Most Embarrassing Onstage Moments?

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 9/8/08 at 3:49pm

Ever done something so ridiculously embarrasing onstage (NOT in the script, just a mistake) that you wished the ground would swallow you? How did you cover for it?

I have two, I guess...

My first was when I did "Wizard Of Oz" approximately a bajillion years ago. (Okay, it was six years ago, but it seems like a bajillion.) I was playing the Wicked Witch of the West, and it was such a small, low budget production that when I melted, I was supposed to lay under a black sheet onstage. I had to lay there while the cast danced around and sang "Ding-Dong, The Witch Is Dead!"

Well, I had on these fake fingers-- green and warty with long red talon-type nails. I thought it'd be funny if they were sticking out from under the sheet. But wouldn't you know, someone accidentally kicked my hand, and the fake fingers went FLYING into the audience. You can imagine there was all kinds of screaming and crying from the little kids in the audience after that.

My other, and MUCH more embarrassing one, was when I played Lydia Bennet in "Pride and Prejudice" about two years ago. Now, Lydia is, to put a fine point on it, a total harlot, with a good bit of bimbo mixed in. And it being "Pride and Prejudice," the whole cast was wearing these lovely low-necked, floor-length empire waist dresses that had elastic around the neckline and under the bust.

Well, there were about four dance numbers in the play, even though it wasn't a musical-- people went to balls all the time back then-- and in one of the dance numbers, my partner stepped on the hem of my dress. Which caused it to fall down, so I was naked from the waist up. Luckily, I was wearing a bra. Even more luckily, I was at the back of the stage, near the curtain, so I just went offstage and didn't come back on until I had a line. Surprisingly, no one in the audience that I talked to saw anything, probably because I was in the back, but several of the other kids onstage saw.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 9/8/08 at 7:43pm

when i was reno sweeney in Anything Goes, during "You're the Top" i let out the hugest burp ever....

I couldn't help it...didn't realize it was coming...and it just CAME OUT! it was horrifying, but apparently people said it came off like a joke or something...w/e. Reno Sweeney doesn't "burp" in You're The Top....hahaha.

[jessikax09]

Posted: 9/8/08 at 10:01pm

I was playing the Wicked Witch of the West and all of my fake nails started falling off one right after the other. It was very obvious and it took our Dorothy everything she had not to laugh. The mics actually picked up the sound of some them dropping. It soooo embarrassing.

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 9/9/08 at 3:56am

Ahh, and here I thought I was the only Wicked Witch to lose her fingers! (Or at least her nails.)

Did you have to come out after the show and show all the kids that your real hands were totally unharmed?

Oh, this one wasn't me, but when I was in the musical "Honk," which is based on "The Ugly Duckling," one of the stars (I'll call her Jo) went backstage and started talkinga bout another star (I'll call her Lola). While Lola was onstage singing a solo, Jo's mic picked up what she was saying and broadcast to the whole audience, "Yeah, Lola's such a skank. Did I tell you what Connor said about her..." She continued on, trashing Lola all over the place. This whole conversation was picked up with the mic.

To make this even worse, Lola was only eleven at the time.

[blondebaby589]

Posted: 9/9/08 at 2:28pm

During a number with a long and intense dance break, the dance briefs under my dress turned into a major wedgie. I'm pretty sure anyone in the first 20 rows had a clear view of my butt. Especially since friends in the audience told me the teenage boys behind them were pointing and laughing.

[jessikax09]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 5:37pm

Yeah... I also had to show the kids that I wasn't really green haha.

That happened at my production of Wizard also... except it wasn't a whole conversation it just picked up the Lion yelling "****" off stage.

