Madonna Banned From Entering Movie Theaters Over This Bad Habit
By Favour Adegoke on October 25, 2021 at 5:30 AM EDT
"Hamilton," an American musical, was one of the biggest Broadway successes, and it went on to break records at the 70th Tony Awards, clinching 16 nominations and 11 awards.
Tickets to the Broadway show were so high in demand that getting one was virtually impossible if you weren't a celebrity. Many celebrities from all over the world flocked to the Richard Rodgers Theatre to watch the first showing of the musical.
For the audience and the cast, it was a magical night.
However, not all the stars who attended are remembered for good reasons, like Madonna. The night ended with her getting banned from the show backstage by Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator, and star of the musical.
She was banned for a particularly bad habit that Miranda couldn't ignore, and it's not her first time either. Let's dive into what the bad habit was and the stories behind the bans.
Madonna's History On Broadway
Madonna's acting and Broadway debut were in the 1988 play Speed-the-Plow produced by David Mamet. She played the role of a temporary secretary working with Hollywood producers.
Her performance was praised by the New York Times as "intelligent, scrupulously disciplined comic acting," but other reviewers didn't see what he saw and cruelly dismissed her performance. The Daily News observed that "being vacant on the stage requires more effort than it does in real life."
She also appeared in the film "Evita," a film version of the 1978 play of the same title. She won a Golden Globe award for Best Actress for her performance in the film. She also performed her cover of "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" at the Academy Awards.
The song she recorded peaked at No. 8 on Billboard charts and is considered the most famous version of the song.
Madonna Was Banned From Going Backstage At Hamilton
After the showing of Hamilton ended, they invited and welcomed many celebrities backstage to interact with the cast and crew, as is the tradition at many Broadway shows. However, Madonna was denied entrance to the backstage area because of her lack of theatre etiquette.
According to a post by Playbill, not only was she very late to the performance, but she also used her phone several times during the play. The actress and singer's phone reportedly glowed brightly during most of the play, annoying Miranda.
In a tweet he later deleted, he called out a celebrity and said, "Tonight was the first time I asked stage management NOT to allow a celebrity (who was texting all through Act 2) backstage." He also added the hashtag #noselfieforyou to the tweet. Though he never named her, many believed it was about her, as many who attended said it was.
A cast member, Jonathan Groff, also confirmed to Vulture that he saw the actress on her phone. He said, "You couldn't miss it from the stage. It was a black void of the audience in front of us and her face was perfectly lit by the light of her iPhone through three-quarters of the show."
Madonna was Banned From The Alamo Drafthouse In 2013
This wasn't Madonna's first ban due to her lack of theatre etiquette. A Facebook post by Charles Taylor, a popular film critic, revealed what she did at the screening of the 2013 film "12 years a slave" at the New York Film Festival.
The post read that a mysterious blonde in the audience kept texting on her BlackBerry throughout the first half of the movie and that when a woman tapped her to put it away, she got an attitude and snapped at her.
Eventually, as the film ended and the audience got up for a standing ovation, the blonde was revealed to be Madonna.
When word of the texting and her attitude got to Tim League, founder of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, where the screening was held, he promptly went on Twitter and barred her from entering any of his cinemas until she issued a public apology.
Other Celebrities Who Attended Hamilton's First Run
While Madonna certainly made a name for herself in the audience at the Hamilton debut, she was just one of the many big names who attended the famous show.
Other celebrities who attended include Barack and Michelle Obama, Oprah, Lupita Nyong'o, Jay-Z and Beyonce, Robert De Niro, and many others.
According to Groff, his favorite celebrity in attendance was Michelle Obama, who, according to him, was a particularly lovely member of the audience.
He also revealed that she did something everyone was so thankful for. After the show, the then First Lady, author, and attorney "came backstage and hugged every crew member- the wig girl, all the costume people, every cast member."
