For LaBeouf, a Front-Row View of Production That Fired Him

Shia LaBeouf, who was fired from the Broadway play “Orphans” last month after clashing with the director Daniel Sullivan and his co-star Alec Baldwin, attended the first preview performance of the play on Tuesday night at the Schoenfeld Theater - sitting in the first row on the aisle and leaping to his feet before any other audience member to give a standing ovation at the end.

At one point mid-performance Mr. Baldwin noticed Mr. LaBeouf and fixed on him for a beat; it was unclear if he was surprised to see him there. A spokeswoman for the play said Mr. LaBeouf bought his ticket on Tuesday and did not formally alert the production team that he would be attending.

At the curtain call Mr. LaBeouf shot out of his seat and applauded enthusiastically, his hands raised high in the air. When Ben Foster, who replaced Mr. LaBeouf in the play, took his bow, Mr. Foster pointed to the actor and smiled, and Mr. LaBeouf rapped his palm on the stage. Mr. LaBeouf, who appeared to be by himself, left his seat during intermission and then bolted the theater after the curtain call; he could not be reached for comment.

Mr. LaBeouf was replaced in “Orphans” during the second week of rehearsals last month after he and Mr. Sullivan, the Tony Award-winning veteran director, butted heads over Mr. LaBeouf’s acting choices and his behavior in the rehearsal room, which four members of the production team described as volatile and self-centered. Mr. LaBeouf also had words with Mr. Baldwin on a few occasions which were described as not collegial. The production team members spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the closed-door rehearsal process.

After leaving the production - a relatively rare occurrence for a high-profile actor on Broadway - Mr. LaBeouf published several e-mails on Twitter about the rupture, including this comment from Mr. Sullivan to Mr. LaBeouf: “This one will haunt me. You tried to warn me. You said you were a different breed. I didn’t get it.”

Mr. Baldwin, in a brief telephone interview last month after Mr. LaBeouf left, said, “You realize in the process, theater is not for everyone.”

“Orphans,” Lyle Kessler’s play about two wastrel brothers (Mr. Foster and Tom Sturridge) in Philadelphia who take a hostage (Mr. Baldwin) until the man offers himself as a king of father figure, is scheduled to open April 18.