[bwaylvsong]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 7:00pm

When I did "City of Angels", I had to move a setpiece off stage. One performance, the setpiece got caught in the scrim, and I had to get it off stage by the next scene. What was only about a minute of attempting to take it off felt like an eternity. It also happened to be the only performance that was sold out and videotaped. And now it's on Youtube! Keep your eyes on the scrim.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SPAHBN54pg&feature=user

[KathyGriffinLovesYou]

Posted: 9/21/08 at 5:37pm

i tripped and fell right on my butt trying to run offstage. i thought there was a step and there wasnt and i fell and all people saw was just this weird butt on the side of the stage and since i was bent over had no body. it was funny and HORRIFYING

[Felm_heart]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 10:00pm

I was playing Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast... Two separate costume malfunctions!

The first one was that a very elaborate golden belt I had began to slide down. It took my mic and my pants down with it! This happened during Be Our Guest. It was one of our last dress rehearsals, so it wasn't full, but there was a sizable crowd. I think a Napkin went off stage with me and we fixed it.

I also had a wax hat piece that was much too big for me. We had it worked out so it didn't slide down too much, but it did fall off in the middle of a scene. Cogsworth was alarmed but he picked it up and quickly said: "Wax on, wax off." Brilliant!

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 9/23/08 at 6:34am

Felm_heart, that's hilarious. Your Cogsworth sounds amazing.

The most embarrassing moments in a show wasn't something that I did specifically. But last year, when I did "You Can't Take It With You," the curtain was supposed to go down (and the lights with them) at the end of the first act. But they didn't. So, the actors were running around saying, "It's awfully bright, I think we should turn off the light," and "Hey, I just went upstairs to turn off the light, and I just realized... NO LIGHTSWITCH. We were so gypped!"

Finally, the guy playing Grandpa said, "Let's get drunk!" or something and everyone walked offstage.

Curtain didn't go down at the end of ACt 2, either. People were eating food, and so they pretended to eat for awhile. This dialogue went on for awhile: "Pass the rutabagas." "What ARE rutabagas?" "I don't know." I think Grandpa might have said "I need to walk the dog" to get offstage this time.

Amazingly, the audience didn't notice anything wrong either time.

[doitonstage8]

Posted: 9/25/08 at 8:07am

haha, tripped down the stairs during "Follow your Heart" in Urinetown..

[wizard2joe]

Posted: 11/21/08 at 9:28pm

When I did Sound of Music and I played Friedrich and had a quick change. I forgot to button my shirt so and when I went on stage, I had to button my shirt while on stage. Then, my pants started to fall down but I didnt notice it because I was wearing bike shorts. I didn't notice this until I went off stage and all the crew members where laughing at me.
Updated On: 7/20/10 at 09:28 PM

[Xaya]

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

During a play we had a bar with all kind of weird substance in different bottles.
A girl had to drink in one of the bottle at some point (the one with water in it)
For the last representation, someone thought it would be funny to switch the bottles, so the girl ended up taking the vinegar one.
She spitted it all on me, we had to improvise around the little accident.

Poor girl...

During the same last representation, a girl was holding a 'baby' (doll), but she tripped and the doll went flying to the other end of the stage. Try to conver that one up.

[ComedyTradgedy]

Posted: 6/29/10 at 12:07am

WIZARD OF OZ
We were dancing to the song Jitterbug ( a deleted scene from the movie) and when the lion was supposed to catch the scarecrow butwhen he fell back into his arms, the lion completely blanked and the scarecrow hit the floor with a loud "BANG!"

Following that, when the Glinda the Good Witch cast the freezing spell at the end of the song instead of the "snow" (which was actually powdered microwave mash potato mix) falling evening across the stage, it fell in one steady stream onto the jitterbug's face and into her mouth.. believe me, it was a not very fun job helping her shake all the potato flakes out of a jitterbug costume.

Beauty & the Beast..
During the Beast's transformation into a prince, he was supposed to do this sort of dance in the fog and strobe lights and drop the mask behind him and have a techy take it off stage behind the curtain. Well, instead the mask landed right on a light and started burning and melting and making the whole theater smell like burnt popcorn. Luckily Cogsworth was backstage and had to awkwardly stomp out the flame in a giant styrofoam clock costume.. we managed to patch up the mask with some hair from the chest piece though, and apparently the audience didn't notice apart from the smell.

