance her career took off?

[@lailam1292]

Charlie`s Trains she had done other shows before that, but between jobs a lot of actors work FOH at theatres :)

[@laurenchandler149]

I'm absolutely loving these videos on both Carrie's and your channel. I'm gonna miss them when they are over 💛

[@jemimarex8083]

I work FOH in Canterbury. The place where we fill out the ice cream trays is right on the route to the stage for the actors. The amount of actors who have seen the ice cream and made a joke about them all being for them, or to put them all in their dressing rooms, is hilarious. Couldn't count the amount of times on two hands. Please, actors, know that if you make that joke, you get talked about in the staff room and it's always met with eye rolls 😂

[@SugarAndSmiles]

I work front of house in the west end, miss it more and more each day of lockdown 😢

[@xAbbieCx13]

We absoloutely stan Jen Caldwell! She was my Anne Boleyn in Liverpool and she's incredible!

[@charliestrains9826]

i saw her as cover in Wolverhampton for Howard and she was amazing!

[@elsalter6894]

I saw her at her Cleve's debut and she was incredible

[@Six-us8vv]

I saw her at Edinburgh she was incredible

[@hancarbery]

i was there too!! she was incredible

[@InfinitePlaylist909]

As a former NYC front of house/merch seller, this video warmed my heart! Love you guys!

[@teachertobe676]

"I'd love working at stage door!" (5:15) After reading When The Curtain Falls, I love the idea of working at Stage door as well. It seems so sweet being able to be the person greeting others and getting to know all the warm faces. Let's hope there are no Hamish types. Stage door people sound so lovely.

[@stevnor99]

I worked for years at FOH for a theatre complex whilst studying stage management. I wouldn't change it for anything as I learnt so much and it gave me the most amazing grounding. Seeing shows go wrong, and sometimes badly wrong, and how they get out of it is worth more than any 3 years or studying. FOH staff are also brilliant when it comes to emergencies - like the ceiling collapse etc. Whilst real emergencies do seldom arise, the audience forgets that the FOH staff will be able to evacuate that theatre should there be the need.

[@jusmarch3740]

Don't be mean to front of house staff. Treat them how u would like to be treated. xxx

[@Peta4241]

I once dealt with one of the sweetest front of house people of all time, my sister and I had 2 tickets to see The Play That Goes Wrong when it was on Broadway in 2018. I had stuffed up our dates, I had booked the day before I thought I had so we were a day late (we flew in from Australia and I got so confused with timezones I had forgotten when we were going to land). This lady was so unbelievably lovely, she (completely unprompted, my sister and I were just going to leave) managed to find us 2 tickets to that show and gave them to us for free, as one of the first people I dealt with in NY she really helped shape the vibe of our trip.

[@lorigrainger4337]

Me and my Dad found at that Michael Ball was a spitter on the front row at the Les Mis concert! We were super lucky to be sat basically in the middle and my Dad kept getting spat on, it was quite hilarious😂

[@kirstylou142]

I love the front of house teams, I’m that person that’s always really early to the theatre so I’ve had some great conversations with them. There was one occasion at Young Frankenstein when one of the front of house guys was coming into the dress circle bar with a giant bag of ice which split all over the floor and down the stairs. It was funny anyway, but even funnier was the lady on the door who clearly kept thinking about it and started laughing to herself every few minutes 😂

[@ameliagibbs8756]

I worked on a bar at a theatre and it was VERY different to what your mate told you! We started earlier than the stewards as the bars always open before the doors, and would be solidly serving drinks until the 5 minute call. During the first act we would be re-stocking, cleaning the foyer, doing first clean on the bar, and preparing the interval orders. During the second act we would have to clean the foyer again, do second clean on the bar (which was a deep clean), completely restock, and take the bottles and bins out. Usually the second deep clean would take long enough to fill the entire of Act 2 unless you had an extremely long show in. Even then you would be given extra jobs to fill the time. Then when the show ended the Stewards were able to leave as soon as the auditorium was clear, and we would go in and clean the auditorium and the foyer again (as people would drop rubbish on their way out). We were always out later than the stewards unless any of them stayed to help. Every theatre will be different, but in my experience bar work is in no way easier to stewards work!

[@jorjalouise5686]

At the theatre where I work we are all banned from the green room and from talking to anybody in the cast due to an incident that happened years ago which ended up with a formal complaint from a member of the cast and a front of house worker being fired.

