Embarrasing Broadway moments.

[JohnDoe3]

Posted: 8/15/14 at 4:53pm

Anyone know of any embarassing Broadway stories such as performers sharting on stage, etc.?

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 8/15/14 at 5:22pm

Megan Hilty told a story on a Seth Rudetsky interview where she squatted down during "Popular" and inadvertently blew into her mike at the same time, making for a rather amusing misinterpretation of events. She improvised a line in response but i can't remember what it was.

[JRybka]

Posted: 8/15/14 at 5:39pm

I saw Ragtime on Broadway (the original) and the boardwalk wouldn't rise or go down (I cannot remember) but you could hear the weeze of the hydraulics and then a stagehand came out and you could hear them banging on it.... I remember Tetah ad libbing "The Boardwalk... they are still working on it you see... so we must speak a little louder." The audience laughed and they went on.

[Jane2]

Posted: 8/15/14 at 5:43pm

I know the story of a certain actress of a certain age who shorted on the stage.

[NoName3]

Posted: 8/15/14 at 7:18pm

^ I think that may be the same production where rumors were widespread that the dancers had to be careful not to slip in the puddles that appeared onstage when they performed with the legendary star. Or maybe not. It all Depends.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 8/15/14 at 7:21pm

Then there was the time a BWW poster started a thread on EmbarrasSing Broadway Moments and misspelled "embarrassing" in the title!

(Sorry. Couldn't resist. I make plenty of typos myself.)

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 8/15/14 at 7:26pm

Not on Broadway but at a college theater department: I heard about an actress whose menstrual period began suddenly during the middle of a scene she was performing. The blood flowed down one leg and she continued the scene, using the sole of her opposite foot to "dam" the flow and keep it from reaching the stage floor.

I didn't see it firsthand, but the entire department was buzzing about it.

[Musical Master]

Posted: 8/15/14 at 7:27pm

I saw a performance of WICKED when it was on tour and the girl playing Glinda did her wand/staff twirl at Elphaba in act 2 and she dropped it by accident and quietly said "whoops". The audience laughed, and so did I.

[Jane2]

Posted: 8/15/14 at 7:42pm

" Or maybe not. It all Depends."

Yes, after that incident she was told to depend on Depends.

Corny story, tho.

[mjohnson2]

Posted: 8/15/14 at 10:33pm

I saw a tour of MEAN GIRLS where the girl in the harness broke her vagina. Yeah, that was bad.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 8/15/14 at 10:35pm

Alice Ripley once dropped the music box into the front row. I know this because I was sitting in the front row and the music his fell into my friend's lap. She handed the box back to Alice who carried on. Normally not a big deal, but the music box scene is a rather tense, highly dramatic moment in the show. It kind of killed the momentum that Ripley and Bryan D'Arcy James had built in the scene.

[gleek4114]

Posted: 8/15/14 at 10:39pm

Kristin Cenoweth told a story from Wicked. Mid way through "Defying Gravity" she sprinted off stage due to tummy troubles. It was apparently very severe and time sensitive because she recalled yelling at one of the flying monkeys to help her get out of her dress.

Updated On: 8/15/14 at 10:39 PM

[RachelJean]

Posted: 8/15/14 at 10:45pm

Not sure if it qualifies as embarrassing since I'm sure the audience didn't really notice (although it was strange) but when I saw "Nice Work if You Can Get It," Jennifer Laura Thompson made her entrance in one scene with a green glow-stick attached to the side of her gown. She noticed it midway through and tossed it on the couch behind her. Later when the female ensemble entered and sat on the couch, one of them grabbed it and held onto it while the others looked on and tried not to laugh. It was weird because I don't think there was a scene in the whole show that involved glow-sticks, unless I'm mistaken.

Updated On: 8/15/14 at 10:45 PM

[RENT_is_Wicked2]

Posted: 8/15/14 at 11:49pm

During a performance of Spring Awakening, Jonathon Groff was singing "Left Behind" and forgot a section of the lyrics. So he just stared at cast member in front of him and kept repeating "All things...". All the other performers would drop their flowers in front of Groff and start to silently laugh while trying to keep a straight face, some laughing really hard trying to contain themselves.

[TheGingerBreadMan]

Posted: 8/16/14 at 12:07am

Here's a video of Jonathan reenacting that moment. It's pretty hilarious.


Here Updated On: 8/16/14 at 12:07 AM

[Scarlet Leigh]

Posted: 8/16/14 at 3:04am

I've never gotten to see any kind of hilarious things myself other then someone dropping a prop or something, but I love the story that Hugh Panaro told to Seth Rudetsky about the time that the chair did not work at the end of Phantom... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHuEeI2-bug

[lovebwy]

Posted: 8/16/14 at 11:18am

At a matinee of the 1989 Circle in the Square revival of Sweeney Todd (otherwise known as "Teeny Todd"), at the part where Bob Gunton as Sweeney says "Does anyone want a SHAVE?" a kid from the front row got up on stage and sat down in the barber's chair.

Beth Fowler walked over to the kid and said "Probably best that you go back to your seat, dear".