Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors
Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors
#1Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors
Posted: 8/23/12 at 6:47am
I read this amusing (and lengthy) article on some interesting onstage moments. By Playbill.com from RC in Austin, Texas
Flubbed Lines and More
"Noel [Coward] and I were in Paris once. Adjoining rooms, of course. One night, I felt mischievous, so I knocked on Noel's door, and he asked, 'Who is it?' I lowered my voice and said 'Hotel detective. Have you got a gentleman in your room?' He answered, 'Just a minute, I'll ask him.'" (Beatrice Lillie)
#2Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors
Posted: 8/23/12 at 8:02am
"Tovah Feldshuh
Theatre by the Sea, Matunuck, RI – as Sophie in Star Spangled Girl by Neil Simon – during a quick change, for some reason done onstage – the lights came on too soon. I leave the rest to your imagination."
Don't worry Tovah baby, we've seen it all.
Leading Actor Joined: 12/31/69
#3Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors
Posted: 8/23/12 at 8:16am
Used by both, Betty Buckley and Judy Kaye say they "went up" in a production of blahblahblah
WTF does "went up" mean? And why have I never heard this theatre slang before?
Gracias
Updated On: 8/23/12 at 08:16 AM
Musicaldudepeter
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/18/10
#4Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors
Posted: 8/23/12 at 8:36am^ What they said. What does it mean?
#5Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors
Posted: 8/23/12 at 8:44am
I was just coming to post the same thing. I thought I was the only one.
In Pippin went up entirely after two years and seven months. Gave my notice that night.
What the hell does that mean?
#6Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors
Posted: 8/23/12 at 8:45am
I'm surprised you haven't heard that before. It's common for actors ... the phrase, that is, hopefully not the actual experience itself.
"Going up" on your lines, means drawing a blank. Forgetting them completely.
I "went up" in the middle of the scene, in other words.
That saying has been around forever in the theatre.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#7Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors
Posted: 8/23/12 at 8:46amOh....before it seemed like what she said was an incomplete sentence. Now it makes since. Thanks best12bars.
#8Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors
Posted: 8/23/12 at 8:47am
You're welcome! 
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
Wynbish
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/27/12
#9Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors
Posted: 8/23/12 at 8:49amWow, Susan Blackwell is a trooper.
#10Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors
Posted: 8/23/12 at 8:50amThere are some real gems in here. I "LOL"d at a few of the stories, truly.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
Wynbish
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/27/12
#11Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors
Posted: 8/23/12 at 9:02amLaura Benanti's is funny to me. Several of the stories feature castmates needing to prompt them on stage, but a six year old? Yikes!
#12Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors
Posted: 8/23/12 at 9:31am
^ Well, and on THAT song, too.
Laura's probably memorized thousands of lines and lyrics in her career, and she goes up on "a needle pulling thread?" Seriously?
It reminded me of a line Tracey Ullman says in "Bullets Over Broadway" to Jennifer Tilly:
"You always seem to forget the last part of your line, which is my cue ... it's 'or NOT to be.'"
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
Updated On: 8/23/12 at 09:31 AM
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#13Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors
Posted: 8/23/12 at 3:10pmThat was fun, but I couldn't get through it all it one go. The playbill.com format of having the story spread over tens of pages is annoying.
Beyoncé is not an ally. Actions speak louder than words, Mrs. Carter. #Dubai #$$$
#14Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors
Posted: 8/23/12 at 3:54pmThat was pretty interesting. I really liked the ones from Laura Michelle Kelly and Victoria Clark.
"You drank a charm to kill John Proctor's wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!" - Betty Parris to Abigail Williams in Arthur Miller's The Crucible
#15Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors
Posted: 8/23/12 at 4:42pmKind of obsessed with Norm Lewis's story about the kid screaming "I hate you" during Little Mermaid.
"Anybody that goes to the theater, I think we’re all misfits, so we ended up on stage or in the audience.” --- Patti LuPone.
bobs3
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/8/12
#16Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors
Posted: 8/23/12 at 4:55pm
Jack Lemmon used to love to tell the story about the time he was doing TRIBUTE on Broadway and during a very emotional scene with the actor playing his son, an actress made an early entrance. He looked at the actress and said, "Excuse me dear but we are having a private conversation."
Updated On: 8/24/12 at 04:55 PM
#17Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors
Posted: 8/23/12 at 7:56pm
When Angela Lansbury brought her production of GYPSY to South Florida after it closed on Broadway, Zan Charisse was replaced (her choice) in the title role by her sister, Nana Tucker.
The "runway" for Gypsy's strip number and "Rose's Turn" was a wagon of runways that stretched from one side of the proscenium to the other and the director was attempting a cinematic effect where the wagon moved forward during "Let Me Entertain You", approximating the illusion of a camera zoom.
Unfortunately, everything was done manually in those days and nobody thought to put up guards along the apron of the stage. So on opening night, the wagon was pushed forward, over the edge and into the orchestra pit.
Nana calmly stepped off the back of the wagon just as it went off the stage and continued, never missing a note even as the members of the orchestra scurried to avoid the falling wagon. They had to stop the show and recover for "Rose's Turn", but Tucker finished her song!
***
Even better: for those who don't know the show (and who would that be?), Gypsy has a number of quick changes during the number to show her climb up the ladder of burlesque "success". One night, a costume got stuck and the wardrobe mistress had to go on stage with a pair of pliers while a stage hand held a fan in front of Nana as they struggled with the clothes.
Without missing a beat, Nana Tucker turned to the audience and said, in her best Gypsy Rose Lee, "My clothes don't want to come off me! Can you blame them?"
She got the biggest laugh and the second biggest hand of the night (after Angela's "Rose's Turn").
And Nana was all of 19 at the time. I was very impressed with her poise.
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#18Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors
Posted: 8/23/12 at 8:16pm
I don't get Matthew Morrison's at all.
In A Naked Girl on the Appian Way, I had this rant about how I thought my real parent were gymnasts. I was saying this to my adopted father, played by Richard Thomas, and we literally stopped the show because we were laughing our asses off. We just thought it was so ridiculous. I was crying from laughing so hard that I had to put a couch pillow over my face.
#19Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors
Posted: 8/23/12 at 8:35pmI don't know the play, Phyllis, but as Morrison explains the moment, it does sound pretty ridiculous. Maybe the absurdity of "my real parents were gymnasts" just occurred to them and once they had the idea in their heads, they couldn't let it go.
bobs3
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/8/12
#20Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors
Posted: 8/24/12 at 1:35am
This is a story I heard -- don't know if it's true or not.
At one of the performances of THE SISTERS ROSENSWEIG an actor accidentally dropped and shattered his champagne glass. Linda Lavin, who was playing Gorgeous, ad-libbed "Now all we need is a wedding."
#21Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors
Posted: 8/24/12 at 12:31pmMy Favorite story is from "A Day in Hollywood, A Night in the Ukraine." David Garrison was playing Groucho Marx, and one night the Margaret Dumont character picks up a bell to ring for him (his entrance cue) and it falls apart in her hand. So he enters and says, with a perfect Groucho leer "I told you if you played with that thing too much it would fall off!"