[@matildageek8269]

Yep that’s Jen Caldwell and now she’s in Six! 8:35

[@rosadiaz1739]

good morning everyone💖remember you are beautiful and so loved, stay safe, drink your water, tell people how much they mean to you. Sendinv love to everhone have a good day xx

[@lozzyroo84]

I used to be a volunteer front of house one evening a week at my local playhouse. Unfortunately this ended when the playhouse closed, when it reopened things ran differently. I used to love doing this and is one reason why I still love going to plays and musicals now. We only had short runs of shows so I would only see something 5 - 6 times but it makes me now struggle seeing something only once. I used to love watch things a few times and noticing different things. A few west end shows I’ve seen I have had to book a few times (more difficult and expensive coming from the midlands.) Watching this video made me really miss doing front of house even though it’s over ten years since I did it. Keep up the videos.

[@keturahfosberry2509]

I saw the play that goes wrong... when it went wrong! The piece of stage on the right that is like a separate floor drops partway through the show, but it dropped prematurely WITH CAST MEMBERS ON IT! I’d seen it before so I knew it was too early, but obviously a lot of the audience didn’t so they just laughed. They had to lower the curtain and we had like a 10 minute break while they tried to fix it... for the rest of the show the cast were really playing it up and acting scared of the stage etc, it honestly mad it a hundred times funnier!! Loved it, fab show. X

[@Liezjeuh]

Haha, when you talked about 'spitters' last time, I immediately thought of that Friends scene :p Oh do you know Sophie and Dave? They are a couple from the UK(he is Scottish) and they vlog too. He is an actor as well, they both worked front of House, he also did stage door and he toured with The Blues Brothers and he did The Play that goes wrong, the UK tour as well. So when you were talking about Front of House, my thoughts went out to him. :)

[@XheyJJx]

God I had that wrong seat thing once! I’d gone to see something at my local theatre. Can’t for the life of me remember what it was now but I’ve grown up at that theatre and know it like the back of my hand and I always book stalls C1. The best seat in the house in my opinion! There I was sat ready and a lady and her husband approached me. They must have been mid 60s. Her: excuse me you are in my seat Me: oh god really? Oh I’m not sure. I think it is my seat (proceeds to find ticket) Yes here we are today’s date, today’s time, stalls C1 yes this is defo my seat Her: NO. You are in the wrong seat. These are defo our seats Me: oh maybe could I see your ticket, see if the info is correct? Her: no. You do not need to see my tickets Hubby: love let’s call someone over, I’m sure it’s something simple Her: NO. This girl is refusing to move! I’m now getting flustered as everyone is looking. The show was due to start. Everyone is seated except this couple and I know for sure it’s my seat! Usher: what’s the problem Her: this girl is in my seat and refusing to Move and demanding to hand my ticket to her (Wasn’t demanding, I only asked once!) Anyway, turns out they were circle...seat C1 🤦🏻‍♀️ Knew I was right 😜

[@natalierowe5677]

I work FOH in a very small regional theatre, and there's definitely been shows that have come that I'd like to do, but nothing that has stayed for a long time that I would've killed to be in! Also it's great going home after the interval after working on the bar👌

[@jessicaebirch]

I work front of house at a local theatre which gets the big tours through and I bloody love my job! Really miss being there!

[@sophiehare3131]

Good morning!

[@Estimpson98]

Working FOH has been my favourite job and working regional theatre as well means i get a new show every week (or day). I miss it a lot right now

[@jemimarex8083]

Me too! Exactly the same situation here. Every week that goes by I keep thinking about all the shows we are all missing!

[@daniellefoster3753]

I used to work FOH at The Palace Theatre in Manchester. It was an amazing place to work and I have so many incredible memories. Working at a regional theatre is great because you get the opportunity to see various different shows. As an actor, it was great to have the opportunity to see such a wide variety of shows, some of which I never would have thought of seeing had I not worked at the theatre. It might be different in West End theatres, but at the Palace, everyone did everything FOH. One shift you could be on a bar, the next shift you could be on “patrol” in the auditorium, but everyone got paid the same per hour. It is true that bars would leave earlier as they didn’t have to stay til the end of the show, but I actually preferred being on patrol because I got to see the show and also you got paid more because you worked more hours :)

[@MsMayhap]

The Mystery of Edwin Drood would be the best show to word front of house for. The endings are so variable that you very rarely get the same ending.

