Incident at "Blithe Spirit" tonight (4/21)- Page 2

[flaemmchen]

Posted: 4/22/09 at 7:52pm

Is this a curse for "Spirit"? I was at a performance of the show in Toronto a number of years ago (Tammy Grimes was Mme Arcati) and the call came from the audience for a doctor. Miss Grimes just went on with the scene and the person was quietly taken out of the theater.


No curse. As you can see from the thread, incidents like this happen every so often. It's a hazard, particularly when your audience is of a certain age.

Updated On: 4/22/09 at 07:52 PM

[karen24]

Posted: 4/22/09 at 8:28pm

Thanks to the previous poster for filling us in on what exactly happened at BLITHE SPIRIT that night. I was in the second row of the mezz and the ill person was far enough back in the orchestra that I couldn't see what was happening from my seat. I'm glad it (apparently) wasn't something more serious. Hopefully he will be OK.
And yes, the show pretty much had to stop once the person or persons started shouting out loud for a doctor.

[ElizabethAngela]

Posted: 4/22/09 at 10:10pm

When I first started reading this thread, I was afraid something had happened to Angela. That she had gotten ill or hurt somehow backstage.

[karen24]

Posted: 4/22/09 at 10:20pm

No, she was fine and in top form!

[wonkit]

Posted: 4/22/09 at 10:24pm

Dollypop - I was at that performance at the MET, and saw the man jump. You know how they say tragic things happen in slow motion - that is the way it seemed.

[flossie2]

Posted: 4/22/09 at 10:37pm

When I was at Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks someone in the front of the orchestra had to be attended to. Someone asked if there was a doctor in the house. The actors were aware but kept going until someone offstage told them to stop. Paramedics arrived and the person was taken out on a stretcher. The show resumed from where they left off.

[proptart101]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 11:23am

I don't check this board every day, so I'm late to the discussion

- however

My wife and I were sitting four rows behind the gentleman who was in distress at the 4/21 production of Blithe Spirit. I first noticed that an elderly woman was attending to a man sitting next to her, slumped back into his seat. The other patrons around him had stopped paying attention to the stage and were beginning to do what they could to help the gentleman.

Within a minute or so it was obvious that this gentleman would need medical attention - people were starting to stand up - the man seated directly in front of me got up and made his way over to the stricken gentleman. People had pulled out their cell phones to call for EMS assistance.

Mr. Everett was seated on the sofa - and began looking out to see what the disturbance was. Ms. Atkinson stopped in her speech, walked over SL and spoke to someone offstage (I presume the SM), I know she said "call 911" but did not hear any of the rest of what she said, then came back on.

By this time the action had completely stopped onstage, an usher had come to the aisle seat (fortunately, the gentleman was seated on the aisle, not in the middle of a row). The doctor formerly in front of me had taken off his jacket and was doing what he could to help the patron. All around me the scourge of Broadway was happening as people were on their cells, all calling 911.

(Side note here - there were at least 6 different people that I heard who called 911 - several of whom were apparently not NYers and had no idea how to tell the 911 dispatcher exactly where the theater is located. Also - it didn't seem that the 911 dispatcher had any clear idea of just where the Shubert Theater was located, at least that's the impression I got from the woman sitting directly behind me, going on and on and on even though it was obvious that 911 had already been called a few times.
So - cell phones were actually useful in this theater at that instant. I don't think anyone begrudged their use.)

After what seemed to be an hour or more, but was probably about 3 minutes - a stage manager came out onstage, said something quietly to Ms. Atkinson and Mr. Everett, and they exited as the main curtain came in and the house lights came up.

An announcement came over the PA stating that there was a medical emergency and the show would resume as soon as possible.

As was stated elsewhere a large glass of water was brought to the gentleman, by then another usher and a porter had arrived carrying a small chair. The doctor, the usher and porter all helped get the gentleman out of his seat and into the chair, where the usher and porter then carried the gentleman to the back of the house. The gentleman's wife (I presume) went as well, along with the doctor. The porter returned a minute later or so with some rags and a trash bag to try to clean up, then cover the seat.

After a little bit longer, the house lights went back to half, the scene change music played, the curtain went back up and the scene resumed - a few lines prior to where it had been interrupted. Ms. Atkinson and Mr. Everett did an admirable job recovering the flow of the play (I wasn't as keen on this interpretation as my wife was - but I had done several different productions of this show over the years and she's never seen it before. I suspect this production plays better for people who are unfamiliar with the script or there primarily to see Ms. Lansbury.)

During intermission I overheard the doctor (who had returned to his seat a few minutes after the resumption of the show) talking about the gentleman, basically saying that the man had lost consciousness and had vomited on himself. The doctor didn't think that it was very serious in any way (he did say that of course, that was without any knowledge of the gentleman's prior medical history or current overall condition) - the gentleman had fully regained consciousness and was completely coherent and nothing more than embarrassed. The rest of the evening proceeded without much obvious difficulty, though there was a moment later one when the lighting had to jump a rather large Q to be ready for a near blackout. I do not know if the actors dropped a bunch of lines, the light board operator got lost, or there was some technical glitch.

All in all, a more adventurous evening than we had anticipated.

Both my wife and I are in the live performing arts business, and have been since the early 80s. We've both been working on shows that have had to be stopped because of medical emergencies in the audience.

As much as it is nice to be able to continue a performance with minimal interruption - the safety and health of everyone in the theater, from backstage to FOH and most especially the audience must take the highest priority.

There is nothing more important than people - not art, not commerce, not even the flow of the show.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 12:26pm

Thanks for laying that out so beautifully, proptart101.