DRS tonight (4/15) - BIG oops!

so, i just did a quick scan of the current posts, and didn't see anyone post about this yet (which surprised me), so i'll share the fun that happened at DRS tonight!

i was sitting in the orchestra, row b, in what is considered the "partial view" seats (which i was really excited about because i only paid $41.25 for them). i had brought two of my friends who had never seen it before and the show was as fabulous as usual...

...and then all of a sudden joanna gleason's mic started acting up, but i don't think anyone thought it was a big deal. but THEN, as we're nearing the end of the first act and we get to the point where the bellboy crosses the stage "paging dr. shuffhausen", the chair set piece is supposed to come out with "dr. shuffhausen" sitting on it facing backstage, but something went wrong and the set never came out!

i don't think anyone realized that there was something really wrong until rachel york didn't make her next entrance and the entire cast just stood on the stage looking at each other and giggling for a good 30 seconds before a voice announced "ladies and gentlemen, we're having some technical difficulites, so we are going to go back and do that over in just a couple of minutes"!

now, i've seen this show at least 8 or 9 times, and i couldn't figure out what exactly caused the problem, but when they went back and did the scene over, it appeared that it was rachel's entrance that threw things off. i could totally be wrong about that, but it appeared that way. in any case, they went back to the middle of the scene, started again, and giggled a lot for the remainder of the show.

it's not everyday that you see a mistake that causes a show to have to stop, and in this case, due to the nature of the show, it was amusing.

just thought i would share


EDIT - by the way, rachel is great, but i miss sherie

Updated On: 4/16/06 at 02:17 AM

First of all, why on earth have you seen this show 8 or 9 times? Save your money. See it once - let the memory linger.

Second, it dissapoints me that people are paying $100 to see supposedly professional actors on stage, and they giggle if something goes wrong. I was always taught that if someone doesn't make an entrance, or a set doesn't come on, or whatever - you keep going in character, recover as best you can, ad-lib if you can, and be professional about it. I think it's uncalled for, and in some ways - rude to the audience. But - if everyone was enjoying themselves, and the cast found it funny, and the audience found it hysterical - then go for it! But as a professional performer myself, I would not have been pleased if my fellow cast-mates had done that in front of a live audience.

i've seen it that many times because, well a)it's hysterical and thoroughly entertaining and b)it's been a really good show to take my non-theatre going friends to.

anyway, i don't think that there was a way for them to continue without her entrance. she introduces the next character, and without the introduction, the rest of the scene wouldn't have made sense. they also said they were having "technical difficulties"...perhaps between the mics giving out and the set pieces not coming in, they were having bigger problems backstage - who knows?

i totally agree with you - people are paying $100 to see professionals, and i'm sure there were probably a few dissapointed audience members out there last night. but in this situation i don't know if there was anything they could have done. plus, the nature of this show is so funny and goofy to begin with that it just kind of worked for them.

Katecab, please don't justify yourself.

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If you want to shell out $1000+ just to see a show multiple times, that is your money you are wasting.

In the long run (cause I assume most people who do that are under 30, I hope...), you are just setting a bad spending trend for yourself, and you will pay for it greatly come your mid-life crisis, when you have 1000 OCR's, but no home to call your own.

Hey, I'm another big fan of DRS and I have never paid over $30 for it and I have seen it 6 times. And every time, it is so worth it.

As with professional actors, nobody is perfect. And they do the show 8 times a week. sometimes they need something to make it entertaining. Not saying that the technical difficulties were done on purpose.

but with a technical difficulity that is important to the scene, it is sort of hard to improve it. unless, i guess the bellboy pointed offstage and said that Schuffhausen was over there. or if someone backstage said "that's me." I don't know.

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Personally, I sort of like it when something goes wrong. That's theatre, people! If you want perfection, go see a movie when there is a little thing called editing. Part of the magic of the stage is fixing things. My favorite part of a show is when something didn't turn out well, and seeing how the performers fix it. I loved when I saw The Odd Couple, and Nathan had a problem remembering one of his lines. He stood there for a second, SPIT in Matthew's face, started laughing, and then walked off trying to compose himself. Matthew went on trying to cover, but Nathan eventually recalled his cue. Best theatre moment of the year for me.

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Updated On: 4/16/06 at 02:17 PM

kat, that is hilarious! that is a reason to see live theatre. the only time you can see that in a movie is in the bloopers. and not all movies have that.

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true dre, and seeing the "ottakes" on a dvd just aren't the same

thanks Sir...I wanted something different.....

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Gang, HERE is the real story of what happened at DRS last night, straight from the mouth (or rather email typing fingers of) Gregory Jbara (who should know):

START QUOTE:
"It was an automation malfunction that stopped the show. The hardrive controlling the turntable and set palettes randomly jumped backward three cues causing the turntable to turn in the wrong direction. Rachel York had the common sense to not return onstage in an unsafe environment."
END QUOTE

Talent, beauty and brains. Good for her. I'm glad no one was hurt.

lc

it really depends on the show...i see just about everything at least once and then i go through phases where i see certain things multiple times, especially if there's a specific performer i really admire in it.

plus, i never pay $100 for anything...thank goodness for lotteries and student tix