Has this ever happened to you inside any theater?

[broadwaygirl99]

Posted: 7/27/08 at 2:35am

I saw the 2pm show of Altar Boyz today and right before La Vida Eternal the fire alarm sounded and we all had to evacuate the building! We were all standing outside for like 25 minutes! Has that ever happened to you anywhere? I am just wondering cause it seems very rare.

[insertclevernamehere]

Posted: 7/27/08 at 2:40am

One of my teachers in high school was seeing Spamalot and there was a fire. They had to wait outside for about half an hour.

[defyingravity07]

Posted: 7/27/08 at 2:42am

Not to me, but... there was one during a performance of the Hairspray Tour. The entire cast and audience had to leave the theatre in the cold. The cast signed autographs during it. Brooklynn has pictures from it on her Myspace.

[broadwaygirl99]

Posted: 7/27/08 at 3:38am

really, so it has happened before. Im surprised! But it wasnt that bad cause all the altar boyz came outside and were standing with everybody. They were talking to everyone and they were all really sweet. Neil was doing flips and handstands in the middle of 49th st! I was so happy we went back in because if i missed ryan's ephinany number i would just die. Exspecially since he is leaving the 31st, this was the last time i saw him.

[[tos]tralia2]

Posted: 7/27/08 at 5:52am

At Priscilla Queen Of The Desert's first show during Previews there was a bomb threat and everyone had to get out of the Regent theatre. That's a 2200 seat venue too... All the stars of the show were out mingling with the crowd during that as well.

[singtopher]

Posted: 7/27/08 at 12:12pm

Opening night of Charlie and the Chocolate factory at my high school. The worst part was just before it happened, one of our oompa loompas (who were played by a bunch of local elementary school kids) got sick and threw up on stage, then proceeded to puke most of the way up the aisle as he was being escorted out of the theatre. Therefore, some of the audience was forced to walk through it on their way out.

During Dracula in college, we had to stop the show for about a half hour for a tornado warning in the area.

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 7/27/08 at 12:14pm

This isn't necessarily the same thing, but during a rehearsal for the production of Cabaret I was in at my high school, someone pulled the fire alarm during our final dress. It was 11 PM, who was there to pull the alarm?

[Patash]

Posted: 7/27/08 at 1:27pm

dancingthrulife04, perhaps it was the director -- choosing that over slitting his wrists?

[Chance]

Posted: 7/27/08 at 1:33pm

Yeah in high school during a production of Once Upon a Mattress. As the prop folks were preparing the incense of stage there was a small (quickly controlled and extinguishd) fire that set off the alarm.

[uwho]

Posted: 7/27/08 at 10:00pm

Broadwaygirl. . . . got pictures?

[LiveUnscripted]

Posted: 7/27/08 at 10:10pm

defyingravity07- I was there! The fire alarm went off right as the second act started, and they evacuated everyone. It just so happened that I was standing right outside the stage door when the cast came out. Everyone was freezing cuz it was December, but it was kind of cool to see the cast in their wigs and costumes. :)

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 7/27/08 at 10:21pm

Right before "Dialogues of the Carmelites" at the Metropolitan Opera , a tear gas bomb was set off and the entire theatre was evacuated. Of course they evacuated into the lobby where the tear gas bomb was going off - very smart.

An hour later the show started - it made the production more tense than even the show warranted.

[brandontwin2]

Posted: 7/27/08 at 10:22pm

It has never happened to me at any big shows, but we've had a few things happen at my high school.

I was in a performance of You're a Good Man Charlie Brown and we lost power due to major storms and heat. We have a generator in our theater but it only gave us a spotlight. We had to perform the rest of the matinee with only a spotlight and no microphones. Then at the evening performance there was a tornado warning and we had to take cover before finishing

[winston89]

Posted: 7/28/08 at 12:40am

My cousin lives in LA and her annual summer job has been working at Disneyland/califorina adventure for the past few years. There was a situation where one of the park cast members was very quitley walking behind the audience of the Aladdin musical that they show there. He tripped over his own foot and grabbed the wall to break his fall. However, the thing on the wall he grabbed was the fire alarm. The show was stopped and everyone was evacuated. However, Disney calmed everything down before the fire trucks had to arrive.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 7/28/08 at 1:13am

Not common, but not exactly rare, either. There's the afore-mentioned Spamalot smoke incident (there was no fire, just a carelessly discarded cigarette that got into the air circulation system), and Titanic was evacuated once for a similar reason (smudge pots in the adjacent building).

Happened all the time in London during the World Wars, famously depicted in the movie/play The Dresser, when Tom Courtney timidly peeks out the curtain to tell the audience: "The bomb alert has gone off. We will be proceeding with the production. Would those of you who wish to live...I mean those of you who wish to leave...please do so as quietly as possible"

"I was so happy we went back in because if i missed ryan's ephinany number i would just die."

You'd be a lot deader if you burned to death.
Updated On: 7/28/08 at 01:13 AM

[BDJCMC]

Posted: 7/28/08 at 1:26am

That's terrifying

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 7/28/08 at 10:13am

dancingthrulife04, perhaps it was the director -- choosing that over slitting his wrists?


Wow, that was unnecessary.

[ErinDillyFan]

Posted: 7/28/08 at 10:20am

I was at a community theater production of "Kiss of the Spider Woman" and the smoke machines set off the fire alarm. For a few seconds everyone thought it was part of the show. Everyone stayed in their seats after an announcement was made. It took a minute or two to get them shut off and then the show went on.

[Sharon Lover]

Posted: 7/28/08 at 10:50am

It happened to me once during a tour of JCS in Baltimore. The alarm went off and we started ot leave but the ushers were saying that they didn't think anything was wrong so we went back. We hardley made it to the door of the balcony. The show didn't miss a beat which I thought was odd because it could have been a serious emergency.

[SpellingBeeFan4Ever]

Posted: 7/28/08 at 11:21am

When I was in King and I, a fire started in some machine (Don't remember, I was 9) and then we all had to evacuate the buileding. Luckily, one of the King's wives husband, who was a fireman, was in the audience that night and got it all settled.

[LePetiteFromage]

Posted: 7/28/08 at 11:25am

Updated On: 5/2/09 at 11:25 AM

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 7/28/08 at 11:26am

[SpellingBeeFan4Ever]

Posted: 7/28/08 at 11:38am

Lol. Thanks for the intro. Yes, I am back!!!! You guys all thought I was gone for good, didn't you?

[viola13]

Posted: 7/28/08 at 11:52am

During one of Les Miserables' tour stops in Florida in 2001, the fire alarm went off during Castle on a Cloud.

[jpbran]

Posted: 7/28/08 at 3:18pm

"You'd be a lot deader if you burned to death."

Ha!!