Casting celebrities in Broadway plays may not be a new idea, but it is definitely a booming industry in recent times. With star like Hugh Jackman, Emma Stone, James Franco and other A-listers on stage, theaters have been spending ever more time and money cracking down on flash-happy guests, hecklers and a sea of fans at the stage door.
This increase is now a nightly, traffic-blocking headache for security and police that “only used to happen with, say, [Richard] Burton and [Elizabeth] Taylor,” said longtime theater director Gregory Mosher, in an interview with "The Wall Street Journal."
"The River," a solemn play starring Jackman, draws so many star-struck, picture-snapping attendees that the production resorted to sending out an understudy before the show to remind them to turn off their phones. In November, Time Out New York published a guide on what not to do at the show, including “Applaud Hugh’s entrance” and “Clap after every scene.”
Similarly, laughter during serious moments occurred during Franco’s run in "Of Mice and Men," changing the feel of the Depression-era drama.
