4/7 Evening: Did someone die in the Front Mezz at the Atkinson? This isn't a joke.- Page 2

[GYPSY1527]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 3:03pm

Actually her reasoning was that it was God's decision to have the man fall ill. I spoke to her at intermission to seek a possible exhange for a later date and she was pretty adiment that there was nothing she could have done. Dumb if you ask me.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 3:05pm

I'm hope that they had assumed he was already dead from the beginning. that's crazy that they didn't stop the show and did not start CPR for twenty minutes after the first usher sat with him.

[SorryGrateful]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 3:07pm

That's bullshi*t, GYPSY. Completely ridiculous. I would definitely push and try to get a refund or another ticket. There were much better ways to handle that cockup.

[ken8631]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 3:09pm

I was at a performance of "Boy From Oz" when an audience member was having a problem (heart attack I believe), and cast on stage noticed the commotion. Stephanie J. Block (playing Liza) actually said to stop the show, asked if medical personell were available, and the audience member was attended to. They restarted the show from where it left off after they were taken care of. Very well done, the wellness of the audience member was more important for 10 minutes than the show.

Ken

[musicalkid]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 3:10pm

"It was the worst theater going experience of my life."

I believe it was the dead guy's worst theater going experience as well. it might even have been worse than yours.

and he didn't write any letters.

[ljay889]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 3:12pm

^ The man didn't die though. Thankfully.

[jarretSF]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 3:55pm

Saturday Night at Altar Boyz in SF a woman slumped over in her seat at the Orpheum in San Francisco. I was there helping with the merchandise and sitting in the back by the sound board. I noticed her boyfriend carrying her up the aisle. I ran to the lobby to advise an usher who ran to get the hose manager. By this point she was laying in the lobby and I turned my phone back on and called 911. She came to and stood up on her own and I went to speak to her (with the 911 operator on my phone) and she refused ambulance service. She and her boyfriend decided to leave, and another usher had to chase her down to give her her shoes which were still at her seat.

[LionessInWinter]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 6:22pm

I was there, too, on Saturday. I'm glad the man was ok. I couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman from where I was, almost to the top of the upper balcony on the center aisle.
I couldn't figure out why ushers seemed to keep going back and forth to someone down there, thinking it must've been someone who refused to get out of a wrong seat, especially when I saw a couple go sit on the stairs on the left side of that section. Then the fireman came in after a while.

That's absolutely appalling that it took them that long to call 911 if he was unresponsive after vigorous shaking....the first time!

I was amazed not only that the play wasn't stopped....especially when those fireman had to displace more people to pick him up and carry him out (it was 4 of them doing that wasn't it?)....but that the actors, who obviously were seeing what was going on, were able to and did continue.

[winston89]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 6:41pm

I must say that Gypsy that the hose manager telling you that it was " god's choice to make the person sick" as a defences statement to why you shouln't get a refund, is just bull SH*T. I mean I know that the theatres HATE having to give refunds and they do sometimes come up with BS reasons as to why they shouldn't just so that they can keep the money but this was the worst one I have ever heard. You should have made a crack about how god has nothing to do with me having a bad experence that deserves me to get my money back or something like that.

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 7:28pm

God's choice? Wow! What did you say to that?

[Dollypop]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 7:44pm

Many times ushers are hired on a per diem basis. I know this because I attended different performances in three different theaters over a 1 month period and had the same young man seat me. I started a conversation with him and he told me about his per diem hiring.

I can't imagine a per diem hiring having a sense of the theater's seating plan, let alone CPR.

[winston89]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 8:23pm

Yes I have heard of that happining but not on broadway. Ushers at theatres ( other then theatres like roundabout which have a volonteer usher program) are part of a union and have rules such as they must commit to being able to be at every show and things lke that. The ushers at broadway theatres know the seating chart and know what to do during an emergency. I have heard about this sort of thing at theatres round the country but not on broadway.

And, the reason why I said roundabout doesn't do this is because they have a volanteer usher program to get people who can't pay to see the show in for free pretty much.

[LionessInWinter]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 8:59pm

I don't expect many people to know CPR, but I do expect virtually anyone to know how and when to dial 911.

[GYPSY1527]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 9:02pm

God's choice? Wow! What did you say to that?

