Have you ever gotten really sick at a Broadway show?

[Kristeliz]

Posted: 2/24/08 at 9:39pm

The other night I got violently ill at Jersey Boys (no jokes lol.) Unfortunately my dad (huge frankie valli fan) was sitting on the end of my aisle and was so engrossed that he wouldn't get up during a song. Finally I screamed at him "I'm going to be sick" --all of these people gasped-- and he got up and I ran to the ladies room just barely making it. All of the ushers were awesome letting me sit on the stairs and letting me bring ginger ale inside the theater. It was a horrible experience, and I was mortified--but everyone was so thoughtful I really appreciate their professionalism and random kindness.

[i*heart*fame]

Posted: 2/24/08 at 9:42pm

I threw up at Cats(my first Broadway show) during intermission. I was 6 or so. My parents still joke that I had good taste in theater at a young age.

[SweetQintheLights]

Posted: 2/24/08 at 9:46pm

Not a Broadway show but a local production of Cabaret. I was in the hospital the night before with extreme pain but after being released with pains meds, I decided to go see the show. Mid performance, I was bent over with horrible pain again. Make a long story short, it was a kidney stone which I ended up needing surgery for.

[maya5892]

Posted: 2/24/08 at 9:48pm

Yeah, at a local production of Bye Bye Birdie I had a 103 fever because of the restaurant we went to before the show. Bad food poisoning and not fun.

[Clarinetbiter135]

Posted: 2/24/08 at 9:55pm

the first time I went to gray gardens, I had a migraine come on in the middle of the first act..... no freakin' fun at all...

[DRSisLove]

Posted: 2/24/08 at 10:12pm

I threw up during THE CHRISTMAS SPECTACULAR when I was 6.
I had food poisoning while sitting onstage at SPRING AWAKENING once. Intermission couldn't come fast enough so I could get to the bathroom.

[Chrissy*J]

Posted: 2/24/08 at 10:28pm

February of '06...2nd time at Spelling Bee, right before 'Magic Foot'.
I was feeling nauseous all day, but I ignored it. Bad idea.
I ran into the lobby as quietly as I could, and got sick in a garbage can. It was kinda embarrassing, but I went back into the show as soon as I washed up.

[winston89]

Posted: 2/25/08 at 12:18am

I have a VERY bad peanut allergy. I was in SRO for Poppins over the summer and there was a woman standing next to me eating peanuts. The ushers didn't do anything about the no eating in the theatre rule despite my telling them of the problem. I broke out in a reaction and had to leave during the middle of Spoonful of Sugar.

Worst moment in the theatre in my life. Box Office refused to give me my 21 bucks back as well.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 2/25/08 at 12:32am

On a field trip in high school to a local production of The Glass Menagerie. I threw up all through intermission. I wanted to sit in the lobby for the second act because it was so warm in the theatre, but my b*tch teacher forced me to go back inside. I still hate Tennessee Williams.

[DefyGravity777]

Posted: 2/25/08 at 1:06am

I have never gotten physically sick during a show but I always seem to have a really bad cold everytime I'm going to see a show.

[TheatreDiva612]

Posted: 2/25/08 at 1:27am

Not at a Broadway show... but I was in 12 Angry Jurors (we had girls and boys)... and we were on stage the whole time cause it is in a room where they can't leave, and I remember they put a trash can off stage for me. It was so bad.

[bkonbroadway]

Posted: 2/25/08 at 5:25am

I get really queasy really easy (haha). When people talk at length about the body, especially blood, I have these little anxiety attacks where it feels like my blood sugar level just drops and I start sweating and am short of breath, etc. So I went to see "'night, Mother" and there is a big stretch where they go in depth into discussing an illness. I was in the middle of the row and it was a one-act...so I squirmed in my seat and tried to think of a happy place until they changed the subject. A similar thing happened in "The Year of Magical Thinking." Luckily, I was in SRO, so I could kinda move around a bit and sit down a sec and try to catch my breath and chill out. I don't know why this happens to me....it's happened ever since 5th grade science class. Maybe I'm crazy???

[B3TA07]

Posted: 2/25/08 at 5:48am

Well technically I was already sick (stomach virus), but at Dirty Rotten Scoundrels I ate some Twizzlers during intermission and was holding them in by a thread for the entirety of the second act. I bolted to the bathroom after curtain and threw it all up.

