Onstage mishaps.

[alterego]

Posted: 7/14/03 at 12:29am

Who has witnessed onstage mishaps? Things that go wrong. Dancers falling over, props in the wrong position, door handles coming off, sets not coming in on cue etc. Share them please. As Dame Edna Everage says " I have a gift, a gift that allows me to laugh at others misfortunes".

[BatBoi]

Posted: 7/14/03 at 12:43am

We were front row left at madison square garden to see The Wizard Of Oz with Eartha Kitt as the witch. She took off on her broomstick and was flung into a wall! Her broom proceded to fly across the stage to the suprise of everyone onstage. Eartha herself was in suprisingly good spirits after the show!

[TheaterBaby]

Posted: 7/14/03 at 12:45am

Well, for those of you that saw the DVD of Putting It Together, on the Blooper, when Carol Burnett's skirt falls down...I was there, right in the front row the day it happened. It was much funnier in person and it was all very real and unplanned. The costume people came running. LOL

During the first preview of Gypsy, Bernadette Peters accidentely slapped one of the adult newsboys across the face with the back of her hand during the Mr. Goldstone number.

Also, during another performance of Gypsy (I believe it was actually opening night), when Bernadette went to throw her father's award in her bag, she missed and it landed on the floor instead of in the bag.

Updated On: 7/14/03 at 12:45 AM

[alterego]

Posted: 7/14/03 at 1:17am

I saw a performance of Les Mis where the revolve didn't, a production of Scrooge where the ghost of Christmas past was wearing a wrist watch, a female dancer in Sugar Babies fell on her ass during a tap number.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 7/14/03 at 1:23am

During a performance of OVER HERE! starring the Andrews Sisters, there was an electrical fire which caused vast amounts of smoke to billow into the theater. This was a result of additional wiring that was backstage, as the theater was being used for that year's TOny Awards which would take place in a few days. The show went on despite the "fog and filthy air".

[musicaltheatreman]

Posted: 7/14/03 at 1:29am

alterego did the revolveing stage work for the entire show or did it just stop working during the middel?? did they fix it? what happen??

[SONDHEIM8]

Posted: 7/14/03 at 1:44am

At a recent performance of THE PRODUCERS here in Los Angeles, the first scene ended and Martin Short was about to make his entrance. The set did not fly in. Everything went dark and after a few seconds Jason Alexander came out to explain what had happened. It took a few minutes for the stagehands to fix the scenery so Jason and Martin did a Q&A with the audience.
Live theatre.....I love it!!!!








LINK: Tracy, youlook beautiful behind bars!

TRACY: It must be the low-watt institutional lighting!

[Musetta1957]

Posted: 7/14/03 at 2:22am

I've never seen the revolve break down, but when it has, there is alternate staging used, unless there is a huge malfunction. It's been known for only half the barricade to be used for Act II with the holes filled up with other set pieces if need be.

[aurora1958]

Posted: 7/14/03 at 2:43am

One performance of Phantom, the chandelier refused to fall..thought that was a scream watching them on the stage run around in a circle screaming and then run off for no reason...LOL!!

[alterego]

Posted: 7/14/03 at 3:30am

The breakdown was just before interval, so they worked around it, all was fine after interval.

Dollypop, I wish I'd seen Over Here! The andrew Sisters in person!!!

[Amneris]

Posted: 7/14/03 at 8:05am

I was at HS the night Marissa fell on stage and her standby had to go on in the middle of the show :o(

and also at Mamma Mia one night when the set got stuck during the "take a chance on me scene" but it blocked the bridge so basically there was no room on stage...they had to stop the show for 20 minutes.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 7/14/03 at 8:09am

Hairspray ::

--one night, Laura Bell's wig fell totally off during the finale. And that is a BIG wig!
--Last night, during "The Big Dollhouse" laura Bell's hair extensions/part of the wig started to fall off. Updated On: 7/14/03 at 08:09 AM

[BrdwyThtr]

Posted: 7/14/03 at 9:06am

When I went to see Titanic, the little ship exploded and the show stopped for half an hour. Also, when I saw Mamma Mia, Sophie was running upthe stairs in the wedding dress during "Slipping Through My Fingers" and fell flat on her face! The actor offstage had to grab her arms and yank her off!

[BillyLawlor]

Posted: 7/14/03 at 9:22am

I have never witnessed an Onstage Mishap, and I'm glad I never have. I would feel so embaressed for the performers, and the show would lose something for me.

[TEACHEROFTHEATER]

Posted: 7/14/03 at 9:45am

alterego...OVER HERE was a wonderfully good time!!! I loved that show and saw it three times at the Shubert Theater in Manhattan. Get the cd for a delightful time.

