Worst show mishap

[Littleshopofcarrie]

Posted: 7/17/13 at 10:22pm

Has anyone seen any big mishaps in shows?? All of the ones I have seen are minor and aren't that huge. I looked for another thread about this and i don't think there has been one yet... Anyone?

[jackieoh]

Posted: 7/17/13 at 10:30pm

One time Alice Ripley kicked one of her heels into the audience at next to normal. There were also several times that the silverware would rebound off the table/chairs and fly into the audience. These are both pretty minor but I think they're funny.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 7/17/13 at 10:36pm

There were two very recent threads about this kind of thing, regarding Angela Lansbury and Barbara Cook. You can scroll down to find those.

The ones that pop immediately to mind are the Spiderman accidents and Adrian Bailey in his career-ending 40 foot fall in Little Mermaid.
Here's another thread

[KathyNYC2]

Posted: 7/17/13 at 10:54pm

I saw one performance of an Oklahoma revival on Broadway in 2002 where a large screen fell down from the rafters and knocked over two performers. They were not seriously hurt (so lucky) and were able to get up but it was scary when it happened. The screen was stuck in the position on the floor. It was close to the end of the show and the cast performed the finale and curtain calls in front of the screen...in an area that was about 1/4 of the usual stage space.

That was definitely the worse live moment I ever saw.

[jdrye222]

Posted: 7/17/13 at 11:58pm

the performance of Sense and Sensibility I "saw" in Denver this past spring where the floor fell out from under a few actors during the first song, the cast screamed, looked shocked, left the stage, and the show was canceled.
I never went back after that show though they offered us ticket exchange for later in the run.
I never did find out what happened to the actor, but he must have fallen at least 20 feet, depending how deep their trap room is.
It seemed like an unacceptable mistake that didn't have any safeguards for... Traps are used all the time, but they don't just open without some safety measures.



Updated On: 7/17/13 at 11:58 PM

Posted: 7/18/13 at 12:37am

I once saw "A Chorus Line" and several cast members' microphones went in and out during the Montage. I guess that's a pretty minor mishap compared to some of these!

[quizking101]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 12:48am

I was at the press night of GHOST when the scenery crashed and stopped the show for 45 minutes. Ironically, it was during the song "Nothing Stops Another Day"

[FlowerChild67]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 1:00am

Ghostlight, that thread you linked provided much entertainment (granted while wincing through a lot of it).

[clydeborrow]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 2:03am

The wife and I used to come to NYC once a year to catch a few shows. One afternoon while we were at Hairspray many years ago, during Without Love, the bed set did not make it out on to the stage all the way. So Penny who was supposed to be tied to the bed had to sit up and sing from the wings. The young man playing Seaweed started laughing when he ran to the stage and saw what had happened. The joy of live theater.

[Adam Chris]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 2:55am

I do not know if this is true. I wonder if any else has heard about this. About 10yrs ago I heard that an actor playing Judas in JCS actually died by a mistake hanging during a live amateur production. To my understanding it was not in the US.

Updated On: 7/18/13 at 02:55 AM

[MusicalTheatreGeek2]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 3:46am

I am aware of two judas hangings, one in Italy about 10 years ago and one in brazil last year, but it was not in JCS, it was just in Easter passion plays. So that is most likely what you are thinking of and the story has just got a bit twisted!

[tazber]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 6:12am

Chad Kimball's performance in Memphis.

[onedaymore]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 7:26am

Even though it's not catastrophic, I was there when Charlotte D'Amboise lost her wig when the current PIPPIN revival was still in previews. Even though she did what she had to do, I couldn't stop laughing. I couldn't contain my laughter throughout the intermission and the people next to me thought I was insane.

[hanschens]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 8:38am

I can think of a couple mishaps I've seen:

A couple of the times I've seen Wicked there hasn't been any bubbles during NOMTW.

I saw a concert version of ALNM about a month ago and Madame Armfeldt's microphone kept cutting out. It was out for most of Liaisons but she kept going, bless. Luckily my friend and I were sitting in the front row, about three feet away from the actress so we could still hear her.

I have a few Les Mis ones:
- The first time I saw Les Mis the couldn't get the gates off of the stage after the factory scene so for most of IDAD there were two stagehands trying to wrestle them off stage.

- I saw Les Mis last minute in february last year (my friend and I were in standing at the back of the upper circle) and during the First Attack one of the blanks went off a lot louder than usual. I didn't really think anything of it, but Chris Jacobsen (Who was on for Valjean instead of Ramin that day) kept lifting his hand up to his ear for the rest of the show. When we got to the stagedoor after the show there was a paramedic car and again, we didn't really think a lot of it. Chris was one of the first one's out. He got into the paramedic car with half the Valjean makeup on without the wig and shirt. When I spoke to him at the stagedoor a few weeks later he said that a blank had misfired.

- I saw Jonny Purchase's third performance as Marius last year with my choir and the only mistake (besides Sierra's casting as Fantine) was that he sang "And not a day shall pass, your home shall be with us"

- The last time I saw Les Mis Adam Linstead was on for Thenardier. He made a couple of mistakes that performance, most notably he couldn't get the trap door up during One Day More and during Beggars at the Feast he sang "Paris in the dust, Paris at me feet".

