Funniest mishap you have seen?

[jetts7]

Posted: 10/19/11 at 10:39am

What is the funniest mishap that you noticed during a performance?

[sondheim94]

Posted: 10/19/11 at 11:20am

Not funny, but awkward. During a community production of CHICAGO, Billy Flynn couldn't sing the words fast enough to Both Reached for The Gun...He just stopped singing...it was awkward.

[Idiot]

Posted: 10/19/11 at 11:47am

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA while still in previews: The candles jackknifed and stayed partially up for most of act two. At the end, Sarah Brightman runs on, kisses the Phantom, then turns to run off. She jumps over one of the protruding candles and it grabs the hem of her dress, ripping it out half of the way across the stage. It trails off behind her.

Priceless.

[MillieDillmount]

Posted: 10/19/11 at 1:38pm

My favorite mishap that my friend and I saw just happened a couple of weeks ago. We were sitting in the front row at Anything Goes - during the very last scene when Sutton Foster comes on stage as Plum Blossom, she walks right smack into the flowers upstage! I mean she didn't just tap the flowers, she RAN into them! My friend and I were laughing hystically, everyone on the stage were trying so hard not to laugh. Sutton didn't stop walking, but she looked behind her just as the flowers started to fall over, and a male sailor made a dive to catch them before they touched the stage. There was no hiding it, no pretending it didn't happen, so gave a two thumbs up above her head! SO funny! Sutton had the giggles for the rest of the show! Priceless!

I've seen Anything Goes a few times, I have so many stories about Friendship with Sutton and Joel Grey. I'm pretty sure at this point Joel is trying to get Sutton to laugh as much as he possibly can. My favorite breaking was when the music stopped (after they are fighting - Reno is saying chug, and Moonie is saying quack) and Joel was just walking around the stage quacking. Sutton kept saying 'don't' with her head down, she was trying so hard not to laugh. He'd wait in the silence more, than quack again. Sutton then said 'I don't wanna!' She said 'don't' a couple of times, and when he kept quacking, she was saying 'you can't make me'. She laughed out loud a couple of times. This went on for about five minutes, until finally Sutton asked Joel 'are you ready?', he nodded his head. Sutton sung 'whennnn' and Joel quacked, that made Sutton laugh again.

EVERYTIME I have seen this show, Friendship is different. Sutton and Joel just have so much fun playing off each other, I love going to see this show just to see what they are going to do with this song! This show is just so good! :)

[Renart]

Posted: 10/19/11 at 1:44pm

When David and Shawn Cassidy were doing Blood Brothers they were onstage together for the scene where Mickey (David) is showing Edward (Shawn) how to spit. Shawn must have been just ready to let it go but then held back or something because it never projected. He stood there with this big gob of spit dribbling down his chin, not knowing what to do next. David, standing slightly behind and to the side of him, saw what had happened and buried his head in Shawn's shoulder and you could see him just quivering with laughter. Shawn just stood there facing the audience, for what must have felt like forever (but was more likely a minute or two), biting his lip trying not to laugh himself.
Updated On: 10/20/11 at 01:44 PM

[justafan2]

Posted: 10/19/11 at 1:54pm

During the opening number of "Annie Get Your Gun", they were singing and the lighting bar failed to rise--so the dancers could not enter the stage. The curtain fell for about 5-10 minutes while they fixed the problem. When it rose again, Tom Wopat started singing "There's no business like show business" and he turned to us in the 1st--2nd row, laughed and said, as an aside, "Ain't it the truth!".

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 10/19/11 at 2:36pm

Prolly Stritch in NIGHT MUSIC.

[Sant]

Posted: 10/19/11 at 2:41pm

In HOW TO SUCCEED... in August, in the office scene leading up to "Grand Old Ivy" John Larroquette called Daniel Radcliffe accidentally Mr. Wizard instead of Mr. Finch. Radcliffe totally lost it and so did the audience. Larroquette tried to patch it up quickly but since Radcliffe was laughing hysterically in front of him he didn't know where to pick up the scene and he started losing it too. Eventually they were both laughing out loud on stage as the audience was roaring with laughter. They said something to each other but I couldn't hear what it was since the audience was making such a noise. Eventually it was Radcliffe who got the scene back on track.

