Cursed Shows

[N0tThatGirl213]

Posted: 10/22/04 at 5:14pm

So I'm assuming that most people here have heard the myth that the second night of a show is cursed.

Anyone have stories they want to share?

Posted: 10/22/04 at 5:36pm

omg thats soooo true.....cuz like you are so psyched up for opening and then the next nite (the second show) everyone is more relaxed and the excitement is down and everyone is exchausted from tech week and yea its true its usually one of the worst shows

[jacobtsf]

Posted: 10/22/04 at 5:37pm

I thought you meant actual shows that were cursed (i.e. the Shakespeare show with the name that an actor never says)

[mominator]

Posted: 10/22/04 at 5:47pm

well if this is true Brooklyn is in for a rough night

[CrowdMeWithLove]

Posted: 10/22/04 at 5:51pm

Haaaaaaaaaaa. I just had one the other day.

I am currently in Dancing at Lughnasa at my school. If there's anyone who doesn't know the show, it is very heavily reliant on the use of a radio and the music that plays from it...or, obviously, in theatre, from the speakers.

It was our second show and we were all pretty pumped. The first act went amazingly and during intermission we were all celebrating our brilliance.

::shakes head mournfully::

Talk about counting your chickens. Apparently, during intermission, one of the crew members let their friends come backstage and fool around...they decided it would be cool/funny to press random buttons on the speakers. In the process, they blew the sound system. And no one knew it because they must have either A) not realized it or B) realized it and got away from it as quickly as possible. So, everyone was on stage and at one part the character of Gerry is supposed to fix the radio so that it plays...and then he dances intimately with his sort-of girlfriend's sister. It's one of the most important parts.

Of course, the music never started.

There was about 1 minute of silence...and then five minutes of made up dialogue. It was crazy. At one point, they started talking about books and how they like "books about animals." Then they got into this weird argument/conversation about chairs and tables. It made NO sense. Finally, the actor playing Gerry realized the cue wasn't coming at all and began randomly singing...and he just started dancing with the sister. The rest of it went shakily, since everyone was so thrown off.

In retrospect, it was hilarious and we got through it.

But I still want to KILL those kids. Seriously. Ugh.

Posted: 10/22/04 at 5:52pm

Carrie was cursed! But I still love it. Not that I have ever heard the score as I know nothing about bootlegs or anything at all.

[Plum]

Posted: 10/22/04 at 7:13pm

Isn't Sunset Boulevard considered to be cursed? I vaguely remember hearing that somewhere, but I'm not sure why.

[eponine88]

Posted: 10/22/04 at 7:15pm

In a community theater company near me, the seoncd show of the second week of the run is cursed. One year someone broke their arm during that performance, another time someone broke their leg, and another time someone was struck by lightning during intermission outside the stage door. Not fun..........

[N0tThatGirl213]

Posted: 10/22/04 at 9:56pm

Since Jacob mentioned it...

I actually was in "that Shakespeare play" last summer. On the second night, right before the "tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" speech, the fire alarm went off. Five hundred people had to evacuate the building and stand outside in the rain while waiting for the fire department to come and investigate. Once they arrived, the firemen declared the building safe, but could not get the alarm to turn off. So we finished the show with the alarm going off. Then the roof started leaking.

[Roxie]

Posted: 10/22/04 at 11:05pm

This is true! When I was dancing in a production of The Music Man (a city Gilbert and Sulliven production of it) on our second night our music cut out. We didn't have the pleasure of live music for this show so during The Well's Fargo Wagon it stopped. It has like tons of solos in it and because it was a city production there were some not so great singers. Let's just say that it raised quite a few keys and the A I had to sing at the end was painful....

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 10/22/04 at 11:09pm

No offense, but I have to say one of the last shows I'd want to see done by a high school is DANCING AT LUGHNASA.

[LindsayAnne]

Posted: 10/22/04 at 11:15pm

We did the Scottish play at my college last spring, & on opening night (which was a full moon, incidentally), our lead actor fell six feet through a trap door during one scene & landed flat on his back (he was alright). Later on, part of the set caught fire & the theatre had to be evacuated temporarily. And on the way home, one of our other actors wrapped his car around a tree (he was okay, thank God). Freaky stuff.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/22/04 at 11:21pm

Oh, gosh... in the shows I've been in the cast sucks on night two and it's the lack of nerves and such from the opening night that make the second night suck. But then on night three the lesson has been learned and everything picks up...