In addition to the Andrews Sisters OVER HERE had

Janie Sell
John Travolta
Ann Reinking
Marilu Henner
John Mineo
Douglas Watson

the show was simpy sublime:)

[sharon1]

Posted: 7/14/03 at 9:45am

I watched as Christine ran from the Phantom and fell flat on her face. Then watched the Phantom trip over his feet.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 7/14/03 at 9:48am

At Mamma Mia, one of the chorus boys ripped the seat of his wetsuit during voulez-vouz -- and with only a dance belt underneath, I am sure some audience members had a very special treat.


At Rocky Horror, Jonathan Sharp was on as Rocky, and part way through the show, his already barely-there costue started to slip down and the audience was given a session of the Full Monty for about 5 minutes before one of the Phantoms went and fixed it for him. Jon didn't notice it untill the Phantom fixed it... not that it was a problem.

[alterego]

Posted: 7/14/03 at 10:25am

I've always loved the Over Here! CD just wished I'd been around to see the show.

[Batty]

Posted: 7/14/03 at 10:34am

During Phantom, I saw the boat went out of control and Michael had to jump out with Sarah Brightman and it hit Michael in the leg.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 7/14/03 at 10:36am

Beauty And The Beast::

--once, the rigging for the final transformation failed. They had to fake it.

--once, Mrs. Potts went to pour a cup of hot tea out her arm. Instead of the sound of the tea, the sound engineer cued the Beats's roar.

[thirdrowcenter]

Posted: 7/14/03 at 10:53am

During "The Goat" a piece of pottery thrown angrily during a scene bounced and hit a person in the audience (there was blood).

"Frankie and Johnny" and the Dominican Day parade was underway.
I'm sitting up front and personal(noting Luther Vandross is in the audience) and the subtle music supposedly playing background on the radio in Frankie's apartment is deafening, drums pounding beat. The actors seem to be a little affected by the music and I asked my friend, "why would they have this music?" She answeres, "it's the parade, moron." Oh well, kudo's to Edie Falco and Stanley Tucci for blowing me away even under these weird circumstances.

[flaemmchen]

Posted: 7/14/03 at 11:59am

The most I ever saw in one performance was at the Into the Woods revival. Tracey Nicole Chapman was on as the Witch for her third time or so, and two of the mistakes happened to her: the cue was late during the Witch's Rap, so the sparks didn't fly out of her staff when she said, "That your family tree will always be a barren one!" and then when she chopped off Rapunzel's hair, she managed to take Allison Walla's entire wig off, so Allison ran off with her hands over her wig stocking and Tracey ran after her with the full wig in her hand. Then, in Act II, the set was rigged so that it would fall apart when the giantess came down from the beanstalk, and the Baker's house just decided to fall apart before anything even happened. The chimney just went CLUNK! Kerry O'Malley and Stephen DeRosa (Baker and Baker's Wife) didn't even stop. They just sort of turned to look at the set and gave each other quick looks of, "What just happened?"

Once at 42nd Street, the lights didn't change properly for the short dance section of Shadow Waltz with Dorothy Brock and the chorus girls. They had to do all of it in the dark.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 7/14/03 at 12:12pm

Here's three that happened to me ::

You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown :: I was playing Charlie Brown. During 'Suppertime', Snoopy was dancing on top of the doghouse and fell off. Landing on ME!

Peter Pan :: I was Peter. During the big sword fight with Captain Hook,Capt. Hook goes to swing his arm and the hook flies off and into the orchestra pit.

Hansel And Gretel (opera version) :: I was Hansel. I was 13 at the time and could still sing alto if I tried to! Anyway, during the scene where Hansel and Gretel push the witch into the oven, my obnoxious little twerp @$$ B1tch of an understudy (the ONLY person I've ever worked with and never want to work with again) was aimlessily meandering around backstage and decided to lean agianst the front of a six foot tall speak that was used for special sound effects. Well, Gretel and I push the witch into the oven, slam the door shut, and start to dance around. There is a very low rumble that that starts to grow in intensity as the lights start to flash and flicker. A flashpot in the oven goes off and a huge sound effect of an explosion comes through the six foot speaker that my dim-witted understudy is leaning on. The creep forgot that the speaker was used for that. So, onstage we hear the explosion, but right in the middle of the explosion you hear my understudy scream "Holy SH!t! Motherf.ucker!" Well, the entire audience heard it and we could all hear their collective gasps.... especially from the girl scout troup and catholic school children in the audience! Updated On: 7/14/03 at 12:12 PM

[MsNina]

Posted: 7/14/03 at 12:30pm

Many years ago, during the Miss Siagon tour, one of the actors fell into the orchestra pit. It was very scary while the show stopped for 15 minutes. The guy was fine, just really embarrassed.

[BwayTheatre11]

Posted: 7/14/03 at 1:11pm

I didn't see this but didn't Harvey fall down the stairs coming down from hairspray can? I heard he did at a matinee. I can understand why! On the tonys, the boys really had to hold him tight!!