Some years ago in LEGALLY BLONDE Elle (Laura Bell Bundy) called Emmett (Christian Borle) a butt-head, and a kid in the auditorium repeated the word immediately and of course very loudly. The actors heard it and LBB started giggling. Borle tried to continue as the audience laughed saying "No one's ever called me a butt-head before" or something like that, and LBB replied laughing "I think he just did!!" and they both lost it. During the curtain calls LBB made a speech as it was the Broadway Cares fund raising time and the kid blurted out something again! LBB started laughing and said "Oh my god, you're the Butt-head kid, aren't you?! Honey, you made my week!"

Updated On: 10/19/11 at 02:41 PM

[Marianne2]

Posted: 10/19/11 at 2:45pm

^ I was just going to ask if that counted. When I saw Gypsy, one of Boyd Gaines' plates bounced off the stage and into the front row during Together, Wherever We Go.

Edit-I was talking about Stritch in Night Music with my first thing. But, someone posted between us.

Updated On: 10/19/11 at 02:45 PM

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 10/19/11 at 3:06pm

In the mid-70s, I worked at a theater that presented "Gone with the Wind--the Musical" and, like all theaters where the show played, we greatly publicized the "Burning of Atlanta" scene that ended Act I.

It was quite spectacular for its time, with the entire stage seeming to burst into flame; at the climax a 30-foot fiery tree crashed to center stage.

Except opening night, when the giant flaming tree crashed to the stage and then--apparently carried away by the applause--stood back up and fell a second time.

Not even the onstage horse with Irritable Bowel Syndrome could upstage that and the producer was furious when the next day's review spent most of its paragraphs describing the tree. But I figured live by a gimmick, die by a gimmick.

[morosco]

Posted: 10/19/11 at 3:11pm

While we're on the subject of authentic mishaps I'd like to express that there is nothing that turns my stomach more than a staged "mishap". Hello Dolly and Will Rogers Follies come to mind. Shameless.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 10/19/11 at 3:14pm

At Saturday night's performance of Venus in Fur, the door jammed and Nina Arianda couldn't make her entrance. At first, everyone thought it was part of the play as Nina kept banging on the door while trying to get the door open. Only when the announcement came that the show was experiencing technical difficulties did the audience realize it wasn't part of the script and then they started roaring. It took about 5 minutes for the issue to be solved.

Updated On: 10/19/11 at 03:14 PM

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 10/19/11 at 4:18pm

Last week at Newsies at the Paper Mill, when Teddy Roosevelt visits Pulitzer's office at the end, his moustache was hanging completely vertically over his mouth as he spoke. The audience was roaring with laughter and eventually the entire cast burst out laughing as everyone froze. John Dossett walked over and adjusted the moustache on Teddy to try to compose everyone. The scene continued until about 30 seconds later his moustache fell again as everyone (cast included) roared with laughter. At that point, everyone gave up on the scene and he quickly shouted his last few lines as he walked off the stage.

Then, at curtain call, the actor playing Roosevelt gave a thumbs up and massaged his moustache to the delight of the audience. Very funny!

Updated On: 10/19/11 at 04:18 PM

[shrekster224]

Posted: 10/19/11 at 4:56pm

I saw the first national tour of Wicked and it was Alli McGinnis' second show ever as the Glinda understudy (two show day), and there was a bubble malfunction. It wasn't coming down, but the bottom was visible to those in the orchestra, and the bubbles were coming down with her little entrace twinkles going off. The ensemble member that says "look, it's Galinda!" did the best he could with it. He was like "She's coming! I swear!" ....."Bubble traffic?". It was so funny. The audience had a lot of sympathy for them when they restarted the show, but you can definitely tell it set the opening off on a different note. There were a few giggles from the cast upon starting over.

[ucjrdude902]

Posted: 10/19/11 at 5:24pm

I was at the show of Legally Blonde when the riser wouldn't come all the way up for Bend and Snap I do believe it was. The video is on the site that shall not be named. I've also been at Wicked and one of the beds didn't roll of.

