Didn't WICKED have a MUCK-UP MATINEE when Idina appeared out of costume in her red Jumpsuit and started talking to the audience? And then Glinda went out of character and yelled "I love Idina Menzel" to everyone.. It's on youtube somewhere. If I was an audience member during that show I would have been pissed.
That was not a matinee. That was scheduled to be Idina's last performance in WICKED. She was injured the day before and had to call off her last two shows and Shoshana Bean went on for her. That was definitely a weird night, but a LARGE majority of the audience members were there specifically for Idina. It is joked about a lot in the community because a lot of people flew in from all over the country to see her last show, even from London. So yes, she did appear out of costume in the last two minutes of the show. Yes, it was utter commotion however considering that most of the people in the actual audience had seen the show before and were there to see Idina herself, it was expected.
"Life in theater is give and take...but you need to be ready to give more then you take..."
"Sunset Blvd" on Broadway closed on a Saturday. Elaine Paige at the matinee added a few adlibs but nothing crazy. The muck ups seem to be a more west end thing.
Not a fan of muckup,matinees. I really was not impressed during Gavroche's death scene that matinee when Enjolras was wearing Mme Thenadier's wig. Kind of took the edge off the moment :)
No, that is the point of a muck-up. They do things not normally in the production. While that may be a little over the top...it is part of the muck-up.
I think that the U.S. does this through the concerts a 54 Below, ect. It may not be the whole show, but they may do something that is not normally in the show. I think that is where it would be more of a hit....thought?
The cast of RENT did that 24/7. Every show was a Muck-up show for them. That show completely fell apart cause Michael Grief never came back to touch up the show and the cast was always goofing off and completely destroying John Larson's message.
He said 24/7. The show was never, EVER done the way it was supposed to, but it was done around the clock all day every day. Even more performances per week than Sleep No More today.
I've seen several muckup matinees, and while there isn't an announcement, there is a big number of audience in attendance who are die hard fans of the show who would spot the jokes. In almost all the muckups I've seen, they are done in the fun/lighter moment of the show and not in the dramatic moments at all. Seriously, if you are not a fan of the show you would not know at all. I would say even repeated audience members wouldn't notice, as the muck up tends to happen in very minute details of the show. You really need to know the show quite well to spot them. Most of them are also done by the ensemble and not the principles. It does seem to be a West End tradition rather than Broadway. Having said that, the final matinee of Rebecca in Stuttgart was a muck up as well. In just about every muck up matinee I've seen, there were parts where I heard some fans giggle except I couldn't really spot the variation.
Shut up BroadwayGuy. I saw the final Broadway cast of "Rent" at least once a week during the final months. Aside from Renee having trouble vocally there was no goofing off. Grief was there. The show closed with an amazing cast.
Oh sure, once they got word that it was closing and it was going to be filmed then everyone started caring again. But the few years before the final cast, the show was a joke. Yes they still did their job and did the show, but you could tell a lot of heart got lost in the later years. Greif never came in and cleaned up the show like it desperately needed. End of Story.
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