Has an audience member ever stopped a show?

[NYC_or_Bust]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 12:20am

So reading the thread about the behavior at last night's performance of The Little Mermaid....

Does anyone know if a show has have had to stop because of an accident in the house? Or by rude behavior?

[ljay889]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 12:23am

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

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 12:29am

I can't remember them offhand, but there are several stories of audience interruptions in the book,
Stop the Show! A History of Insane Incidents and Absurd Accidents in the Theater

[thetinymagic2]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 12:49am

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

[Tag]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 12:54am

They didn't clear out the theatre? (considering it lasted for a while)

[inlovewithjerryherman]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 12:55am

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).

[insertclevernamehere]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 1:38am

Kelli O'Hara told a story about having to stop Light in the Piazza during the dialogue before "Say it Somehow."

[jeniferrenepatricia]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 5:42am

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.....

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 7:43am

Decades ago I was attending a matinee performance of WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? at the Billy Rose Theatre(now called the Nederlander on 41st St.) It was not enough that the play's fireworks were exploding on stage. Theatregoers in the balcony behind me were very loudly arguing over who should be sitting in whose seats. The actors on stage had to stop, looked toward the balcony, and waited for the altercation to end, after which the actors resumed the play. Incidentally, it would be great if that play were to be revived on Broadway. It is mesmerizing Edward Albee.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 8:00am

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

[philcrosby]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 8:58am

There is the famous story that took place during COCO. All was going well until Katharine Hepburn mjade her entrance, several minutes into the show, and a flash camera went off.

The Great Kate stopped dead in her tracks, demanded that the ushers find and eject the rude prepetrator, and then announced that they would go back to the very beginning of the show and start again.

Apparently when she made her entrance the second time, she got a standing ovation.

[[tos]tralia2]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 9:01am

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

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 9:14am

During Sunset Boulevard, Glen Close stopped the show one time when flashbulbs were going off in the audience.

I once saw Mary Louise Wilson in "Full Gallop" in a small theater off-Broadway. During the show this old man, who thought he was whispering, said "Whew, this is boring." Wilson stopped the show and said "You can always go home."

[broadfan327]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 9:20am

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.

[Here I Am]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 9:21am

Ha ha Gotham. That Mary Louise Wilson story is awesome!


Maybe I'm silly, but I have no idea what happened at The Little Mermaid yesterday ?

[winston89]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 9:31am

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.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 9:42am

Maybe I'm silly, but I have no idea what happened at The Little Mermaid yesterday ?

You're not silly. You just have no hunting skills. (And winston89 has no idea how to copy and paste, apparently.)

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?boardid=1&boardname=bway&thread=967860

[humbugfoto]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 10:39am

Last December at The Homecoming:

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

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 10:45am

Geez, Winston just summarized the story anyway! Picky, picky.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 10:49am

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.

[fnyboi88]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 10:52am

I've mentioned this before on another thread. My friends' parents went to see Forum when Whoopi Goldberg was in it. They said if someone came in late Whoopi would stop the show and wait for them to be seated.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 10:56am

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

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 11:00am

And he did a horrible job at that, too -- leaving out major keypoints. He was better-off just providing a link to the original post.

Also, Gypsy9... you must live under one enormous rock -- WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? was revived on Broadway in March 2005 (at the Longacre Theatre). It starred Kathleen Turner, Bill Irwin, Mireille Enos and David Harbour. Anthony Page directed. Turner and Irwin also did a short national tour of it as well.

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 11:00am

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.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 11:02am

At one of the previews of COAST OF UTOPIA: VOYAGE, Richard Easton collapsed and Ethan Hawke stopped the show.