How should you dress to go to the theater?

Point: "For the love of God, stop dressing like crap."

[T]he slobs who turn up at Broadway shows [are] dressed as though they’d just walked in from a tailgating party — one with a three-figure admission price, mind you. When people were invited onstage at a recent performance of “Penn & Teller on Broadway,” many women looked as if they had stepped out of a jazzercise class, while men ambled around in hideous cargo shorts....

Counterpoint: "Wear Whatever The Hell You Want To The Theater":

Theater today is ridiculously inaccessible as it is, and to tell people they have to dress a certain way to participate is unfair.... There are many ways in which the industry is trying to become more accessible to younger people, those who have had little exposure to theater and people with less disposable income.... Theater is changing. Playbills often include hashtags. People wait in line to take selfies with actors post-show, rather than get their autographs, and all of that is great! As time hurtles forward, our traditions change. Not every tradition is worth holding onto.... Finally, I would venture to guess that professional actors do not care what the audience wears. They're picturing you naked, anyway! But seriously, they can't see you; the lights are too bright.

Well, that counterpoint was a jumble of discontinuities. I'll just say 4 things:

1. Traditions change, of course. Tradition is what we've kept as we've left some things behind. The question is what do we want to leave behind.

2. In some theaters, the actors can see you. We frequently see plays at The Touchstone Theater, where the front row of seats is on the same level of the stage and curves around 3 edges of the stage. The people in these seats are full-body visible to the actors and to the rest of the audience. What possesses the minds of theatergoers to choose front row seats and then to arrive in blazing white sneakers and other conspicuously over-casual duds? If I knew I was in the front row, I'd take care to wear dark and respectful clothing. I feel sorry for the actors, who, I think, need to be able to believe that the audience members have the minimal sense needed to understand the play.

3. Don't blame the young and the poor for the sloppy playclothes in the audience. I see mostly older, affluent people in the theater, and they are not bothering with the minimal level of appropriate clothing.

4. A minimal level of appropriate clothing is really all that is appropriate. You should be comfortable sitting still for 2 hours and you shouldn't be distracting. Something simple, inconspicuous and dark. That's not expensive and burdensome. Playing the class card is disingenuous.