Has an audience member ever stopped a show?

There have been plenty of heart attacks that have stopped a show.

I hate to tell this story, but since you're interested:
2nd preview of "The Full Monty" on Bway.
Matinee.
Show's about to start, house lights dimming, and there's a commotion in the front orch. More people start speaking up for a doctor, etc.
Ushers, House Mgr. rush to the first or 2nd row, and the Mgr. decides to call EMS. It takes about 15 minutes for them to arrive.
Meantime, things are REALLY getting bad, a doctor or 2, in the aud. lays this woman out in the aisle, giving CPR for seemingly an interminable amount of time.
The curtain raises, the stagehands provide huge lamps to illuminate
the area. The stage mgr. comes out and has to make a terribly upsetting speech....
The actors are peering out from the wings, some of them visibly upset.
EMS arrives, and it's like a BAD movie...injections, ripping clothing, more CPR for a half hour, everything possible.
The family of 4, which included 2 little boys, were ushered by the mgr. into the exterior lobby, so as not to get too upset watching all this.
Turns out they had won the seats in a contest. The woman had died while EMS was working on her, but they continued into the ambulance. Saddest thing I've ever witnessed.
The show DID go on, but as you can imagine.....

Updated On: 6/2/08 at 12:49 AM

Elaine Stritch tells a story in "Elaine Stritch: at Liberty" in which she recounts Ethel Merman singing "Could You Use Any Money Today?" in "Call Me, Madam", when a very rude, drunk gentleman in the audience started being extremely rude to the point where at the end of teh song, during the fermata at the end, while the conductor was waiting for her to play the final note, she walked off the stage, into the house, picked the guy up, and literally threw the guy out onto the street herself. Immediately after, she swept back on stage and sang the final note.

it's a great story (and a great recording).

When Anne Bancroft was performing in "The Occupant," one of the audience members was hacking and sniffling through a very quiet monologue. This continued for a long time- finally, Anne broke her character, looked out into the audience, and asked if someone could hand him a "Halls" for his throat. Immediately following an audience reaction, she went right back into character and continued on with the play.....

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I really think that with what happened in tiny's story, they should've cleared out the theatre.

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There's been talk of 'Priscilla Queen Of The Dessert The Musical' floating around here lately, her first preview in Melbourne (at least I think it was the first one) was stopped due to a bomb scare.

Sean

I read once a cell phone went off and Kevin Spacey broke character and cursed at the audience member to turn off his or her phone.

The thread with the story is on the main page of the boards. But, pretty much here is what happened. A woman was with her young daughter in about the third row. She was taking pictures during the show and singing along to the songs. When some guy told her to stop she curesd loudly at him and gave him the finger. There were actors who were looking in her direction to figure out what was going on. Then after a long while an usher came to figure out what was going on and it turned out that she was drunk. They were able to smell booze on her breath.

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Last December at The Homecoming:

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?boardid=1&boardname=bway&thread=952970

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During the run of "Show Girl" in 1929, starring Ruby Keeler, the show was often stopped dead in its tracks when Keeler's husband, a certain Al Jolson, would stand up in the audience and sing along with, or to his wife. Needless to say, audiences - and the producers - had no objections.

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This is an experience I had at NAKED BOYS SINGING! being stopped because of a picture-taker this past Fall:

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?boardid=1&boardname=bway&thread=946011

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On one of the really hot days last July, someone collapsed in the audience at A Chorus Line and the show was stopped. There was a fair bit of commotion because the people around her had trouble getting the house staff's attention.

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