Anyone witness any mishaps on stage?

[boonanas]

Posted: 10/9/08 at 11:48am

I've heard of a time when Idina Menzel fell during a performance of Wicked and broke her rib. I was wondering if anyone has seen anything like this? Prop malfunction, major line flub, someone falling, anything of that ilk.

The only thing I can think of is when I saw Christmas Spectacular a long time ago and a bunny was supposed to pop out of a giant gift box but the gift box wouldn't open and everyone had to come over and pry it open. Hilarious.

[wicked_beast4]

Posted: 10/9/08 at 11:52am

SEARCH. There are countless threads on this subject.

[boonanas]

Posted: 10/9/08 at 11:53am

Out with the old, in with the new, is what I always like to say.

[Robert Taylor]

Posted: 10/9/08 at 11:59am

ANOTHER thread on this?

Okay...I'll just copy and paste from the old thread that took ten seconds to look up.

When I was at Tarzan and Josh Strickland was rescuing Jane from the huge balloonhead spider, he accidentally swung into a beam and really hurt his head. The fire curtain came down and the performance continued twenty minutes later with a bandage evident on Josh's head right by the dreadlocks.

[boonanas]

Posted: 10/9/08 at 12:03pm

ten seconds is ten seconds too long is what I always like to say.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 10/9/08 at 12:13pm

Well, as detailed in the "Legally Blonde Understudies" thread I witnessed "The Great Golf Cart Crash of 2008" last month at Legally Blonde.

Once at Grease I witnessed Janine DaVita (Rizzo) flub a line. Matt Hydzik was on for Derek Keeling. This was before Ace Young joined the cast and Matt was still going on as Kenicke. At the dance in the top of Act II she's dancing with Matt and instead of saying "How about being my partner for the dance contest?" she says "How about taking me to the dance?" There was a moment of silence because they were already at the dance. She just said her next line and stomped off. Later, right before Beauty School Dropout, Will Blum (Roger) came out swinging his radial and the end snapped off and flew into the audience. One of the reasons Matt was on for Derek was because Ashley Spencer had elbowed him in the nose earlier in the week during the dance break during the finale and broke his nose. I didn't witness that though.

I'm sure there are more but I can't remember at the moment.

[TonyVincent]

Posted: 10/9/08 at 12:15pm

ten seconds is ten seconds too long is what I always like to say.

And insisting people take 5 minutes to rewrite their experiences instead of taking 10 seconds to search is pretty entitled and inconsiderate is what I like to say.

[wicked_beast4]

Posted: 10/9/08 at 12:16pm

Wow, boonanas, learn some manners.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 10/9/08 at 12:19pm

ten seconds is ten seconds too long is what I always like to say.

[boonanas]

Posted: 10/9/08 at 12:20pm

Learning manners is for the birds, is what I always like to say.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 10/9/08 at 12:23pm

During Encores "No No Nanette" in a big dance number, Sandy Duncan slipped and fell. As she was dancing, she had a big smile on her face. She slipped, but kept smiling. She got up and got right back into the dance still smiling. Nothing shakes Sandy Duncan.

[winston89]

Posted: 10/9/08 at 12:52pm

boonanas is acting like a total moron is what I always like to say.

[Weez]

Posted: 10/9/08 at 1:10pm

I've never witnessed any mishaps on stage. Out of respect for the performers, whenever I feel a mishap coming, I jam my fingers in my ears, shut my eyes, and go "LA LA LA LA LA!" until I feel the time of the mishap has passed. I mean, if I'm paying $120 a ticket, I don't want to see the performers do anything WRONG!

Updated On: 10/9/08 at 01:10 PM

[Shunterk2]

Posted: 10/9/08 at 1:19pm

When I saw Wicked for the first time. During the cornfield scene Glinda came out, and her previous wig was stuck to the bottom of her dress. She was swirling and twirling for a while before she exited, she finished the scene, and they removed it. I felt so bad for Kendra, but I felt really bad about the fact that the wig probably cost around two thousand bucks.

[Timmer]

Posted: 10/9/08 at 1:29pm

This isn't from Broadway or even professional theatre, but it's fun.

Our college theatre group was doing "110 in the Shade" and the kid who was playing Jimmy dropped his drumstick. The fellow playing H.C. got up, said "I'll get that", picked it up, and handed it to Jimmy as if nothing unusual had happened. Great cover.

I was also at the Metropolitan Opera fora performance of "La Gioconda" that turned out to be one of its most unusual -- and famous -- performances.

My mother was a great Domingo fan -- she would hve gone to see Placido Domingo read the phone book. So wewent to the Met one night to see La Gioconda because Domingo was singing.

Well, he had a cold and after the first act, he couldn't go on anymore. They ahd anotehr tenor on the roster named Carlo Bini, who was in the audience to study the stage business because he was doing the role later in the season.

They grabbed Bini out of the audience and threw Domingo's costumes on him. Now, Domingo is a fairly big guy and Bini, well, isn't. You could see the pins holding the costume in place!

