I though that it would be fun to have a thread about the various urban legends and oft-spread anecdotes of the theatre- discuss the ones that haven't been credited or discredited, and compile the ones we can lay to rest. Add to the list if you like!
Irene Ryan died onstage during "Pippin," or afterwards in her dressing room: FICTION. (Discredited by original cast member John Rubenstein, if I recall)
Stephen Sondheim has a "Fifty Shades Of Grey" style dungeon of pleasure and pain: DEBATED.
Loretta Swit, desperate to upstage her castmates in "The Mystery Of Edwin Drood," leered at the audience from a window with a flashlight during climactic scenes that she did not appear in: DEBATED.
Well, I figured the idiom for "bondage dungeon" was fitting. Nonetheless, this one always seemed more a salacious rumor spawning from one story of bedroom activity than actual fact.
Okay, my all-time favourite urban legend about the theatre is the Bouncing Tosca. Some say it was Maria Callas, but I dont think so. Nevertheless, big time production, at one of the major European houses, and the singer taking the title role had managed to piss off everyone, from the conductor to the lowest stage hand.
End of the third act: she goes running up to the top of a wall to throw herself off... but instead of a mattress, someone placed a trampoline, and before the amazed audience's eyes, suddenly Tosca was defying gravity.
Its status: debatable, but I could certainly see it happening.
The age of that story leads me to believe it inspired another urban legend of the theatre that everyone has been in a production with someone who saw/performed in: the Flying Jesus.
One production of Superstar allegedly had a resurrection/ascension staged, so that at the end of John 19:41, when it segues into the horns of Superstar, Jesus would ascend on a wire into the heavens triumphantly. The reason for the accident has been reported differently from time to time- some say the weights were designed for a much heavier Jesus and his understudy went on, or that, having missed the cue, an overzealous stage hand yanked the pulleys far too fast. But whatever the reason, Jesus shot screaming out of the tomb at top speed and whizzed into the rafters. There was a hideous thump, and then a moment later, one of his sandals flopped down to the stage ominously.
Some versions of the story add a coda (I wasn't aware that others did not until very recently, as I had always heard the story with the final tag). The audience was in a panic, knowing something was wrong. The stage manager got on the god-mic and, speaking the first words that came to mind, said "Ladies and gentlemen- Jesus will not be returning. Thank you."
Wow!! That JCS story is AMAZING!!! Being a christian, I've always felt very uneasy about that show, and feel really guilty because is one of my favorites. To this day I'm very superstitious about it, and try as much as possible not to watch it or listen to it during Lent.
I'm a Christian and we watched JCS in Sunday School so I REALLY don't think you have anything to worry about. You are not going to go to hell for watching an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. Then again...
Yeah- despite the early controversy, "Superstar" is far from critical of religion at large, and in fact gels pretty closely with the Palm Sunday passion play.
That's what I thought, and I know the show is done by many churches but I still have my reservations due to past experiences. Anyway, Jesus is one of my dream roles, so recently I've begun to give in.
so wait . who are all the actors who have died while currently performing in a Broadway show (whether they died at the theatre or not)
the ones I can think of are
Gertrude Lawrence (died during King & I Irene Ryan (died during Pippin Kathleen Freeman (died during The Full Monty Geraldine Page (died during Blithe Spirit
Husband and wife team Jose Ferrer and Uta Hagen were starring in a production of Othello with Paul Robeson. One day Jose returned to their apartment to find Uta and Paul doing the horizontal mambo.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
You know, that reminds me of one. I don't remember what show it applied to though...
In the early to mid 2000s, repeated rumors spread of a short-lived musical (it may or may not have been a jukebox show, I don't remember) whose near-entire cast had an orgy together- in some cases it was rumored in the theatre itself. They were discovered by someone in another show or from the press or something.
darquegk, there's also the variation on that story that says the rigging wasnt done properly and that, as Jesus rose, He slowly turned a 180, all the while waving His arms to turn back around to face the audience. I've heard that one from several sources, so it might be true.
1. Opening night in New Haven of the original production, Rex Harrison refused to go onstage with "those 32 interlopers down there!" (Meaning the orchestra in the pit). The management and his agent persuaded him to go on, and the rest is history.
2. The second, more recent, about Jonathan Pryce and his now-infamous curtain speech: LINK the rotating Elizas
Another one opera related, this time from the Metropolitan. During Wasgner's LOHENGRIN, a swan is supposed to come onstage to take Lohengrin away. In this particular production (I think it was Melchior who was singing the role), the swan came on — then left about 24 bars before it was supposed to. Melchior turned, saw it was gone, then turned back to audience and said, "Does anyone know when the next swan is to arrive?"
Someone else will have to fill in the details for this one.
Ethel Merman and Mary Martin were performing at a benefit. As Mary was onstage performing, Ethel, standing backstage, turned to someone nearby and said "She's a dyke, y'know!"
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.