-I told her that I was not talking about the incident specifically but how it was carried out in a distracting manner. She got a letter today and it was also sent to the manager of the theater. It's not a matter of being insenstive as some have insinuated, its about handling the situation appropriatly in respect to the person and other audience members.

[mikem]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 9:40pm

Keeping in mind that we don't necessarily know the whole story, etc, etc: based on what's been said so far, I think it is insane that they would not turn on the house lights to try to figure out what was going on with the guy. Didn't they want to see what his color is like, etc? And I can't believe that they didn't ask for medical help but just let the poor guy sit there slumped over. Sounds like a lot of bad calls by a lot of different people.

They are lucky that the guy is still alive (and hopefully without any permanent damage) -- it may have been "God's decision" that the guy fell ill at that particular moment, but it was the theater staff's decision not to do everything possible to increase the odds that he would survive by opting not to stop the show. Does the house manager honestly believe that there is any reasonable person (audience or actors) who would have said, "Why are they stopping the show? Who cares that there is some guy in the audience who may be dying?"

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 9:48pm

When I saw THE VERTICAL HOUR right before it closed, an elderly woman a few rows behind me had a heart attack. The show wasn't stopped but it was about five minutes before intermission so an ambulance came and the woman was taken out on a stretcher...

She seemed to be breathing fine and all...I actually thought I heard her talking to one of her friends who was with her when they were taking her out of the theater.

It was frightening.


An even scarier story: when my aunt saw The Boy From Oz, the day she saw it was a scorchingly hot summer day and the air conditioning was BROKEN. They stopped the show three times and three seperate people were taken out of the theater probably due to heat stroke. My aunt said people were walking out left and right; it was THAT unbearably hot.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 10:20pm

People have just got to stop dying in the theater. It isn't right.

[Jane2]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 10:27pm

"And, the reason why I said roundabout doesn't do this is because they have a volanteer usher program to get people who can't pay to see the show in for free pretty much."

Yes, they do have volunteer ushers, but they are in addition to the regular ushers they have on staff. They do this just to let people see the show free, as you said. They don't even care if a volunteer doesn't show up, as they have their own usher staff.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 10:29pm

Theatre is a Live experience
so Death will always be a factor.

[kleighblue01]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 10:31pm

Oh, that's awful! It really is surprising that they didn't stop the show..

I was at Beauty and the Beast in the mezz, and all of a sudden flashlights catch my attention. So I look over, and a man is on the floor, with medics everywhere trying to revive him, I suppose.. in the theatre. That went on for a while.. no one was watching the show for at least 20 minutes.

[C is for Company]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 10:48pm

Last time I checked, people paying $100 dollars should not be suffering because of "G-d's will" considering he isn't giving us the money to pay for it in the first place.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 10:51pm

"Last time I checked, people paying $100 dollars should not be suffering because of "G-d's will" considering he isn't giving us the money to pay for it in the first place."

I think the real suffering was on the part of the man having the medical emergency. It is inconvenient for others? Yes. Should they have stopped the show? Probably so.

But keep in mind who the real victim of this medical emergency was. The man who fell ill.

Updated On: 4/9/07 at 10:51 PM

[Kelizascop]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 11:45pm

When I was backpacking around Europe in college, I had standing room seats at the opera in Vienna. During the first scene, I started feeling really awful, and the next thing I remember, I was lying on the floor of the lobby, with hovering people all around me (interestingly enough, speaking English to me).

I have to admit that, honestly, until reading this thread, I never even though about what happened in the actual theater.

I'm guessing they didn't stop the show, though. But, hey, if anyone was at the Vienna Opera House in March of 1996 and some stupid American girl's passing out disrupted your enjoyment of the opening scene of Maria Stuarda, I do apologize.
Updated On: 4/9/07 at 11:45 PM

[SamIAm]

Posted: 4/10/07 at 8:12pm

There was much discussion of this over on AllThatChat. While there are theater policies, it happens sometimes that the emergency sort of 'unfolds' without anyone being in charge and making the critical decisions.

During the original run of the Producers, someone died and the cast did not find out until intermission. In the meantime, they were making jokes about the commotion. So, yes, it does happen and it isn't always handled in a way that is fair to the patrons, the person who is sick OR the actors.