Because Bini didn't know the stage business, the soprano, Mignon Dunn, was leading him around and "spotting" him in the places he was supposed to stand.

Then the unthinkable happened. People started to boo. (You don't boo at the opera.) The blue-haired little opera ladies rolled up their programs and started to hit the booers.

Bini stopped the performance and went downstage center to talk to the conductor, who happened to be Italian like Bini. The conductor turned and in a perfect Chico Marx voice said, "You no like it, you no gotta clap. But you no boo! No boo!" Then he turned and resumed the performance, with Miss Dunn continuing to lead Mr. Bini around. This spectacle happened twice.

Not long after the second time, the most famous piece in "La Gioconda" -- "The Dance of the Hours" -- began. Now, if you're of a certain age and turn of mind, yu recognize that piece: "Hello muddah, hello faddah." This is when I fell off the chair laughing hard.

All it needed was for Harpo Marx to come flying across dropping teh wrong sets and the night would have been complete.

In the Times the next day, Mr. Bini described it as "a very funny performance." Yeah, you might say that. Updated On: 10/9/08 at 01:29 PM

[EugLoven]

Posted: 10/9/08 at 1:47pm

During the Act 1 Finale song "Feeling Electric" in the Second Stage production of NEXT TO NORMAL, Alice Ripley was lifted-up by Brian d'Arcy James and Asa Somers... and slammed her crown into the lighting hanging from the first tier. Talk about method-acting, taking "head-case" to a whole new level. (She made it through the show, but was pretty sore throughout)

[george95]

Posted: 10/9/08 at 1:54pm

Since I have see Phantom on Broadway 27 times, I've seen a bunch of mishaps. I believe I have put them on other threads, but rather than come on this thread just to complain about it (????) might as well tell the stories again.

I have seen four Carlotta's drop the apple that they're supposed to stick in the roasted pig's mouth. Everything from the apple popping out, the apple flying off the stage, the ensemble members kicking it around....

When the managers read the letters and the Phantom voice takes over, sometimes it comes in too late, not at all, sometimes it interrupts the manager's lines, sometimes it is off by a few seconds.....

During Carlotta's "Think of me" the backdrop is supposed to fall during the second refrain, not the first. So it fell during the first refrain; no one was in place, the lights and music did not correspond, and of course the case did get smacked in the head with the backdrop. They quickly pulled it back up, and then it fell at the correct time, only this time, the actors reacted to it, instead of ignoring it, and the music and lights corresponded. I'm sure a first-timer would have been very confused.

A few months ago, when Raoul was supposed to jump into the trap door "lake", apparently the trap door wasnt working because he just walked off instead.

[DefyGravity777]

Posted: 10/9/08 at 3:21pm

At the Wicked tour this past Sunday, Katie Rose Clarke hit herself in the head with her wand when she was twirling it in the Catfight scene.

Last summer during Phantom of the Opera the chair during the Finale didn't turn around so the Phantom handed Meg the mask instead of it sitting on his chair when she pulls the cloak off of it.

Updated On: 10/9/08 at 03:21 PM

[Broadwaynerd101]

Posted: 10/9/08 at 4:06pm

Oh dear!! SERIOUSLY!!! Is taking 10 seconds to look it up that hard?

Manners are for humans like me. But you on the other hand, I don't know what you are. I'll have to look into what your kind of species has to do as a replacement for manners.

[george95]

Posted: 10/9/08 at 4:23pm

Doing a search is probably about as hard as ignoring a thread that you don't want to read. : ) Just a thought to brighten your day. : )

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 10/9/08 at 4:25pm

But Broadwaynerd! I thought you were a beast?

[Broadwaynerd101]

Posted: 10/9/08 at 4:28pm

SHHH! Don't tell!

[bryanw3535]

Posted: 10/9/08 at 4:29pm

Saw Annaleigh Ashford in "Wicked" hit herself in the head when twirling the wand. It looked pretty hard, but she just said "I'm OK, I'm OK" and kept going.

[UnderTheHill]

Posted: 10/9/08 at 4:34pm

At Mary Poppins, there was a set malfuntion during one of the numbers, I believe it was the one in the park, where one of the large pieces hit one of the dancers at the end of the number, you could see the the set piece bounce and shake, then resumed going off-stage. They stopped the show for about 15 minutes, then resumed.

Also, during a performance of A Christmas Carol at MSG, a friend of mine performing fell in the background while running around back and forth on the stage while others were dancing, he got up and continued on.

EDIT: Finally, when I saw Avenue Q at the Vineyard, think it was the 2nd week of performances, I was sitting in the front row when the main puppeteer that did Trekkie and others fell off the stage exiting a number, he fell down several steps and hurt his ankle, they had to stop the show. A few weeks late, went back to see the show and he was doing all his voices from a chair backstage since he was on crutches.

Updated On: 10/9/08 at 04:34 PM

[Broadwaynerd101]

Posted: 10/9/08 at 4:40pm

WOW! You actually witnessed the Q mishap? Wow! Did he finish the show that night? Or did they stop it completley?


Updated On: 10/9/08 at 04:40 PM