A Chorus Line - Sunday July 8th

[DrVincento2]

Posted: 7/9/07 at 8:32am

Was anyone in the audience to witness, with me, the horrific moment when a woman passed out, audience members started screaming bloody murder at the ushers and then cast and the cast was left absolutely dumb-founded on stage? Most bizarre moment I've witnessed in theater in years.

[GYPSY1527]

Posted: 7/9/07 at 8:39am

Yes, actually I was there. I was sitting in the front mezz and from my perspective, I only noticed something was wrong when I saw "Val's" face turn white and she got the people on her left and right's attention. I personally think everyone handled the situation properly and the show picked up where it stopped perfectly.

Recently, I've had a few theater going moments similar to that, specifically at Moon for the Misbegotten and that was far worse and handled much poorly than this.

Overall, the show itself was perfect, more perfect than I expected especially since all I've been hearing abotu Charlotte . Probably one of the best shows I've seen in the past five years.

[DrVincento2]

Posted: 7/9/07 at 8:58am

It was frightening down in the orchestra. I was doing standing room and I saw this commotion happen about five rows in front of me. People started yelling for ushers and of course it's during the loudest and busiest moments on stage. House management was really slow to get the sound cut off, lights up and things under control. The audience got to the point that they started yelling at the actors to stop which is why most of then turned white and looked horrified. Once they got the lights up, things went very smoothly.

I enjoy the show much more now that I'm the city and I'm living the actors life but I was sorely disappointed by the singing (across the board). Dancing was good but when did it become the Tyler Hanes show? Larry is not supposed to call attention to himself.

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 7/9/07 at 9:20am

I was there as well in standing room, in that section. It was pretty scary.

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 7/9/07 at 9:26am

Duirng which scene did this happen?

[GYPSY1527]

Posted: 7/9/07 at 9:27am

It happened during the "Goodbye 12, Hello 13 Montage" specifically right before "Gimme the ball".

Updated On: 7/9/07 at 09:27 AM

[Fosse76]

Posted: 7/9/07 at 11:09am

"House management was really slow to get the sound cut off, lights up and things under control."

That would be stage management, not house management.

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 7/9/07 at 11:18am

It was kind of bizarre. First they cut off the mics, then the orchestra, and then the cast got offstage. Everyone was screaming to turn the house lights on.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 7/9/07 at 5:24pm

Stopping a show takes time. It isn't as though there's a switch that shuts everything off all at once, and there isn't someone stationed at the house lights at all times. And of course, there is no way to inform the cast, all of whom were apparantly onstage at the time.

It takes a moment to get these things done, and perhaps it seemed a lot longer with people panicking and screaming.

[SorryGrateful]

Posted: 7/9/07 at 5:33pm

Why were people panicking if the person only fainted? I mean, yeah, that's scary, but was she bleeding or something? It seems like it would have been more effective for someone to just get up and grab an usher rather than "panicking and screaming."

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 7/9/07 at 5:42pm

What happened to that woman? How long was the delay?

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 7/9/07 at 6:23pm

Apparantly a seizure of some sort, certainly upsetting. Presumably people were screaming because the house lights didn't come up instantly, so they thought notice had not been taken, when in fact, EMS had already been called, and someone was en route to get the house lights.

A SM spoke over the god mic, asking the audience to remain calm, and in their seats, that the house lights would be on momentarily, and that EMS was on the way.

There was no undue delay. It could not have been more than two minutes between the time the medical emergency began and the lights coming up, and probably less than that. And EMS had already been called. I'm sure it must have seemed longer to those waiting.

All told, the entire incident took less than ten minutes, and the show started right where it left off. I read in another thread (https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?thread=940925&dt=2) that the patron walked out under her own power, and EMS treated her in the lobby as a precaution.





Updated On: 7/9/07 at 06:23 PM

[Trish2]

Posted: 7/9/07 at 8:33pm

,,,,,I enjoy the show much more now that I'm the city and I'm living the actors life but I was sorely disappointed by the singing (across the board). Dancing was good but when did it become the Tyler Hanes show? Larry is not supposed to call attention to himself.....

I must say i had the same reaction when seeing the show. (See my review on 5/21/07). Although I thinks Hanes is one of the best dancers on Broadway today, he stole too much focus with an over the top performance.
Updated On: 7/9/07 at 08:33 PM

[DrVincento2]

Posted: 7/10/07 at 12:33am

House Management radios Stage Management which stops the show. So, basically, house managament was slow.

[capnkidd]

Posted: 7/11/07 at 5:21pm

DrVincento, you keep saying that the theatre staff was slow to react, while two other posters say the situation was handled properly (and yet a third on another thread).

How long would you say the patron had to wait until the staff began to react - before help got to them? What would you wanted to see done differently?