Favorite show mishap — Page 2

Just this week - not my FAVORITE mishap but still an "interesting" evening at Matilda this past Friday.

First was fun..Matilda changes the large kid cast from show to show but on Friday night there was an unexpected last minute change. On the board outside and in the program, it was noted that Mitchell was going on as Bruce - but we heard over the loud speaker right before curtain that Chris Sumpter was going to be Bruce. All the kids on stage behind the curtain squealed and applauded really loudly...maybe it was his first time?? It was kind of sweet.

Then during the show, the "bathroom" set didn't pop up (and then sort of popped up late,but not exactly all the way)..so Matilda had to run off stage to get the hair tonic bottles...twice. Not sure if Paige knew this was going to be a problem beforehand, but she didn't miss a beat. There were a couple of other things that happened as well. Its hard to tell from the side but it sounded like Bruce's mic went off at the end of Revolting Children because Chris was doing a great job singing and then you couldn't hear him. Also it looked like Matilda and Trunch entered for their curtain calls from different spots on stage because a set piece did not move? Not sure about that one..

I have sat in lottery side orchestra seats before where you can pretty much see into the wings but I have never seen so many backstage people frantically "running" round doing things.

To top the evening, I noticed that a few cast members kept looking down into the audience and this poor older woman usher kept running back and forth throughout the show. She later told me there was a drunk in row AA - I guess not rowdy enough to be removed?? but enough that was distracting for the cast and more work for the ushers.

The joys of live theater...

Updated On: 6/22/14 at 12:19 PM

High School prduction of West Side Story. Tony missed his entrance and the kid playing Chino, not knowing what to do, shot Maria. Maria, not knowing what to do, eventually grabbed her chest and fell to the floor. The stage manager, not knowing what to do, brought the curtain in. End of show.

Oh my goodness I cannot stop watching that Into the Woods clip! Best thing ever!

One of my friends told me a story of an amateur production of West Side Story. Chino aimed his gun at Tony, pulled the trigger, but the sound effect or blank (whatever they used) didn't go off. Not knowing what to do, Chino had a stroke of brilliance - he took his shoot off, yelled "Poison shoe!" and threw it at Tony. The shoe hit him squarely on the forehead. The actor playing Tony had a moment where he looked at Chino, and you could just read his thoughts: "Poison shoe? Are you kidding me?....But I do have to die...do I have any other choice?" And he slowly crumpled to the floor, dead.

My other favorite story was from an undergrad production of Brigadoon that I played Fiona in. We had these beautiful flats of the houses in the town - they were designed to specifically have that classic old musical look. Stunning. But, because Fiona's house was in the middle of the stage, there wasn't anywhere to be before an entrance except directly behind the flat. So I was near the door, and the girl playing Jean had to crouch on the floor below the window. If I remember correctly, this moment happened right after Fiona and Tommy had their first kiss together onstage. I walked back to the flat with that internal bubbling of quiet excitement, I just got my first kiss kind of way - and the door to the flat was somehow stuck. I couldn't exit. I tried once or twice more, but you couldn't pull too hard on the door because you'd risk the entire flat moving. At this point the audience knew something was weird. I turned around, and the actor playing Tommy was looking at me. I said in my Scottish dialect, "The door is stuck." Tommy walked over in a very manly way - but he couldn't get the door open either. The two of us along with the audience burst out laughing (and I truly believe our characters would have laughed in this situation). Then Jean popped up from her spot under the window, and I yelled out, "Jean!" She opened the door, and I gave Tommy a smile and exited. I had to re-enter in the middle of his next song, so I purposefully left the door ajar just a hair. After the song was over, I went back to the house, opened the door, turned back to look at him and gave him a "AH! The door worked!" type of nod. The audience cracked up. Best moment of the entire run. I love gems like that.

Re: the Helen Keller fall

There have been upteen stories that that was planned. And pretty stupid as in the Keller household, there would not be a ledge to fall off of.

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And its a fail because the audience is now worried about the ACTRESS not the character.

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Many years ago, in 1979 IIRC, there was an all-male production of HELLO, DOLLY! at the former Kabuki Theatre in San Francisco, starring Michelle. The opening number went off fine, but as the curtain parted on Vandergelder's store it caught on a piece of scenery, and, in full view of the audience, Vendergelder's Hay and Feed began to fall apart, piece by piece. Bless the actors' hearts, they gamely carried on, singing 'It Takes A Woman' while dancing all around the crumpled set as if nothing were amiss.

When Michelle made her entrance as Dolly, she stopped center stage, took a long look around, and said 'Well Horace, it looks like you had a small earthquake in Yonkers this morning'. Of course, it, you should pardon the expression, brought down the house.

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I've seen plenty of mishaps in my time, but my favorite was in one scene from On The Twentieth Century. At one point Oscar (John Cullum) did a quasi-ballet lift of Mrs. Primrose (Imogene Coca). Somehow, Imogene's hair got caught on John's jacket button. The strand wound so close to his chest, that he couldn't get his fingers in to free the hair; neither could Imogene reach far back enough to get herself clear. They did most of the scene with her practically dangling from his chest!

Trouper that she was, when it was time for her exit, Imogene reached back as far as she could and gave a tremendous YANK which did the trick. John mimed unwinding the hair, putting it back, and giving a quick kiss on the top of her head.

After the show, when I went backstage, they were patching up Imogene, who actually tore out a chuck of hair enough to have her scalp bleed!!!! What fortitude!!

This is from memory so details might be a bit off:
I went to If/Then a couple of months ago and witnessed a hilarious mishap. In the very beginning when she (Idina) is in the park, she gets an important phone call. Everything was going perfectly, until we hear the phone ringing, and Idina stars going through all her pockets, before bursting into laughter. The audience was pretty confused for a few seconds before she says something like (out of character) "I don't have a phone, could I have a phone please?" while still laughing immensely. LaChanze fished a phone out of her purse and everyone goes back to their spots. Before starting the scene over Idina looks up to the sound booth and asks "You ready?". Still chuckling she says to the audience and James "Now what was my line?". The scene starts over, and when we hear the phone ringing again she triumphantly takes it out of her pocket. A few lines later James asks for her phone number and she jokingly says "I'm sorry, it's a new phone!"

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I remembering seeing American Idiot in Berkeley and someone (I want to say it was Josh Henry) slipped on a piece of paper in that office scene. He managed to catch himself on the desk and gave a big smile at what had just happened. It was quick and probably not that noticeable, but still funny.

Also, not really mishaps, but funny thing:

I saw One Man, Two Guvnors late in the Broadway run, and people (besides the audience plant) began offering food and Corden came up with the most brilliant improvs. For example, one women offered him a roll from a restaurant, along with one of the cloth table napkins that restaurants have, and he chastised her for stealing the napkin. I don't think that was a plant right? I seem to recall hearing that the only plant in that scene was the "hummus" one.