Oh, and MUSIC MAN. Zaneeta had a lovely voice crack when she was running off stage squealing "Yee gads!" .. The yee part was high and cute, but the gads was I'd say about three octaves lower.

[TechGoddess]

Posted: 7/5/10 at 12:10pm

I was traveling with my high school's One Act "No Exit" to another school for a One Act Festival this past year. I was part of the running crew and part of the rules for this festival is you must be able to set up the set in 10 mins or less and the audience may watch. Our set was a moving platform that consisted of a metal frame with plywood on the top. I was working on the front of the platform so may back was to the audience. Once we returned to our room after our performance, I decided to lay on the ground. Someone else that was on running crew with me said that the back of me pants were ripped. It turns out that I was walking around my school, another school, and set up a set with the back of my pants ripped for everyone to see my underwear possibly all. I have no idea when they ripped.

[Kara4broadway]

Posted: 7/7/10 at 12:13am

I was working on Little Shop of Horrors my senior of high school and as Audrey I had to wear those skimpy outfits! But I had a really quick change towards the end when I came out in my nightie which was see through leopard. I was trying to change so quickly that I accidentally pulled down my shorts as I stepped out of my pencil skirt and when I ran onstage and the spotlight came on I was facing the back of the stage with my butt cheecks and thong cleary visible through the skirt!! Luckily it was just a dress rehearsal and the orchestra and my theatre teacher were the lucky viewers!

[giulia_star]

Posted: 7/10/10 at 2:32am

Cheaper by the Dozen:
I was playing Miss Brill, who is the totally stick-in-the-mud teacher. So, my costume. It consisted of a black wrap skirt, a really tight fitting blue blouse, a suit jacket and gray hair.
Anyway, the first night of the show, our costumer forgot to bring my suit jacket, so I had to go onstage with just that blue blouse. Also, my gray hair color didn't work that night, so I just looked sexy, not old....
To the embarrassing part: I can't walk in a wrap skirt. I ended up flashing the entire audience twice that night as well as tripping during bows. Ah, I hope the audience enjoyed that.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/11/10 at 6:17pm

Me Moment: I was playing a 'Lovely Lady' in Les Mis for my school this past year and we had a 3 minute quick change into these crazy ridiculous outfits. The second we'd get off stage, no matter who was around, we'd have our begger costumes off and we would be frantically running about back stage to but all our make-up on and tight clotheing. I didn't have time to do my make-up, the first night of our performance. So, I ran over to the make-up desk and piled TONS of lip stick and BRIGHT RED blush. I didn't even have time to see what it looked like. I ran out on stage and when I got off, my best friends face looked horrified. I looked like a freak, and worse off, I had lip stick all over my teeth. It took me 10 minutes alone to get most of the blush off. :/

Random Moment from others at my school: 2 Years ago, my school put on The Wizard of Oz. How on Earth, at a high school like mine, were we suppose to make a house appear like it was spinning through the air. We came up with the idea of having the one kid (whose name I won't mention) wear all black/brown for dirt, and run/spin around the stage with a giant version of a house on his head. The one night, he got super dizzy and ended up falling into the pit in the middle of the song.

[AwesomeDanny]

Posted: 7/18/10 at 8:28pm

Well, I think my most embarrassing moment happened just today. It was our invited dress for Seussical, and I'm playing a Wickersham Brother. During "Biggest Blame Fool" after we enter, there is a four-measure dance break thing, where we attack and run around Horton. Somebody was in my way, and I tripped and fell on my butt right as the others were taking their places for the next part, and I was up half a second after we started singing. I wouldn't have minded if this were one of our performances just for camps that come to see the show, but this was for only friends and family, so everybody I knew who is seeing the show came today. FAIL.

