Interesting Mid-Show Mishaps

I saw the first preview of the most recent...revival? of tick, tick...Boom! on Theatre Row a few years ago. Midway through...the first act? they started having sound issues. They tried to keep going, but eventually they had to hold the show for HALF AN HOUR. I think they gave us discounted drinks to make up for that time. First time something like that ever happened to me at a show.

I saw a performance of Wicked once in which Glinda's wig got stuck on the base of the bubble and it started pulling her across the stage when it began to ascend. It stopped and a member of the company pulled her loose and they went on with the scene.

I've experienced quite a few:

1. During a performance of the late 90's tour of Annie (starring Nell Carter), the actress playing Anni managed to pull the wig off her head, and futilely tried to put it back on.

2. During a Broadway performance of The Phantom of the Opera, Carlotta missed her entrance during the "Notes" sequence in Act 1. The actors continued as if she were there, but it was bizarre since there was silence during her parts. She appeared just before Prima Donna.

3. During a Broadway performance of Matilda, the "bathroom" scenery rose too soon, and was crushed by the bed which was directly above it. The show was stopped for about ten minutes while it was repaired.

4. Also during Matilda, the desks failed to rise from the stage, so the kids had to sit on the stage floor.

5. During a Broadway performance of the Miss Saigon revival, the helicopter effect malfunctioned, causing a 5-10 minute delay.

6. During a performance of Come from Away on Broadway, the turntable suddenly "twitched." The performance continued, until later when it suddenly jolted, halting the performance for about five minutes.

7. During a performance of King Kong, the puppet apparently malfunctioned right before it's first "entrance." The show was stopped for about 20 minutes.

8. During a performance of American Psycho, the blood cannon went off prematurely, spraying blood across the blood curtain about 10 seconds before Patrick kills his first victim.

sorano916 said: "At the tick, tick... boom! at City Center a few years ago, Lin's head mic died so they gave him a handheld but several minutes later, they decided to just fix his head mic as he needed to play the piano but since his character didn't leave the stage Leslie and Karen just ad-libbed a bunch of things as they fixed Lin's mic upstage. Then Lin's first line back was "Rehearsal goes well. I think we'll be ready for the performance Thursday." It was a riot as that evening was a Wednesday."

I had almost forgotten about this, and now I’m cracking up again. I believe this was the first performance. I was front row.

First preview performance of recent HELLO, DOLLY! revival.

When Irene Malloy’s hat shop is rotating into place, a few items fell off one of the store counters. When Kate Baldwin had her first scenes at that area of the set, she casually placed everything in its place on the counter.

During the “Dancing” number inside the hat shop, Taylor Trensch left the stage suddenly. Months later he revealed in an interview he had food poisoning the first day of previews and ran offstage to throw up in the middle of the number.

Midler forgot her lines during the court room scene and repeated a few words a few times. Looked like she was trying to get her brain back on track by those words.

Midler dropped her baton and it fell into the first row orchestra right during “So Long, Dearie.” Audience member handed it back to her.

Back in 1993, I was at an early matinee preview of the first part of Angels in America, Millennium Approaches, at the Walter Kerr, well before it became a well-deserved phenomenon. I was in mid mid-20s, but most of the audience was comprised of older folks from theater clubs, presumably bused in from the 'burbs. Needless to say, there were a lot of walkouts!

Even though I was sitting way in the back, I thought the performance was spectacular, and don't remember any technical issues until the very end, but boy oh boy it was a doozy. Picture Prior Walter cowering in bed, lights flickering, set rumbling, debris ceiling debris falling, and descending down from on high -- no one. Nothing. Until finally, after what seemed like forever but was probably only 10 seconds or so, a panicked voice comes shouting over a walkie-talkie, clearly audible, at least to those of us sitting near the technical booth/sound board at the back: "Cue the angel!" After which the Angel does descend to declaim one of the most famous ending lines in 20th century theater: "Greetings Prophet; The Great Work begins: The Messenger has arrived!"

It certainly didn't ruin the play for me, and I was back there in the fall to see both parts together when "Perestroika" opened. But it's hard to imagine a bigger mishap at a worse time. Then again, that's what previews are for!

During the previews of Bart Sher's My Fair Lady Higgins' study got stuck and refused to move downstage. We waited for about 30 minutes before they physically pushed the set in place.

Also during previews, Lauren Ambrose went up in lines completely in the Ascot Gavotte scene. She screamed "help!" and Diana Rigg tried to give her some cues before she gave up. We now know that she was going through a rough time both physically and personally during the previews.

The other night I saw her she was completely on point. It must have just been a momentary lapse.

I was also at a Great Comet where Amber Gray's mike pack didn't work. She was busy floating through the audience and had to run back to the stage to swap out a mike.

Fosse76 said: "

8. During a performance of American Psycho, the blood cannon went off prematurely, spraying blood across the blood curtain about 10 seconds before Patrick kills his first victim."



Ha! That's funny. Reminds me of another technical mishap I read about -- audience member actually getting splattered with the fake blood.

wicked sf sit down-eden espinosa was struggling with allergies during first few songs, went off stage on way to oz and standby felicia ricci came back on as elphie as entering oz with no announcement. felicia did great, but mispositioned the broom during the elevator lift in gravity and it snapped in two...

Felicia as an excellent elphaba and sorry to see her not stay in musicals, she did some amazing youtube videos and a great online vocal training program....

broadwaysfguy said: "wicked sf sit down-eden espinosa was struggling with allergies during first few songs, went off stage on way to oz and standby felicia ricci came back on as elphie as entering oz with no announcement. felicia did great, but mispositionedthe broom during the elevator lift in gravity and it snapped in two...

Felicia as an excellentelphaba and sorry to see her not stay in musicals, she did some amazing youtube videos and a great online vocal training program...."

According to Felicia’s book that was the first time she went on as Elphaba and was in the audience watching the show with Libby Servais. It was the first performance after she had been signed off for the role

At a matinee early in the Rosie revival of "Grease" run as act 2 was about to start, Rosie came out from the curtain clearly upset and announced that Marcia Lewis had fallen in a trap door and there would be a delay. After maybe fifteen minutes Rosie returned to announced Marcia would continue and she did for the rest of the show. Weeks later at the cast signing I asked her if she was alright and she said it was scary and was still going to the Chiropractor.You would have never know she was in pain during her time on that stage that afternoon.