Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors

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Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors

Posted: 8/23/12 at 6:47am

I read this amusing (and lengthy) article on some interesting onstage moments. By Playbill.com from RC in Austin, Texas
Flubbed Lines and More

"Noel [Coward] and I were in Paris once. Adjoining rooms, of course. One night, I felt mischievous, so I knocked on Noel's door, and he asked, 'Who is it?' I lowered my voice and said 'Hotel detective. Have you got a gentleman in your room?' He answered, 'Just a minute, I'll ask him.'" (Beatrice Lillie)

Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors

Posted: 8/23/12 at 8:02am

"Tovah Feldshuh
Theatre by the Sea, Matunuck, RI – as Sophie in Star Spangled Girl by Neil Simon – during a quick change, for some reason done onstage – the lights came on too soon. I leave the rest to your imagination."

Don't worry Tovah baby, we've seen it all.

Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors

Posted: 8/23/12 at 8:09am

OY!

Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors

Posted: 8/23/12 at 8:16am

Used by both, Betty Buckley and Judy Kaye say they "went up" in a production of blahblahblah

WTF does "went up" mean? And why have I never heard this theatre slang before?

Gracias

Updated On: 8/23/12 at 08:16 AM

Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors

Posted: 8/23/12 at 8:36am

^ What they said. What does it mean?

Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors

Posted: 8/23/12 at 8:44am

I was just coming to post the same thing. I thought I was the only one.

In Pippin went up entirely after two years and seven months. Gave my notice that night.

What the hell does that mean?

Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors

Posted: 8/23/12 at 8:45am

I'm surprised you haven't heard that before. It's common for actors ... the phrase, that is, hopefully not the actual experience itself.

"Going up" on your lines, means drawing a blank. Forgetting them completely.

I "went up" in the middle of the scene, in other words.

That saying has been around forever in the theatre.

"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."

blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22

Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors

Posted: 8/23/12 at 8:46am

Oh....before it seemed like what she said was an incomplete sentence. Now it makes since. Thanks best12bars.

Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors

Posted: 8/23/12 at 8:47am

You're welcome!

"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."

blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22

#10

Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors

Posted: 8/23/12 at 8:49am

Wow, Susan Blackwell is a trooper.

#11

Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors

Posted: 8/23/12 at 8:50am

There are some real gems in here. I "LOL"d at a few of the stories, truly.

"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."

blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22

#12

Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors

Posted: 8/23/12 at 9:02am

Laura Benanti's is funny to me. Several of the stories feature castmates needing to prompt them on stage, but a six year old? Yikes!

#13

Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors

Posted: 8/23/12 at 9:31am

^ Well, and on THAT song, too.

Laura's probably memorized thousands of lines and lyrics in her career, and she goes up on "a needle pulling thread?" Seriously?

It reminded me of a line Tracey Ullman says in "Bullets Over Broadway" to Jennifer Tilly:

"You always seem to forget the last part of your line, which is my cue ... it's 'or NOT to be.'"

"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."

blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22

Updated On: 8/23/12 at 09:31 AM

#14

Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors

Posted: 8/23/12 at 3:10pm

That was fun, but I couldn't get through it all it one go. The playbill.com format of having the story spread over tens of pages is annoying.

Beyoncé is not an ally. Actions speak louder than words, Mrs. Carter. #Dubai #$$$

#15

Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors

Posted: 8/23/12 at 3:54pm

That was pretty interesting. I really liked the ones from Laura Michelle Kelly and Victoria Clark.

"You drank a charm to kill John Proctor's wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!" - Betty Parris to Abigail Williams in Arthur Miller's The Crucible

#16

Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors

Posted: 8/23/12 at 4:42pm

Kind of obsessed with Norm Lewis's story about the kid screaming "I hate you" during Little Mermaid.

"Anybody that goes to the theater, I think we’re all misfits, so we ended up on stage or in the audience.” --- Patti LuPone.

#17

Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors

Posted: 8/23/12 at 4:55pm

Jack Lemmon used to love to tell the story about the time he was doing TRIBUTE on Broadway and during a very emotional scene with the actor playing his son, an actress made an early entrance. He looked at the actress and said, "Excuse me dear but we are having a private conversation."

Updated On: 8/24/12 at 04:55 PM

#18

Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors

Posted: 8/23/12 at 7:56pm

When Angela Lansbury brought her production of GYPSY to South Florida after it closed on Broadway, Zan Charisse was replaced (her choice) in the title role by her sister, Nana Tucker.

The "runway" for Gypsy's strip number and "Rose's Turn" was a wagon of runways that stretched from one side of the proscenium to the other and the director was attempting a cinematic effect where the wagon moved forward during "Let Me Entertain You", approximating the illusion of a camera zoom.

Unfortunately, everything was done manually in those days and nobody thought to put up guards along the apron of the stage. So on opening night, the wagon was pushed forward, over the edge and into the orchestra pit.

Nana calmly stepped off the back of the wagon just as it went off the stage and continued, never missing a note even as the members of the orchestra scurried to avoid the falling wagon. They had to stop the show and recover for "Rose's Turn", but Tucker finished her song!

***

Even better: for those who don't know the show (and who would that be?), Gypsy has a number of quick changes during the number to show her climb up the ladder of burlesque "success". One night, a costume got stuck and the wardrobe mistress had to go on stage with a pair of pliers while a stage hand held a fan in front of Nana as they struggled with the clothes.

Without missing a beat, Nana Tucker turned to the audience and said, in her best Gypsy Rose Lee, "My clothes don't want to come off me! Can you blame them?"

She got the biggest laugh and the second biggest hand of the night (after Angela's "Rose's Turn").

And Nana was all of 19 at the time. I was very impressed with her poise.

#19

Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors

Posted: 8/23/12 at 8:16pm

I don't get Matthew Morrison's at all.

In A Naked Girl on the Appian Way, I had this rant about how I thought my real parent were gymnasts. I was saying this to my adopted father, played by Richard Thomas, and we literally stopped the show because we were laughing our asses off. We just thought it was so ridiculous. I was crying from laughing so hard that I had to put a couch pillow over my face.

#20

Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors

Posted: 8/23/12 at 8:35pm

I don't know the play, Phyllis, but as Morrison explains the moment, it does sound pretty ridiculous. Maybe the absurdity of "my real parents were gymnasts" just occurred to them and once they had the idea in their heads, they couldn't let it go.

#21

Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors

Posted: 8/24/12 at 1:35am

This is a story I heard -- don't know if it's true or not.

At one of the performances of THE SISTERS ROSENSWEIG an actor accidentally dropped and shattered his champagne glass. Linda Lavin, who was playing Gorgeous, ad-libbed "Now all we need is a wedding."

#22

Flubbed Lines, Miscues, Onstage Mixups by 60 Actors

Posted: 8/24/12 at 12:31pm

My Favorite story is from "A Day in Hollywood, A Night in the Ukraine." David Garrison was playing Groucho Marx, and one night the Margaret Dumont character picks up a bell to ring for him (his entrance cue) and it falls apart in her hand. So he enters and says, with a perfect Groucho leer "I told you if you played with that thing too much it would fall off!"

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