[Here_I_Go_Again]

Posted: 2/25/08 at 6:54am

Wicked, PRE BWAY tour in Sf... i remember very little about the show but The bathroom person and i became closest of friends... LOL

[broadwayjim42]

Posted: 2/25/08 at 7:37am

I don't know if it's the air in the theatres or what, but I frequently end up with a runny nose...TMI?

No personal barfing, but when I saw Xanadu last August, a woman in the next set of onstage seats was on the verge the entire show. The ushers made a contingency plan to get her out of there just in case...she survived but looked absolutely miserable the whole time.

[nmartin]

Posted: 2/25/08 at 7:47am

I became violently ill at Bent. I had no choice but to get up and leave during the first act and an usher or whoever he was was a bastard. I should have thrown up on him.

[MotorTink]

Posted: 2/25/08 at 8:21am

Ha, funny topic. I have had the “stomach flu” this past week, and had show tickets all weekend. I made it to In The Heights on Sat night but was not in the best shape, and had to skip Next to Normal yesterday.

Last year, we went to see The Drowsy Chaperone on Bob Martin’s last day. We had nice 4th row left orch seats, unfortunately towards center of the row. Right before the show I started to feel the cramping and “rumbling”. I was like uh oh. The bathroom isn’t exactly close there, so I was getting very paranoid. The show started and I did everything in my power to breathe and just focus as the oncoming feelings got worse. I was really having visions of having to vomit in my new Coach bag because I couldn’t get out of the row in time. Somehow, I was lucky enough to survive the show, the ride home, and then spent the next 24 hours sick as a dog.

[Katurian2]

Posted: 2/25/08 at 9:34am

A while ago when I saw the Chorus Line revival, I was just getting over whooping cough, and had it decide to poke its ugly head out one more time..right during Paul's monologue. I was chugging water so fast- sort of intentionally trying to drown myself so that I wouldn't cough through one of the best moments in the show. Bad idea. I threw up pure water as soon as the show ended and I could run to the bathroom.

[luceecool]

Posted: 2/25/08 at 9:37am

I always seem to get ill not seeing shows but doing shows (like I have a crazy cold this week that we're doing H2$) The worst was last year in Batboy when I literally could barely stand and had to lean up against the proscenium for the entire Meredith's revelation and then catch Edgar as he was about to die, not good.

[bwaygal1]

Posted: 2/25/08 at 9:40am

I had a case of food poisoning during Les Miserables' original run. It was horrible. I was luckily near the bathroom in the mezzanine and on the aisle so I was able to slip out without disturbing anyone. I made it right up to about five minutes before intermission before I ran to the bathroom.

[megs1122]

Posted: 2/25/08 at 9:42am

Once I was front row center rush seats for RENT and during the first act I had to run to the bathroom, must have ate something bad at dinner right before. The ushers didn't want to let me back down to my seat until intermission but I just waited til the lights went down and booked it to my seat.

[stagescreen]

Posted: 2/25/08 at 10:33am

I've gotten serious stomach aches while sitting in the audience during a show, and the usual headaches -- some induced by what's being performed on stage! If I know I'm not feeling well beforehand, I will skip out on a show, because sitting still in cramped seats next to a few hundred or a few thousand of your closest friends sounds like hell and certainly is not any way to make yourself feel better.

Here's an onstage sickness story: I was in the worst production of GYPSY that ever was -- it was plagued with problems from the start, and everything that could go wrong did. On our official opening night (three nights after the first preview and four nights after the new Rose had joined the show after the previous one was fired -- yeah, it was *that* bad).

I had taken off from school early to attend a rehearsal before the opening night that afternoon to give the new Rose more rehearsal time, and had grabbed a sandwich from a place around the corner. During the break between rehearsal and opening it started to disagree with me. Uh-oh, food poisoning.

I began to violently throw up, and my insides felt like they were burning, which would have been perfect motivation if I was doing KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN, but I was playing Yonkers (and it seemed like every other male character part in this show).