[labwyfan]

Posted: 10/19/11 at 5:25pm

Mine is during an off-Broadway production called Tapestry: the Music of Carole King. At one point, they brought out her signature done up in a huge neon sign. Then it was time for the sign to go away, only when it did, it crashed into a set piece off-stage so all the audience heard was this loud crash and shards of glass falling to the floor. They never addressed it and the show went on.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 10/19/11 at 5:59pm

I didn't see this myself, but I heard about it from more than one cast member:

When Delores Grey did GYPSY at Papermill in the mid-1970s, there was a problem with the "Some People" set during an early performance that caused her to drop the plaque when she was stealing it off the wall.

I was told she ended up bent double reaching for the plaque on the floor, butt toward the audience and singing between her legs, "But not Roooooooooooooooooose!"

This story reads as rather cruel on the page, but it was told to me in a tone of admiration for her resilience--and because those who saw it were still laughing.

[showchoirguy]

Posted: 10/19/11 at 9:12pm

Right after Christine faints, I heard this huge crack coming from backstage. One of the candelabras broke. Then at the beginning of Prima Donna in Phantom, Firmin comes out and starts picking up the notes and starts singing and 30 seconds later he realized that there has never been any music and goes "OH! I think we need to start over." Way to funny. Then at the end of the show Hugh Panaro comes out and apologizes and says "We are sorry for the unexpected intermission, now you know how Spiderman feels."
I Love Hugh Panaro

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 10/19/11 at 9:25pm

hen at the end of the show Hugh Panaro comes out and apologizes and says "We are sorry for the unexpected intermission, now you know how Spiderman feels."

HAHAHAHA! Thanks for sharing that one.

[aasjb4ever]

Posted: 10/19/11 at 11:13pm

The first time I saw The Book of Mormon, Lewis Cleale's Jesus mustache was falling off during "Spooky Mormon Hell Dream" as he called Andrew Rannells a dick.

[AC126748]

Posted: 10/19/11 at 11:42pm

Julian Ovenden fell clean through the bottom of a wicker chair at the preview of DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY that I attended. He and Michael Siberry handled it very well, but their grins were obvious.

[JenD512]

Posted: 10/20/11 at 10:29am

Funniest I've ever seen was when a glass broke during The Boy From Oz and Hugh Jackman stopped the whole show when the stagehand ran out with a broom to clean it up. He introduced the guy to the audience, then took the guy's broom and insisted on cleaning up the mess himself (he explained to the audience that someone had been drinking in between shows). He also pulled the woman with the dustpan out on stage as well and they made a whole production out of sweeping up the broken glass. It was hilarious.

Rent: on Broadway, Angel's wig got caught in her drumstick during Today 4 U and flew completely off. When I saw the tour in Chicago, Anthony Rapp tripped over the film projector during the curtain calls and the sucker practically shattered all over the stage.

Billy Elliot (in London), one of the giant dresses during Expressing Yourself fell, the got back up and clearly couldn't see through the costume because he (she?) was stumbling all over the place, so Billy and Michael were dodging the wayward giant dress for the rest of the song.

American Idiot: Van Hughes' mike broke and he had to use a handheld mike for Blvd of Broken Dreams - a guy ran out with the mike when it was obvious his mike wasn't working. He couldn't play the guitar because of the handheld, but he was still putting his fingers on the chords (we had lotto seats in the front row), and did a great job with the song anyway.

[broadway_show_fan]

Posted: 10/20/11 at 11:03am

1st preview of ANYTHING GOES revival: Joel Grey couldn't for the life of him knock the glasses off John McMartin's face. He must have hit the guy a few times on the back of the head trying to, but after a few attempts he just resorted to yanking them off his face. Later, Joel Grey knocked on the side of the jail cell frame/door and the door swung open. Clearly this wasn't supposed to happen, and everyone on stage snickered/giggled, especially Sutton Foster, who had instinctively shoved it shut.

[Patty3]

Posted: 10/20/11 at 1:59pm

Donna MeKechnie's shoe came off and flew across the stage during the dance solo in The Music and the Mirror in ACL. She kicked the other shoe off and finished the number.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 10/20/11 at 2:56pm

While we're on the subject of authentic mishaps I'd like to express that there is nothing that turns my stomach more than a staged "mishap". Hello Dolly and Will Rogers Follies come to mind. Shameless.

I really didn't mind it in Will Rogers Follies since it seemed to be in the spirit of the show.