FOLLIES is cursed, right??? Updated On: 10/22/04 at 11:21 PM

[morosco]

Posted: 10/22/04 at 11:33pm

"There was about 1 minute of silence...and then five minutes of made up dialogue. It was crazy. At one point, they started talking about books and how they like "books about animals." Then they got into this weird argument/conversation about chairs and tables. It made NO sense."

I'm sorry you had to go through that. But I have to say this is hilarious!

[B.B. Wolf]

Posted: 10/22/04 at 11:41pm

Old friend of mine did the Scottish play back in the late 70's. He was playing MacDuff. During intermission, the actor playing the scottish king DROPPED ACID!!!! Bob entered on Turn Hellhound, Turn! for the final battle and the actor turned around and Bob saw the look in his eyes. Absolutely insane! Yet somehow able to deliver his lines, not that he has too many left by that point. Anyway, instead of following the choreography they had been meticulously planning for weeks, the king came running at Bob, sword overhead, screaming at the top of his lungs. Bob didn't know what to do, except parry of course, and he ran off to side. He looked to the stage manager who looked petrified and just shrugged to him. Meanwhile the king is screaming and beginning to foam at the mouth (I kid you not). He rushes at Bob full steam and Bob deflects it, but it glances off his blade and grazes his forehead. Blood goes everywhere from the big gash across his brow. Bob told me that he realized two things at this point: one, the actor REALLY thought he WAS the scottish king, and he was REALLY trying to kill him and two, the audience was beginning to applaud the fight. So Bob, a little woozy from the cut, is dancing around trying to avoid the guy. Now what's supposed to happen was the king falls down behind a pillar partially off stage where a watermelon is waiting. Macduff is supposed to hack into the watermelon, giving the nasty sound, take a severed head from one of the ASMs and stalk back on stage with it. Well, Bob manages to dodge another blow and slams the pommel of his sword into the king's face, breaking his nose. More blood goes everywhere. The audience is literally cheering. The king sways a bit, eyes roll up into his head, and falls back unconscious. Believe it or not, he fell RIGHT BEHIND THE PILLAR! Bob hacks into the melon, the ASM, who is crying, hands him the severed head and he stalks back on stage just in time for "Here lies the usurper's cursed Head."
Everyone I tell this story to says that they think he was lying to me. I then tell them that he told me this story becuase I asked him why he had that huge scar across his forehead. Do I believe in the curse of the Scottish play? What the **** do you think?
EDIT: Oh, sorry. That wasn't really about "second night" curses was it?

[N0tThatGirl213]

Posted: 10/23/04 at 8:42am

It's ok, close enough. We didn't believe in it until the fire alarm incident. Luckily that was as far as our "curse" got.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 10/23/04 at 8:45am

wow! That is quite the story.

[AnothaPartofMe]

Posted: 10/23/04 at 8:53am

Well, I don't think it's a curse... but all of the closing nights I've had within the recent past haev gone wrong.

COPACABANA- Lost my contact during the love duet "This Can't Be Real", and spent most of the song looking like a pirate with one eye open.
GYPSY- I forgot my taps for "All I Need is the Girl", and since none of the other guys could tap, didn't wear them for "Broadway". So, I did the number as a softshoe in characters.
JOSEPH...- We spent the Saturday before closing night karaoke-ing, and I lost my voice, and could only sing about 5 notes up to the performance, and I was Joseph.

[broadwaystar2b]

Posted: 10/23/04 at 10:19am

haha, I remember you in The Scottish Play NTG, but you left out the part about the swing band concert next door
well, last night was my second night
I've been sick since Tuesday so I was on a three hour vocal rest right before my first line
When I said it, Fran Drescher's voice came out of my throat!!!!!!
However, now I sound like Harvey Fierstien...

[N0tThatGirl213]

Posted: 10/23/04 at 11:30am

Oh, come now...it was highly amusing. Are you going to honor Harvey tonight and go on anyway?

[broadwaystar2b]

Posted: 10/23/04 at 11:32am

well, since there's no Eve to usurp me anyway, I'm going "mama welcome to the 20s" tonight too...

[N0tThatGirl213]

Posted: 10/23/04 at 11:33am

Haha! ::is tempted to become Eve:: Just kidding. No Eve could be half as good as you are in this role.

[broadwaystar2b]

Posted: 10/23/04 at 11:34am

"I'm sure you underestimate yourself Eve, you always do"