The worst of it came just before the Military Dance transition where the Baby June and Her Newsboys become Dainty June and Her Newsboys. I quickly ducked into the bathroom stage right and let it all out just before running on stage for the Military Dance. The scene immediately following is the hotel room scene with Mr. Goldstone and all the newsboys are on stage the entire time. The Military Dance had not helped my queasiness and I had a lot of lines during the scene. I was white as a ghost during it, shaking from the nausea, and looking like I was about to pass out. I gave one of the other boys on stage a look -- and I bolted through the door on the set, off stage to the bathroom and puked again, coming back on in time for the Mr. Goldstone song. Though since there wasn't any underscoring during the scene, I think people could hear me onstage since the bathroom was very close by in the wings. Hopefully the audience was spared such sounds (I didn't have a mic on!)

After Goldstone things quieted down, I had some Sprite, and did my best to get through the rest of the show. Afterwards, our director (who was a last minute before rehearsals replacement director -- he was a scenic designer and this was his first directorial job) -- called us all into the Green Room and gave us notes, even though it was opening night. Rightfully so, since they fired the Rose not even a week before and we were all giving scared-$#!%less performances. Notes took almost an hour. My stomach started acting up and I was trying to hold it, and was getting restless. The director was ripping into us and I started to get up, and he yelled at me and told me to sit back down -- nobody leaves till he's done pontificating. I did a couple of "But I'm..." -- and he wouldn't hear any of it. He was going on an ego trip and there was no stopping him. I couldn't take it any longer and ran to the bathroom just off the green room. All the while the director is yelling at me to come back and I'm running, and I make it to the stall door, but my body jumps ahead of me and I didn't quite "hit my mark" and make a gigantic mess all over the floor. He runs in after me, sees what's wrong, and quickly apologized. To his credit, I believe he even helped me clean up the mess. Notes were over after my big finale!

He told me that he had no idea that I was sick during the show, since he popped outside for a cigarette during the transition sequence and Goldstone scene, and had avoided us (and the audience) during the show and intermission.

The rest of the run didn't go any better, though our replacement Rose was markedly better than our original one. Our props person quit the second weekend and we had to preset all of our own props. Half of the meager sized running crew quit after the opening so the older teenage boys in the cast (myself included) moved a lot of set pieces ourselves (in addition to portraying a lot of the smaller roles). Disaster Disaster Disaster.

The theater had declared bankruptcy just before the show went into rehearsals, and the only reason this show went on was through the generosity of one patron who fronted the money. The original director and original Rose pulled out long before this show began rehearsals (had they been involved, this show would have been an unqualified hit) and we all were left to pick up the pieces. To top it all off, the show should have had a full orchestra (as shows at this theater usually have) -- but because of the limited funding (and extremely bad word of mouth), we were left with a six piece band. Hearing the overture played by six pieces was dismal. Ugh, when that show ended, I took a nice long break from the theatre.

But ten years later, I'm left with a funny (though sad) story to tell. I'm about to go to an audition for another show at that theater this week, though their fortunes have reversed and are a healthy company now -- though if I get the show, this will be the first time back on their stage since that ill-fated production a decade ago.

[Dancinqueen123]

Posted: 2/25/08 at 10:39am

Not a Broadway show, but when I was 3 I threw up during a production of the Nutcracker. I had a horrible cough that night and my mom wasn't going to let me go, but I begged her to take me because I really wanted to see it. I just coughed so hard throughout the show that I threw up. I don't remember when it was during the show, but my mom told me that I had a cute little matching coat and hat set and I ended up throwing up into the hat.

[Esparzafan]

Posted: 2/25/08 at 10:57am

I went to see Bug (off-Broadway) on a super hot August day. The air conditioning went on only before the show started and during intermission - otherwise the small theatre was stifling. I can be a little sensitive to the sight of blood...so the combo of the incredible heat and the scene where one character does some dental work on himself just didn't sit well with me. I reached down to grab my playbill to fan myself and passed out. My husband caught on to what had happened and when I woke up a few seconds later, I thought I was talking in a whisper but it was more like a LOUD stage whisper. The conversation was like:

Mike (very quietly): Are you ok?
Me (way louder than I thought!): I'M OK!
Mike: You fainted.
Me (again, LOUD!): WHAT? FAINTED? ME?

I felt myself going out again from the heat but kept it together the last 20 minutes of the show. It was embarassing at the time but at least we can laugh about it now.

I'M OK! FAINTED? ME?

[Zeitoujo]

Posted: 2/25/08 at 11:00am

Not sick but whenever I'm onstage during spring awakening I get so afraid that I'll have to use the bathroom... ahha