Scariest moments in a show...

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 8/22/08 at 11:14am

What are the moments when you jumped out of your seat, screamed, and/or were genuinely frightened in a theater?

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 8/22/08 at 11:15am

Oh and I'm just waiting to hear someone list the entirety of RENT, WICKED, THE LITTLE MERMAID, etc etc...

It won't be funny so don't bother.
Updated On: 8/22/08 at 11:15 AM

[Weez]

Posted: 8/22/08 at 11:17am

... so the entirety of THE WOMAN IN BLACK isn't a valid answer? Shame. I didn't sleep properly for a month after seeing it. I was totally terrified. Possibly not from *start* to finish, but certainly from early on in Crythin Gifford, and it didn't get any less frightening as it progressed.

I HAVE TO GO BACK IT'S BEEN TOO LONG! :3

[Gothampc]

Posted: 8/22/08 at 11:20am

Matthew Broderick in Night Must Fall. Actually he didn't scare me because I knew the play, but the woman next to me screamed and that scared me.

[Patash]

Posted: 8/22/08 at 11:20am

"What are the moments when you jumped out of your seat, screamed, and/or were genuinely frightened in a theater?"

Just after I glanced at the ticket and realized how much I paid for it.

[ragg_ballad]

Posted: 8/22/08 at 11:23am

^haha Patash, I totally agree.

The Pillowman scared the heck outta me, especially "The Writer and his Brother," when the brother wakes up...

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 8/22/08 at 11:24am

Anytime there is a gunshot in any show, I practically jump out of my seat...

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 8/22/08 at 11:27am

Weez, I so wanted to have that experience of "Woman in Black." I suspect that the NYC production just didn't work for some reason. I love the TV adaptation, however.

Near the beginning of Caryl Churchill's "The Skriker," Jayne Atkinson, as the shape-shifting title character, sort of rose up out of the floor, eyes rolled back, head lolling back and forth, spewing a seemingly nonending, free-associative, truly terrifying demonic rant.

And I honestly felt as though I wanted to leave. I was actually frightened--not startled--for the first time in a theater.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 8/22/08 at 11:27am

It wasn't a particularly scary show, but THE LIEUTENANT OF INISHMORE had some genuinely horrifying moments. David Wilmot's performance was really frightening: I really believed he was capable of all those horrible things.

[Patash]

Posted: 8/22/08 at 11:31am

I should also mentioned that I never got the hype about Woman in Black. I saw it many years ago in London and literally fell asleep -- the only time I think I've ever done that in a play. I went again a few years later (also in London) and again I thought it was absolutely dull.

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 8/22/08 at 11:33am

Cliff bursting through the curtain and atacking Sidney at the end of Act 1 in Deathtrap always gets a scream from the audience.

[kec]

Posted: 8/22/08 at 11:34am

In THE WOMAN IN WHITE, when Glyde ran into the train tunnel. The projection of the train coming out of the tunnel made me -- and most of the audience -- jump and/or duck.

[Rymes_With_Witch]

Posted: 8/22/08 at 11:34am

"The Pillowman" was so freakin' creepy...I squirmed all the way through both times I saw it...and probably screamed the first time in one of the really scary parts. It's my favorite play pretty much ever.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 8/22/08 at 11:37am

"The Pillowman" is the only other one where I've been frightened, I think. Very powerful stuff.

[ILoveMyDictionary]

Posted: 8/22/08 at 11:49am

Woman in Black!

[roseaddams]

Posted: 8/22/08 at 11:53am

When the LITTLE SHOP tour came to Los Angeles and the finale started playing and the plant actually flew over the audience I was so freaked out I didn't even hear the song. Scared the crap out of me. I was sitting far audience left, too, so I could see it in all sorts of detail.

[sondhead]

Posted: 8/22/08 at 11:54am

I would definitely say the entire final sequence of Sweeney Todd (City on Fire on) but specifically when you think he's about to kill Johanna.

Not so much in the movie, but definitely on stage. Fantastic underscoring.

[DidYouReallyHearMe]

Posted: 8/22/08 at 11:57am

I saw a truly horrifying adaptation of Crime and Punishment starring really good friends of mine at the Orlando Shakespeare Theatre and wow, the final scene of act 1 is the murder that Raskolnikov commits, the entire back wall turned red, and all you saw were the silhouettes of the actors, Raskolnikov corners the landlady, pushes her to the floor and all you see was the raising of a hatchet and the sound of it hitting a mushy substance behind the set.

This show was done in an intimate 118 space theatre.


There have been plenty of others as well. But this will forever stay in my mind.

[Mattt]

Posted: 8/22/08 at 11:59am

I hate gunshots in theater. I jump everytime even when I know its coming. But I have to say the most memorable gunshot experience was at Jersey Boys. There is the scene when Franki is in the car with two mobsters who are arguing with eachother when all of a sudden one of them randomly pulls out a gun from his coat and shoots the other guy. It scared me so much.

[broadwayfan310]

Posted: 8/22/08 at 12:21pm

Gun shots always get me too!

[taylorPHENOMENON2]

Posted: 8/22/08 at 12:33pm

The screaming in Bye Bye Birdie.

[oohshizz146]

Posted: 8/22/08 at 12:38pm

Sorry, I know you guys didn't want a Wicked answer, but the robot thats the wizard always freaks me out...I'm not sure why...

And gunshots. Anything that surprises you like that.

[bundy5000]

Posted: 8/22/08 at 12:41pm

Entr'acte for Mamma Mia

not very scary but it was more suprising. When it suddenly began to play, It felt like a bomb went off in my ears.

The 2nd time I went to see it, I expected it but I almost did jump out of my seat again. Like a muscle reflex.

It is similear to Tower of Terror in DisneyWorld. You know it is gonna drop but when is the question.

[Robert Taylor]

Posted: 8/22/08 at 12:42pm

Definitely the train in "Woman in White"

And also, when Moritz is about to commit suicide in "Spring Awakening," the suspense of waiting to hear the gunshot (that never comes) took me to the end of my seat.

[masque2]

Posted: 8/22/08 at 1:06pm

Again -- the Woman in Black. Just saw this for the first time recently and it is a great experience for those who want to be frightened in the theatre. A great show that lives up to the reputation surrounding it.