Actors Freaking Out on Stage

TOOTSIE was on PBS tonight, always enjoy this film. Watching when Michael reveals himself to be a man on live television got me thinking. Has an actor ever done something similar on stage? I was wondering if some on-edge musical ensemble member made a scene by doing different choreography, or just stopping the show to yell out some political or personal rant? Sure, they'd "never work in this town again" but if they're unstable and they may not care about it.

And the time that actor, John something or other leapt onto the stage from one of the boxes shouting something during Our American Cousin. I'm not even sure he was in the play. Crazy!

The late Richard Griffiths famously stopped several performances of The History Boys, both on Broadway and in London, to admonish the audience after multiple cell phones went off.

Daniel Day-Lewis had a nervous breakdown on stage while performing Hamlet in London in 1989. He claimed to have seen the ghost of his own father during the scene in which Hamlet sees the ghost of the king. He walked off the production mid-performance and has not acted on stage since.

Toni Collette walked out of a performance of The Wild Party after her co-star, Mandy Patinkin, spat water in her face as part of an ad-lib. She returned for the next performance, though.

AC126748 said: "Daniel Day-Lewis had a nervous breakdown on stage while performing Hamlet in London in 1989. He claimed to have seen the ghost of his own father during the scene in which Hamlet sees the ghost of the king. He walked off the production mid-performance and has not acted on stage since."

And I thought Slings and Arrows originated that idea - I guess not!

Kelly Bishop walking off the stage during a performance of A CHORUS LINE?

Hard to confirm if this is true. I think I remember reading about the incident in a book but I can't figure out what book it was. I just did a search online and the only reference I could find was a BWW post in 2009 which quoted the following from a now-defunct online source:

After almost a year and a half in the show, Kelly asked the producers for a raise, which they refused. Colleague Justin Ross said: "It was nothing unreasonable; she had been doing the show a long time and just wanted a perk. They refused her, and she became preoccupied with it. She stepped forward to begin her monologue, and suddenly said, 'Zach, I have to leave. I can't talk to you any longer. I'm sorry.' Joe Bennett, who was playing Zach, said, 'Sheila, if the light's bothering you, we can change it,' to try to get her back into the lines. She paused at the proscenium and said, 'I have to go. I'm sorry,' and exited. Thommie Walsh, who was close to Kelly on and offstage, said, 'Zach, I think I better check on Sheila,' which left two gaping holes next to each other on the line. No one had any idea that this was going to happen, including Kelly. Zach cut to Kristine, skipping 'At the Ballet,' and you could hear pages flipping wildly in the pit. After that, Sheila didn't exist, and some of her lines were given to other people.

I can't think of any that I know of, but I love reading the posts. I don't know why but the first thing that came to my mind of an actor freaking out (but granted not on stage) was Shia LaBeouf at Cabaret. Kudos to Alan Cumming for keeping calm.

Forty five years ago, I went with my mom to see Danny Kaye ion "Two by Two". He was performing with a broken ankle or leg(can't remember which). He whacked Walter Willison and Harry Goz with his crutch as they walked by, and goosed Joan Copeland as he sang his ballad to her. She did not appear too pleased! Audience gave him quite an ovation at the curtain, but really...

g.d.e.l.g.i. said: "What about that time a Phantom got too into character and lost his shit entirely? Documented here.



"

This got quite a laugh out of me, thanks for sharing.

¿Macavity? said: "This got quite a laugh out of me, thanks for sharing."

Just in case you couldn't figure it out for yourself, his outburst was as follows: "No! No! Fuck! Goddammit -- you lying bitch!"

One of my favorite stories in Ken Mendelbaum's Not Since Carrie is about actress Henrietta Jacobson turning to the audience during a performance of Chu Chem in its Philadelphia tryout and saying, "There was a song here, but you'll be better off without it."

I seem to remember reading about a performance of Mary Stuart during which Janet McTeer got so worked up in character that she had to pause the performance and ask for a drink of water until she settled back down. Does anyone else remember reading about that or see it in person?

Sadly, when Vivien Leigh was in "Tovarich" she was experiencing emotional problems and didn't trust leading man Jean Pierre Aumont, calling him "That Frenchman" on stage.

Also, Dora Bryan was in her dotage when she did London's "Full Monty" and would come on stage eating fast foof. She actually told one of the actors (a respected Broadway regular) that he was inept and didn't belong on stage. This was in front of a full audience.

Updated On: 1/24/17 at 01:17 PM

"Ally Sheedy in Hedwig
http://nypost.com/1999/12/17/weird-ally-quits-hedwig/"

Um, Sheedy didn't quit. She was fired.

Kevin Cahoon didn't take over. It was Matt McGrath.