[@IAmDeborahB]

I worked at a playhouse prior to lockdown (unfortunately the foh staff has been let go due to covid- they can’t afford to keep us furloughed) and it was great because in one night there could be 3 or 4 shows max and you could be working any of them depending on your shifts. It was a dream come true to work front of house at such an amazing theatre. The one thing that wasn’t mentioned in this video is the fact the front of house who are covering fire exits inside the auditorium are also supposed to tell off the phone users. You feel like a school teacher when you have to tell a grown adult to either turn off their phone or take it outside. We are doing our jobs when we tell off phone users and we can’t see every single one. There are blind spots when we have to be sat or stood at our fire door throughout the performance. If you ever see foh moving about during a performance they are trying to find the location of a phone or camera user. Everything reflects in the dark including watches, Fitbit’s, plastic cups, etc and they can all look like flashes from cameras. It can be really hard to differentiate, but it is our job to get up and find the location of the light if it is a phone or camera. Even if you don’t hear an announcement, you should always assume that phones and cameras are not allowed inside the auditorium. Very few shows allow you to take photos or videos during the performance and those shows will explicitly tell you at the very beginning and throughout the show. The first show that comes to mind is Kneehigh’s Ubu Singalong Satire- one of the most craziest shows I have ever worked but it was incredible! They took, what was probably the worst part of the job, away from us when they performed. It was magical!

[@claraalexander7288]

These videos make my day, thank you both xx

[@EricaRothman]

I worked front of house at a small local professional theater and the bar was a great gig because you got tips as well, but it also used the most brain power because you had to multitask the most. House management was easiest in terms of workload but dealing with upset patrons was always the worst because they're almost always wrong, but refuse to accept it. Some lady snuck her dog in her purse after we told her he wasn't allowed in, and he snored through the whole second act but would not admit he was there when I went to bring her out. I have stories upon stories, really. Such a weird time in my life!

[@EricaRothman]

One time, three women came to a sold out show saying they had tickets, I searched up and down and didn't find them in our system at ALL, she finally showed me her confirmation and we realized she'd bought tickets at a theater across the country that happened to be doing the same play at the same time. That was a particularly interesting one.

[@ethanshaw6290]

GOOD MORNING !!!!

[@jenniesaur]

I can't speak for every theatre but I used to work on the bar at a theatre and we certainly didn't get paid more or get the better job, front of house did work til later but they got paid more, got longer breaks, and came in later than we did, if anything the bar staff were trying to move to the front of house positions but they were so competitive we could never get them!

[@emilym5870]

Morning lovelies

[@sophiedevenish7657]

Also maybe it is true for some theatres but us FOH don't leave via stage door we use the front of the building. We're not allowed to enter rear of house without permission.

[@charliestrains9826]

Play that goes wrong is amazing! I saw the tour at the Birmingham Hippodrome with the original cast,(henry lewis, henry shield etc) and they were soooo funny!

[@lulyw123]

I work in the grand opera house in Belfast! We had all touring shows so had a new show every week 😍 Still ended up always very jealous of the actors 😣

[@briannabahlmann8488]

Good morning from Canada! You always post right as I arrive at my nannying job and it’s perfect timing to watch before the kiddos wake up! Thank you for giving me something to look forward to!

[@samarmstrong1676]

I’m from Canada too! We must live in different areas because these videos come out at 3am for me

[@jhelisacarroll]

Hi me too! These come out at 5am for me haha

[@briannabahlmann8488]

Samuel A I’m just outside of Toronto. Good ole EST lol

[@jhelisacarroll]

Brianna Bahlmann me too haha!

[@MeganLensink]

i once had my bag checked by dan buckley working foh at a show and saw him in fiver 2 nights later! legend!

[@Jade-wq6ki]

Box office is best! We leave pretty much as the curtain goes up! 🎉

[@lunalovegood8931]

One of the first shows I was in was my fair lady in the ensemble and the director (it was amdram and they also co owned the company) had inherited the theatre we were playing in and it had just gone through a renovation and she hadn’t gotten round to hiring anything more that a theatre manager and bar staff so we (the ensemble) took it in turns to check and sell the tickets and sell programmes in costume It was so fun.

[@jobakewell99]

I work Front of House and Bar in a Theatre and Concert Hall in Stoke that usually only have touring shows and one off performances, so no show is around long enough for us to really get to know the cast, but it was good to be able to see lots of different shows at work. I have a friend who works foh at the Fortune Theatre on the West End and knows The Woman In Black off by heart because she's worked there for four years. The company I work for (ATG) we do both bar and front of house and get paid the same for both (I prefer front of house), the audience can be difficult, but there are far more nice audience members, than rude.

[@sincerelyholly7971]

I tried to pick the theatre I worked at 😂 but it worked out for me 👌🏻also my theatre didn’t pay the bar staff more but the bar and the lounge do get tips and front of house rarely do, that’s why some people prefer it :)

[@emmaweb2006]

Love all you vlogs it best start for day good morning be safe 🦋🦋🌈🌈🌈😘

[@rosiedevlin8134]

The bar thing is true for DMT theatres! I was bar at the novello, best job. Everyone gets the same per show but bar staff work for less time so it's technically slightly more per hour :)

[@Waggers789]

I know Christopher Eccleston used to be an usher at the National theatre and then years later being a lead in Antigone.

