ACCIDENTS on STAGE

[Horsey]

Posted: 11/19/03 at 1:35am

Has anyone witnessed any "accidents" on stage? I saw Jayne Atkinson wipe-out on stage this summer in "Enchanted April." She went running upstage and flew up some steps and wiped-out. She went down hard too. Poor thing. People in the audience screamed. It was nuts. Any others? Updated On: 11/19/03 at 01:35 AM

[bestofbroadway]

Posted: 11/19/03 at 1:43am

I saw a regional production of Peter Pan during dress rehearsals where the Peter Pan flew out over the audience at the end of the show and somehow messed up and ended up being dragged across the seats in the front few rows of the orchestra. Needless to say she was hurt badly, but luckily no one was sitting there since it was only a dress. A very horrible experience.

[Lorelai]

Posted: 11/19/03 at 6:12am

I didn't witness this one, but I figured I'd post it anyway cause I read so much about it. And it certainly sounds like the worst accidents I've heard of on stage...
Ann Margret, back years and years ago was performing in Lake Tahoe I think and she was supposed to be lowered on the stage somehow but whatever held her in broke and she fell from nearly the top of the stage, landing on her face. She had to be rushed to the hospital and she had a bunch of broken bones....when I read about it, I just got goosebumps...I wasn't there but I can't imagine witnessing something like that

[iflitifloat]

Posted: 11/19/03 at 6:45am

One of the disciples in JCS (Manoel Feliciano, maybe?) fell into the orchestra pit during a performance and broke something in his arm. If I recall correctly, he climbed back out and finished the show.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 11/19/03 at 8:04am

Everything about TABOO seems to have been an accident.

[leeinlondon]

Posted: 11/19/03 at 8:07am

Dollypop jumps on the bandwagon.. have you seen the show ?? would make a change for most of the Taboo bashers here if you had done !!!

[TheaterBaby]

Posted: 11/19/03 at 9:10am

During Gypsy's first preview, Bernadette Peters accidentely wacked David Burkta in the face during the Mr. Goldstone number. She threw her arms back and he was standing too close. After she did that, she turned around and put her hand on his face as if to say, "OMG are you ok? I'm so sorry I did that." and David just smiled.

Updated On: 11/19/03 at 09:10 AM

[rlbgbc]

Posted: 11/19/03 at 9:49am

I saw a performance of DREAMGIRLS where Sheryl Lee Ralph hurt her ankle offstage between "Jimmy's Miami Act" and the "We Are A Family" scene. She made it through the first act being helped along by various cast members -- the "Dreamgirls" number had NO choreography, with SLR standing there clutching the microphone in apparent agony. They sent the understudy on for the second act.

And the understudy was better, by the way. By that time, SLR was bored with the whole proceedings.

[PB ENT.]

Posted: 11/19/03 at 12:32pm

Here's an oldie but goodie...In Les Miserables, during "Master of the House" near the end of the song...Mdme. Thenardie jumps on Thenadrie's back as he leans over a table...table collapses from the stress...Madame is thrown into the orch. pit onto the drummer! Scene comes to a halt...everyone is shocked...Mdme. picks herself up, brushes off...grins that yellow-toothed grin..takes a bow and is assisted back to the stage. PRICELESS! ~ as told to me by Scott, stage manager at the time.

Updated On: 11/19/03 at 12:32 PM

[Horsey]

Posted: 11/19/03 at 12:36pm

PB ENT.2,

Wow. Would have loved to have witnessed that Les Mis moment!
These are the kind of things that make Live theatre EXCITING!!! Updated On: 11/19/03 at 12:36 PM

[JakeB]

Posted: 11/19/03 at 1:10pm

At Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London (the replica), a guy was supposed to slide down a rope onto the stage from the roof but forgot to put on the protective gloves to do so and therefore his hands burnt so hard that he let go.. broke his leg and was out of work for nine months I think.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 11/19/03 at 1:20pm

I saw an accident once.. David Hasselhoff in Jekyll and Hyde

[WOSQ]

Posted: 11/19/03 at 2:28pm

During a critic's preview of Shogun, the lead was beaned by a pipe and knocked out during the middle of the second act. The performance was halted and cancelled, the opening night delayed, and some critics had to sit through another complete show which was not anyone's idea of a good time at all.

Tis rumored that the reason there is a net across the orchestra pit of any Carol Channing performance of Dolly is that early into the NY run in 1964, the Queen of Myopia, Our Carol, danced right off the stage and into the pit. Without missing a note she was hoisted back up onstage and just kept singing. I believe it was during the song 'Dancing'.

Lily Tomlin pulled a knee ligament during the closing performance of Search For Signs in about 1986. Performance halted and she sat onstage icing her knee and chatted, hobbled off for more treatment and the audience wandered around. I ran into some old friends. It was not unlike a reunion of sorts. After about 45 minutes, the show resumed and that was that.

[Seany]

Posted: 11/19/03 at 3:02pm

A few accidents happened to Raul during his run in RHS. Once, he twisted his leg very bad during Time Warp and had a swing take over for him - probably Jeff Martin. Another was during Time Warp, Raul started singing and nothing came out. He looked very shocked.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 11/19/03 at 4:37pm

I've probably posted this elsewhere, but it's appropriate for the topic.

