Have you ever been at a show where a cast member had to leave mid-show?- Page 2
Have you ever been at a show where a cast member had to leave mid-show?
Midnight Radio
Broadway Star Joined: 5/26/07
#25Have you ever been at a show where someone had to leave mid-show?
Posted: 8/22/12 at 9:23amWhen I saw the A Chorus Line revival, sometime in the first act Charlotte d'Amboise walked off the stage during someone else's monologue. After a short period of time, her standby came on stage. After the intermission, an announcement was made that she was playing the role of Cassie for the remainder of that performance.
WiCkEDrOcKS
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/13/04
#26Have you ever been at a show where someone had to leave mid-show?
Posted: 8/22/12 at 10:07amThere's no intermission in A CHORUS LINE. Did they stop the show to announce that she was being replaced?
winston89
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/18/06
#27Have you ever been at a show where someone had to leave mid-show?
Posted: 8/22/12 at 10:09amThe revival of A Chorus Line didn't have an intermission.
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Roscoe
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#28Have you ever been at a show where someone had to leave mid-show?
Posted: 8/22/12 at 10:29amNathan Lane left, due to injury, the performance of THE FROGS I saw a few years back. Lane could have just delivered the second act performance via phone from the hospital and no one would have noticed any difference -- one of the LAZIEST performances I've had the bad luck to pay to see. He was so busy counting the empty seats that he couldn't be bothered to connect with any of the other actors onstage.
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW
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Midnight Radio
Broadway Star Joined: 5/26/07
#29Have you ever been at a show where someone had to leave mid-show?
Posted: 8/22/12 at 10:50amWow, my memory must be ****. I definitely remember Charlotte walking off mid-performance but the show continuing to run without a pause. I thought they had announced the understudy but I guess not...
broadway guy
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/5/11
#30Have you ever been at a show where someone had to leave mid-show?
Posted: 8/22/12 at 11:21am
Its Not broadway But Jason Berrent from the cirque du soleil show "Kooza" Ruptured his Achilles Tendon right befor the opening night of a tour show.Jason played the lead in the show and was always on stage.They had To Bring in a whole new artist and he had to learn the show in a couple hours before the show.
I was also at a La Nouba performance(cirque du soleil) and one of the les cons(four white guys) was replaced an hour into the show.They alll are suppose to look the same but you could tell cause the Guy who replaced him was alot shorter than the guy who had to stop performing.
#31Have you ever been at a show where someone had to leave mid-show?
Posted: 8/22/12 at 11:35amI was at the Chorus Line revival and one of the actors left mid-performance because of injury. The actual switch took place seamlessly. There was no announcement, and I did not notice the switch was made at the time. (The actors told me about it at the stage door afterwards.)
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dreaming
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/24/09
#32Have you ever been at a show where someone had to leave mid-show?
Posted: 8/22/12 at 12:12pm
I saw the 1997 revival of Candide and Jim Dale got sick at the end of act 1 and was replaced in act 2 by his understudy.
I also was at a performance of Newsies where someone (I forget who) was replaced in act 2 as well.
#33Have you ever been at a show where someone had to leave mid-show?
Posted: 8/22/12 at 3:00pmI saw a presentation of "Heaven on Earth" where one of the chorus girls (I think it was Ivy Lynn) was drunk or sick or something and didn't finish the show.
#34Have you ever been at a show where someone had to leave mid-show?
Posted: 8/22/12 at 3:42pm
Yes, Jason Berrent was injured in either rehearsals or previews for Kooza, I believe mid-tumble sequence. There is video of it somewhere on the DVD extras. Ross Gibson, Red Bird from Mystere covered for a bit until he came back. After a Trickster or two, Mike Tyus, a fantastic dancer came in and I believe he was the best one and deserves to be on Broadway. Always saw him in the ensemble of Memphis or Chicago.
Anyways, this should go in the 10 show a week thread, but a character like that one is on stage the whole time and would be an exception to the "one or two acts-per" deal.
#35Have you ever been at a show where someone had to leave mid-show?
Posted: 8/22/12 at 5:43pmWho was Charlotte's standby in ACL? from RC in Austin, Texas
"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)
#36Have you ever been at a show where someone had to leave mid-show?
Posted: 8/22/12 at 6:36pmWhen I saw Avenue Q sometime in the summer of 2006, Barrett Foa (who appeared not to be feeling well) left the show during the first act (sometime after "Mix Tape"), and Howie Michael Smith finished the show.
PitPro2004
Broadway Star Joined: 2/15/04
#37Have you ever been at a show where someone had to leave mid-show?
Posted: 8/22/12 at 6:46pm
Also not Broadway but...
I was in the pit of a community theater production of PETER PAN when it was all too clear only minutes into the show that something was wrong with Wendy. Her eyes were huge as saucers and her speech was slow and stammered. Couldn't get a line right. She also looked like she was about to pass out. After 15 agonizing minutes, the curtain came down and it was announced that the choreographer would now assume the role. She did a wonderful job.
We later found out after the show that what we thought was illness could not have been farther from the truth; she had been smoking Mary Jo Wanna for half an hour in the car outside of the theater before show time. Needless to say they haven't hired her back.
"Sticks and stones, sister. Here, have a Valium!"
#38Have you ever been at a show where someone had to leave mid-show?
Posted: 8/22/12 at 6:56pmWhen I saw the tour of Mamma Mia one of the daughter's two friends was replaced at intermission. I honestly wouldn't have noticed since the roles seemed so nondescript anyway (when they made the announcement at intermission my friend and I looked at eachother and said "Who?" because we didn't even remember the character name), except the chorus girl who replaced her was black, and she had been white. Her replacement did seem to be a better dancer (or maybe the woman she replaced just was sick and felt off her game), but I don't think the character even had more than a line or two in Act II anyway.