[claude hooper2]

Posted: 7/27/10 at 5:55pm

I was in The Complete History of America Abridged at my high school, and it was an all male cast, as Reduced Shakespeare Company shows usually are. It was Act 2, and at the moment I was playing Jo Chi Min, essentially an asian communist spy/dictators daughter thing. My costume was a short black cocktail dress, boxers underneath, ridiculous black wig...and 6 inch heels. when i exit (for a quick-change into Richard Nixon..) I carried a chair off stage. Well, on opening night, as im lugging the chair off, i begin to teeter on my heels, but thankfully make it off stage. But, as soon as i get behind the curtain, i fall backwards...onto the stage. The chair is on top of me, and the dress is over my head, flashing the audience...everyone saw, and began to crack up...it was not cute =/

[dievampiredie2]

Posted: 7/27/10 at 9:10pm

I was playing Hope in Urinetown. I was tied up in the chair in the secret hideout and it was time for me to stand up and say my speech to the poor. My feet were crossed and tied in such a way that if I stood up, the rope would untie.
Well, I stood up, and it didn't untie. I just kind of hopped over to give Ma Strong a hug like I was supposed to, hoping that someone would come untie me. Meanwhile, I tried to pull away from Ma Strong but discovered that my earring had become stuck in her hair.
Everyone onstage tried to untie me at least once, but to no avail. And my earring was still stuck in Ma Strong's hair. In-character panic ensued.
Luckily our Officer Lockstock knew how to improv- he came onstage and said, "May I propose an intervention? Miss Cladwell appears to be stuck." Tiny Tom ended up running backstage to grab a pair of scissors and they cut the rope and freed me from Ma's hair.
I finally stood up and walked across the stage to thunderous applause. (Yes, this was during a performance.)

Also, our Officer Barrel also played Hot Blades Harry, and all he had to do for his costume change was put his cop shirt on over a white t-shirt. The cop shirt was stored inside a set piece so he would be able to change onstage during a blackout. However, this was never mentioned to him. So on opening night he had no choice but to come onstage as Barrel... dressed as Hot Blades Harry. "Officer Barrel, where have your clothes gone?," Lockstock asked him. "Left them in the sewer," he replied. And they went on with the scene.

During another performance, Lockstock's whistle got stuck inside his costume so instead of whistling when he entered for Act One Finale, he shouted "Ahoy!"

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 7/28/10 at 7:21pm

When I was in The Sound of Music, playing the Captain, the word "ship" in one of my lines turned into "****". Go figure...the audience didn't notice, but I could see the conductor and the whole band laughing at me...!

And then in Les Mis, I grabbed a piece of the barricade when I jumped onto it...it came off in my hand, and I fell OFF the barricade. Looked around, and took another jump!

A friend of mine played Friedrich in The Sound of Music. He went off for a quick change, and his dresser, pulled down his shorts quickly to change them. They came down, as did his underwear. He was stood in front of most of the cast completely naked...

[MadameLibrarian212]

Posted: 7/28/10 at 8:05pm

i played marian in the music man and i started to crack up during the kiss on the footbridge. several people came up to me after the show asking me what was so funny.
Updated On: 7/28/10 at 08:05 PM

[broadwayfresa1993]

Posted: 7/31/10 at 2:05pm

My pants fell down.

[mpd4165]

Posted: 8/1/10 at 10:47pm

So this didn't happen to me, but in a show I was in. During Skin of Our Teeth, the dinosaur and mammoth are supposed to slowly back away from Mr. Antrobus before he sends them off into the cold. Well, our mammoth could see nothing. I'm standing behind a door waiting for my entrance when I hear a scream and a crash. Behind the door everyone is whispering, "what happened, I think she fell", etc. It turns out, our mammoth did a step, step, fall down the stairs (there's about a 2 1/2-3 ft distance from our stage to the floor). She landed on her back, but made a "mammoth noise" as she described it, and Mrs. Antrobus walked down the stairs saying, "come on mammoth, it's ok," helping her back up and she got applause at her exit.