I think I've seen a couple other things but nothing has come to mind

[BwayBaby18]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 9:03am

The curtain rising at Scandalous....

Seriously. Jennifer Westfeldt. choking on a chocolate covered cherry in Wonderful Town

[N2N Nate.]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 9:07am

The story about the chorus member getting shot during the finale of WSS sounded really bad ( and hilarious).

[FrontRowCenter2]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 9:48am

OK - Tazber's post made me laugh out loud!

At the very first preview of the original Chicago - 2nd Act delayed, Fosse comes out and announces that the 2nd act will be cancelled, refunds available at the box office - the elevator that rises up from the stage with Chita Rivera opening the 2nd act got stuck - finally got to see the entire show 3 months later - and what a show with Gwen and Chita and Jerry.

[Stevil907]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 10:15am

I saw Newsies in January. At the end of Seize the Day - the Newsie who was doing the turn (not Ryan Steele - I forget who it was)lost his balance as he was coming out of it. He fell head first into the orchestra pit. The entire audience gasped. To the kid's credit he climbed right back out and hit the final pose.

First time I ever say anything major like that happen in a show.

[Tsao5]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 11:57am

When I saw the tour of Cats years ago, many of the Cats were wiping out completely during their individual bows. It was so odd because literally each one would come out and just lose their feet dead center stage. Some tried to stay in character. One, I believe the white cat, could not and clearly she was surprised and seemed hurt. I think 6 or 7 Cats went down, all in the same place.

I was so interested as to why, I waited at the stage door, and asked a crew guy. He said some fluid from the fog machine that was on the UFO thing that takes the cat that sings memory to heaven was leaking from above after it had risen up. Because the bows happen so quickly and the Stage Manager did not notice, there was not much time to warn them. He said none were hurt. But it was so strange to see.

[OKBroadwayFan]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 12:18pm

My daughter and I were at the last preview of Bye Bye Birdie. There is a scene in the living room and then it goes to the train station. Well, the living room couch stayed in place, the train station sign came down and the teen girls came running out to meet Conrad. But the couch remained in the middle of the stage. About that time the back panel of the set (the whole set was a series of panels that moved in and out) fell to the floor and there stood about three members of the crew.
About that time John Stamos came running out and told the girls that the train was not going to come to the McAffee living room.
He then turned to the audience and said "We have a slight issue with our set, we are going to fix it and be right back" Then they dropped the curtain.
Shortly after that he came out and began chatting with the audience. It just so happened that Bob Saget was in the audience so John had him come on stage and they talked about the show and what was going on. The only mic was the one in John Stamos' hairline. So you had Bob leaning over into his forehead to talk. About this time a man in the audience started yelling "hey get on with the show", "Will this ever start up?", etc.
It turns out the heckler was Don Rickles. For the next 10 minutes we got to enjoy a banter between Rickles and Stamos and Saget.
Even though the show was delayed by about 30 minutes, we had an unique broadway experience!

[justincharacter]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 12:37pm

Well this accident had a thread itself: Recently, a artist who performed in a Cirque du Soleil show in Vegas (KA), fell 90ft down into a pit and died during a show. It was during a battle scene near the end of the show where performers "fight" on a vertical stage. The safety cord supposedly snapped, but they are still investigating the incident. The show just reopened on Tuesday and they cut the scene (for now...)

I'm not technically sure about this story, but I heard that when Shoshana Bean played Elphaba, she flew right into the orchestra pit when her main entrance came after "No One Mourns the Wicked". She supposedly lost her footing and dived in.

[RENT_is_Wicked2]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 1:30pm

During Defying Gravity in the London production of Wicked, Kerry Ellis was about to harness herself in the lift and her arm pushed the lever. (The lever is normlly pushed with your back) When the lift started rising she started screaming and hollering since she wasnt locked in all the way. The show was stopped and sometime later she sang the rest of the song without the lift shaken from the incident.

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 1:36pm

I have a friend who attended a performance of Phantom when, at the top of the second act something went wrong with the set pieces and the Masquerade stairs smashed into the candles that rise from the floor in The Music of the Night, etc. They started the second act over and the candles did not appear for the rest of the performance.

[Plannietink08]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 2:44pm

My friend saw the recent West End Revival of Sweeney Todd and during a scene where Tobias was being chased by Todd, Tobias slipped from a raised stage and fell quite far. He got up and carried on but the stage manager came out and stopped the show for a wee bit. The curtain went down for 10 minutes then the showed continued from the same point.

[Plannietink08]

Posted: 7/18/13 at 3:15pm

During previews of the Lord of the Rings musical, an actor's leg got caught in the moving set and was crushed. The show was stopped and he was taken to hospital.
I played Hamlet in high school (first main role, which I rocked!) during the final fight scene a sword got lodged between my arm and chest and as I turned the entire thing exploded down stage right and narrowly missed a woman sitting on the end of the front row!