Has this ever happened to you inside any theater?- Page 2

[Cearsgk]

Posted: 7/28/08 at 4:27pm

A few winters ago, before they moved to their new theater, the New Rep (Boston area) did a fantastic Threepenny. In the middle of Cannon Song, I guess the smoke machines set off the fire alarm. Some people at first did seem to think it was part of the show. So they stopped the song, we all went outside and waited in 5 degree weather. Then they let us back in and they started the song over again! Todd Alan Johnson was a wonderful MacHeath!

[Dollypop]

Posted: 7/28/08 at 4:49pm

My friend Nick Spangler from THE FANTASTICKS tells me that on two different nights the fire alarm went off at the Snapple Center just as he was about to sing "They Were You". It's odd that it should happen two times in the very same spot.

[Reginald Tresilian]

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

Not exactly the same thing, but I was at a performance of "Much Ado" in Central Park when a bomb threat caused the performance to be suspended (and the theater evacuated) about 10 minutes before the end.

I'm not sure who wanted to blow up Blythe Danner.

[sleepyguy1717]

Posted: 7/28/08 at 7:24pm

According to a friend, the fire alarm went off right in the middle of A Sentimental Man at Wicked in Buffalo.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 7/28/08 at 8:40pm

That's redundant. CATS was a bomb--a long-running bomb!

[KChenowethfan]

Posted: 8/3/08 at 4:17pm

This happened during a preview of Meet John Doe at Fords Theatre a year or so ago. I was ushering and the fog machine set off the smoke alarm. Everyone had to leave the theatre. The cast came back on to do the final scene, though a lot of people left (school groups mostly).

[hermionejuliet]

Posted: 8/3/08 at 10:01pm

This happened to me once during a concert. I was in the second row, and I couldn't even hear the alarm until the performer stopped singing. It was scary because it would have been really dangerous if it wasn't a false alarm. It was a huge arena.

[seaweedjstubbs]

Posted: 8/3/08 at 10:21pm

I was in the North Carolina premiere of "Blue" and during the last show, right before the plot hit the big twist, a kid in the lobby pulled the fire alarm. Everyone had to leave the theatre. It was in the middle of February and it was freezing cold. One of the audience members standing next to me said, "Well, it's really good so far!" :)

[ahmelie]

Posted: 8/3/08 at 10:26pm

There was a show I did that we only got one day of rehearsal in the actual theatre for, and during the final rehearsal the fire alarms started go off (we, of course, just continued singing and ignored it, lol) and we had to wait in the lobby for the fire to be taken care of.

[iWannaBEaSedaris]

Posted: 8/4/08 at 2:24am

My fave was in a BAD BAD production of 'Death of a Salesman', Linda was giving her final speech, and the alarm went off.

I thought myself, "Huh, an alarm to show Linda mental state of breakdown, even though it is the first interesting thing about this production I like it." Then i realized everyone in the theatre but the actress playing Linda and myself were running for their lives.

It happens.

[[tos]fan999]

Posted: 8/4/08 at 4:19am

Not at a full scale performance, but a kid in my drama class (one of those "I'm better than you but then cannot memorize two words for the life of me pompous types") was attempting to do a book scene from Hairspray, and as he was stumbling through it (even though he had "seen the show 5 times and had the whole thing memorized"), the fire alarm went off and we all had to evacuate.

[geekgirl06]

Posted: 12/25/08 at 2:20am

Not a fire alarm, but I recently saw the tour of Jersey Boys in Denver, and near the end of the show a false medical emergency in the Mezzanine stopped the show. It was weird because all you could hear were all these people yelling "Lights! Lights!" and it sounded like part of the show. Good thing it was just a false alarm though!

[Mamie]

Posted: 12/25/08 at 6:47am

The theatre I used to work at used to have a problem with their fire alarm going off rather regularly. There was a restaurant kitchen on the other side of the back wall of the stage. Every once in a while they'd have an excessive amount of kitchen smoke which somehow managed to be vented into our ventilation system. This should have simply carried it out of the building but if there was too much of it, our smoke alarms would trip.

Another time I was standing in the back of the auditorium while a performance was going on and noticed that a lot of audience members had started coughing. Then one got up and left. I followed him out to the lobby and he said something was making him choke. I couldn't smell anything but I looked around and saw that a gel on one of the lights was smoking. Before we could tell the lighting tech to cut the light, the alarm went off. We knew it wasn't a fire but it was still a good idea to clear the auditorium just so we could clear the air.

[WishingOnlyWounds2]

Posted: 12/25/08 at 11:56am

When my high school did Fiddler the smoke machines used in "The Dream" set the fire alarm off, everyone had to evacuate, and it had just finished raining so it was extremely muddy outside.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 12/25/08 at 1:44pm

Hairspray Tour, Connecticut.


It happens all of the time.

In one theatre, the atmospheric fog kept setting off the detectors.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 12/25/08 at 1:44pm

Double post

Updated On: 12/25/08 at 01:44 PM

[Madcap Maisie]

Posted: 12/25/08 at 7:06pm

Updated On: 6/12/20 at 07:06 PM

[B3TA07]

Posted: 12/25/08 at 7:12pm

"We were using Orchextra, so there were no orchestra members in the pit."

I think this is the real tragedy.

[Madcap Maisie]

Posted: 12/25/08 at 7:15pm

Updated On: 6/12/20 at 07:15 PM

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 12/26/08 at 1:53pm

Well, it has happened to me in the middle of a dress rehearsal I was playing for.

In the middle of a senior class review in high school, a guy was singing "Butterfly Kisses", and the fire alarm went off and totally ruined the mood. We stood outside in the freezing cold for almost 35 minutes. And that's the only time that has happened to me in my knowledge.

And in response to Madcap Maisie, well don't we all, Maisie, don't we all.

[Madcap Maisie]

Posted: 12/26/08 at 4:28pm

Updated On: 6/12/20 at 04:28 PM

[Chuck012]

Posted: 12/26/08 at 7:11pm

My experience was not a fire alarm but two women screaming louder than any possible alarm. I was attending a Wednesday matinee of "Witness for the Prosecution" at the old Henry Miller. I was in college and could only aford standing room. At the Henry Miller standing room was behind the last row of the first balcony. There was a metal railing that you leaned on--much like a wrought iron fence. If you wanted to see the whole set you sat on the floor--once the ushers left. I was so engossed in the play I squeezed my head through the fence and between two women in that last row of seats who were similarly engrossed. At one point one woman turned to her friend and looked me right in the face. Her nerves must have been on edge and she started screaming wildly. Her friend looked at me and started to do the same. I yanked my head back, nearly taking off my ears. The actors bravely carried on and I retreated to the other side of the standing room area. I did not repeat puting my head through that fence ever again.

[osage08]

Posted: 12/27/08 at 3:48pm

This is kind of unrelated but once in college we were practicing skits and the fire alarm went off so we had to evacuate. It was warm so we practiced outside until we could go back into the building. 5 minutes after we got back in, the alarms went off again. We found out later that the fire alarms were being tested or something.

People in the audience have gotten sick once or twice while I was watching a show.

Oh and once during church a man had a heart attack. The priest kept on talking while the paramedics were getting him onto a stretcher. He died in the hospital the next day. I didn't know the man personally but it was still pretty sad.

[jagfkb]

Posted: 12/27/08 at 8:20pm

We've never had an exacuation at our old youth theatre, but we did have many a set break during rehearsels, breaks, even one performance. Noone has ever been seriously hurt, but one time we almost had to replace an actor the day of the performance due to having their tounge split open.