[@CarotasticFul]

I feel bad for FOH people at theaters for the stress they have to deal with. And I unfortunately was one of those hard people once. When I went to see Six, I had so many issues. I was sure I bought tickets for Saturday, so I went and tried to pick up my tickets. Found out I got tickets for Sunday, so I left and came back the next day. I had to flake work a little early, but I didnt leave early enough because we arrived late. After parking and walking up to the theater, we arrived right after start. Then turns out our seats were taken, idk if it was a mix up or someone who came from the waiting list for the sold out show. And I just couldn't help it, from the stress I started crying a little. The lady was nice and was like, "we'll get you a seat hang on." And we just got to watch the show while we waited for her to find something. I just felt so guilty my body betrayed me with tears.

[@lottebowbrick8788]

To answer the question, if you want to work FOH I'd say definitely pick the right show. I'd say don't choose your absolute favourite show because you don't want to risk getting sick of it. Sometimes that doesn't happen (I've seen Les Mis at the Sondheim 88 times now and luckily I'm not bored yet!) but yeah I'd say don't risk it. As for working on a show as an actor that wants to play one of the parts, I can't relate, however I will say, seeing how an actor plays that part every night and also seeing all of the understudies/ swings, you'll see so many varieties and interpretations of a role, which if you did in the future want to play, you could take bits with you to auditions I guess? :)

[@helenstudholme5377]

I saw the Play That Goes Wrong, go wrong!! Well, it was actually The Comedy About A Bank Robbery by Mischief Theatre but it was still difficult to tell something had happened until the safety curtain came down mid act. It didnt take long for them to get back in the swing of things though. Hilarious. 😄

[@Sky19sjw]

i work front of house at my local theatre and although sometimes its stressful my favourite time is Christmas when panto is on, because you see all the kids coming to see the show and watching them see the magic is the best thing, like when the magic carpet fly or onstage costume changes, it just make it all worth while. but panto is also a hard show to front of hours its 2 shows a day 6 days a week, FOH staff definitely could go on stage as a cover the amount of times you see the show

[@sophiedevenish7657]

I work FOH at the Noel Coward (Dear Evan Hansen) it is a very stressful job. I would say for sure the hardest part is dealing with the awful people.. They come to you and criticise the show and expect you to agree but you just have to do this awkward fake laugh/smile. The list is endless of what we have to deal with. For sure working on bar is the best job as they get paid more (they start a little bit earlier) but do finish early after the interval which is lush. It is a very hard job though trying to get through the high number of people that want drinks in a 15 minute interval. It is crazy The best part is that they don't have to watch the show. Whereas for normal FOH watching the same show almost every day for months on end is NOT FUN no matter how incredible the show is

[@lottebowbrick8788]

Yes omg the worst when someone decides to randomly tell you their bad opinion of the show 😂 what do they expect you to do, agree that the show is trash?

[@tinkerspell4850]

Grof has said he is a spitter... remember that Friend's episode? hahaha - you just mentionedi t. hahaha

[@mackenziemaybarraclough1207]

I loved the Friends reference you made at the start. Friends is one of my favourite TV shows to the point where I use quotes and references in my daily life so hearing that from you made me smile ☺

[@ankicat3425]

Great topic. It's even difficult trying to get a job at front of house :(, so many people want the jobs

[@NinjaCupcakeAttack]

People have already identified Jen Caldwell but here's the westend understudies tweet about her! twitter.com/WestEndCovers/status/1022229042131599374

[@theonlyenekoeneko]

🥳🥳🥳

[@emelia33]

The theatre scene here in Melbourne doesn’t seem very similar to your experiences. Stage door isn’t really a big thing.

[@lidewij4263]

Hi! I work FOH at the opera house in Amsterdam, and the relationship between the performers from the ballet/opera companies and the FOH employees is not at all like you describe, sadly. It sometimes feels like they look down on us...☹️ Might be because opera and ballet are a bit elitist, but it's still a bummer...

[@bretweber1650]

Carrie should try cutting Oliver’s hair

[@iamcorinward]

I don't understand how people learn the shows being FoH your not allowed to watch the show your watching the audience in our handbook it's says in bold and capitals YOU ARE PAID TO WATCH THE AUDIENCE NOT THE SHOW.

[@katiehough2499]

Can’t believe people would dance along to a show, so rude - people are there to see the performers dance.