Rypm25
Stand-by Joined: 5/21/03
#39Have you ever been at a show where someone had to leave mid-show?
Posted: 8/22/12 at 7:13pmI don't remember the actor's name, but when I saw the revival of Into the Woods with Vanessa Williams, an announcement was made at intermission that the actor playing the steward wouldnt be going on for the second act.
Dollypop
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#40Have you ever been at a show where someone had to leave mid-show?
Posted: 8/22/12 at 9:05pm
I was at that fabled performance of CAMELOT at Lincoln Center when Richard Burton was so drunk he couldn't continue the show.
We stayed to see the whole show (Richard Parry was an excellent Arthur)and got a full refund for our tickets.
"Long live God!" (GODSPELL)
#41Have you ever been at a show where someone had to leave mid-show?
Posted: 8/22/12 at 9:11pm
I was at that fabled performance of CAMELOT at Lincoln Center when Richard Burton was so drunk he couldn't continue the show.
Oh, that was every performance, Dolly. You just happened to see one where they actually put on the understudy instead.
The rest of us sat through an endless and incomprehensible Act II, with no refund for our trouble. I think you owe each of us a penny.
#42Have you ever been at a show where someone had to leave mid-show?
Posted: 8/22/12 at 9:37pmThe Tommy Tune BYE BYE BIRDIE tour in the early 90's: Rosie (Leonora Nemetz at that time - Reinking had left the tour by that time - hurt her ankle during the Shriner's Ballet and then finished the book scene being carried off by a chorus guy. She did not finish the show, her understudy was the actor playing Mrs. MacAfee then went on for rest of show.
#43Have you ever been at a show where someone had to leave mid-show?
Posted: 8/22/12 at 9:38pmHow sad. I knew about Burton's problems with alcohol of course, but not that he would perform Camelot drunk. When I was 20, I was in a production of Pajama Game as one of two of the main male dancers. The other male dancer, who I had taken dance with for at least a decade and was friends with, was a huge stoner, which rarely was a problem when he was performing. But one night he for some reason decided to get stoned at intermission (I think he used some emotional excuse like issues with his girlfriend and he had to calm down) and got extremely stoned, extremely quickly and I ended up having to do Steam Heat as a duet as well as filling up some stage time in the Jealousy Ballet (where we were two sailors who were hiding in Gladys' closet who Hinsey finds... Which I now realize sounds kinda unintentionally hilarious).
Auggie27
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/13/03
#44Have you ever been at a show where someone had to leave mid-show?
Posted: 8/23/12 at 9:37am
The Burton Camelot stories are indeed sad. But his drinking while performing dates back to the first time he played Arthur. Julie Andrews talks about it quite candidly in her autobiography, with some amazement, as he often drank before going on but still delivered an apparently excellent performance. (Yet what if he hadn't been drinking?) Alcoholics notoriously have a threshold, and learn how to manage under the influence. Interestingly enough, acting is one of the few professions were such behavior would be possible or accommodated on an ongoing basis (admittedly, only with stars). One cannot easily turn up in an office reeking of alcohol and behaving differently. Not as a rule.
In light of the PETER PAN story: I was involved in a professional summer theater with the lead actor had a major marijuana, uh, issue (we'll let others determine if "problem" applies) and his line-retention abilities was the most obvious result. He paraphrased all the way through tech, and never really learned the play word for word. The pace could also go haywire at odd moments, because his internal metronome became much slower than the others', though not predictably "druggie." I also had a dear, late friend who toured as Eleanor in LION IN WINTER and freely admitted she played it stoned, insisting it improved her work. I didn't think she looked remotely high (and to be fair, her pace was fine), but I didn't think she was all that effective, either. Maybe 'tis better to save the recreation until the curtain comes down.
"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling
Updated On: 8/23/12 at 09:37 AM
mamaleh
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/11/04
#45Have you ever been at a show where someone had to leave mid-show?
Posted: 8/23/12 at 9:44amAt a matinee of the '09 revival of HAIR, Gavin Creel injured his ankle during a number late in the first act. He came out during intermission with his identically dressed understudy/standby (can't remember which), explained about his injury and then very graciously introduced the performer who'd be replacing him for act two. We in the audience gave both of them a big hand.
#46Have you ever been at a show where someone had to leave mid-show?
Posted: 8/23/12 at 9:47amI was at the performance of Thoroughly Modern Millie when Gavin hurt his ankle right before intermission. Brandon Wardell came on as Jimmy, and got a big round of applause when it was announced right before Act 2 got underway.
I hung out with Cheyenne Jackson in his dressing room waayyyyyy before he tickled D2. "unleash the girly"
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Midnight Radio
Broadway Star Joined: 5/26/07
#47Have you ever been at a show where someone had to leave mid-show?
Posted: 8/23/12 at 7:17pmThe standby I saw take over mid-performance in A Chorus Line was Kimberly Dawn Neumann
#48Have you ever been at a show where someone had to leave mid-show?
Posted: 8/23/12 at 8:59pmAt Xanadu, after I'm Alive (or maybe Suddenly) where the cast all left the stage, they paused the show because Cheyenne had taken ill. There was an announcement and a brief pause so that Curtis could change into the Sonny gear, and he continued for the rest of the show. A cast member texted me later it was allergies.
"Hey little girls, look at all the men in shiny shirts and no wives!" - Jackie Hoffman, Xanadu, 19 Feb 2008
robinycus2
Understudy Joined: 5/1/09
#49Have you ever been at a show where someone had to leave mid-show?
Posted: 8/23/12 at 9:08pmNo, but once when I was a teenager and was working at McDonalds... I had to leave 1/2 way through my shift. But I think they found someone to replace me. I was working fries.
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