I caught a performance of Harold Rome's GONE WITH THE WIND at the Kennedy Center many, many years ago. Leslie Ann Warren and Harve Presnell were the leads. It was a ghastly show.

There were live animals on stage and one of the horses left his "calling card" in a heap on the stage floor. The set changed, but the heap remained. It was still there when Melanie shot the soldier, and guess where this poor man landed??? Yup, face down, no less!!!! The actor never flinched!

Posted: 11/19/03 at 6:12pm

during How To Succeed... this summer, i was Mr. Twimble and Wally Whomper and in "Brotherhood of Man",the final song, during the dance i went the wrong way on accident when we were sliding, o well

[Elphie]

Posted: 11/19/03 at 8:03pm

When my friend saw "...Millie" one of the set pieces moving into place, completely locked and the curtain dropped as the lovely stage crew rushed to fix the problem. Hey Broadways allowed to have some knicks to right? My friend said the audience was laughing and screaming for the show to go on and it was quite entertaining.
This really isnt a mess up or anything but when I saw LSOH when the plant speaks for the first time- a little girl in the audience screamed so loud- our audience laughed for at least 2 mins straight- right when the laughing died down..we brought it up again..poor hunter stood perfectly still and confused faced as the audience was dying in hysterics. Later when we met Audrey 2, he said that he couldnt stop laughing back stage- I thought that was pretty excellent.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 11/19/03 at 8:19pm

Let me correct something about the Carol Channing story:

The net across the orchestra pit was there from the very inception of the design. EQUITY inisted upon it because 5 waiters lept over the orchestra pit during the "Hello, Dolly!" number.

Secondly, Dolly isn't anywhere NEAR the footlights--or the ramp--during "Dancing". The myth, propegated by her then-husband, Charles Lowe, was that TGC fell off the stage during the "Parade" number when the show was trying out in Detroit. However, that is nothing more than myth. It made for good conversation on a talk show.

[Hello Gorgeous]

Posted: 11/19/03 at 9:20pm

In our school's production of "Hello, Dolly!" two years ago, an entire part of the set just dropped in the middle of a scene (can't remember which one)

[PennyLou]

Posted: 11/19/03 at 11:29pm

When I did "Crazy For You" my jr. of High school We had some problems.

Fist problem during the scene when Bobby first comes to town dressed as Bellea there was a pile of suitcases center stage for him to stand on. Later in the scene all the cowboys where prompted to run across that stage. Being there was a large lack of boys in the theater dept. that year your truly was Wyatt. Anyway when we went running across the stage every time I hoped over the pile of suitcases with no prob. Well, during one of the runs my foot got hooked on one of the handles this cased me to fly halfway across the stage land straight down on both knees and fall forward almost cracking the side of my head open on a step from the sensory. The worst part is my friend who was playing Bobby just stood on stage and said nothing for 2 or 3 min. He was just trying his hardest not to laughing at me. Then finally went back into his lines.

Second, We used a brake away bottle in one of the scenes and we kept it in the same spot every show yet for some reason one f h guys in the show decided to throw his close on top of the bottle at the beginning of the scene so all you hear was crash "****" and then saw me running move off stage to have a crew member run to the other side of the school to the theater class room to get another bottle. Thank God they got it to us just in time. Go Crew!

3rd on the other hand out Crew had a big booboo also. On of the number is "slap that bass" well for people who don't know during one of the songs they teach one of the Cowboys how to play the bass" well during one run we go on stage to do the song and there is no bass. So we are on stage making up 10 to 15 min worth of dialog as people try to track down the bass. it turns out during the first show that day apparently the bass had broken so a crew member put it in the same theater class room across school and didn't tell anyone. The song was almost turned in to slap that bucket or any other object we could find on stage.

[MaxHolmes]

Posted: 11/23/03 at 4:39am

When I saw "Les Miserables" there was a scene -- "I Dreamed a Dream"? -- in which the actress was to rise from the I'm-dying cot in her ratty I'm-dying gown and move downstage. The gown caught on the corner of the bed and there she was, dragging the bed toward the downstage light. I told a friend about it and he said, "That happened the night I saw it, too. My God, maybe it's in the script."

[MaxHolmes]

Posted: 11/23/03 at 4:45am

Several hundred years ago, on the opening night of carol Channing's semi-revival of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" called "Lorelie" she entered a big fancy hotel and was to toss her suitecase offstage through a big art-deco doorway. The suitecase missed the doorway, hit that wall and the whole flat shimmied, shook and fell over. Much much babble from the audience and Channing, standing center stage and sounding like a clarion call, said "You'd think such an expensive hotel would have stronger walls." And the show went on...

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 11/23/03 at 10:41am

A few accidents I witnessed

1. Metro
2. Copenhagen
3. Travesties
4. Stones in My Pocket
5. Utter Glory Of Morrisey Hall

Posted: 11/23/03 at 10:45am

Im still hoping to see one of the guys in Hairspray miss judge the jump they do during Nicest Kids In Town.

-Christina

[BrdwyThtr]

Posted: 11/23/03 at 10:49am

When I saw Mamma Mia, the girl playing Sophie ran up a flight of steps in the wedding gown, fell flat on her face, and the actor playing Sam had to drag her off.