My First Hold

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My First Hold

Posted: 11/17/18 at 1:19am

So tonite in Denver, the Come From Away tour had a hold in "Screech In". The Mayor's mic went out when Heave Away finished, then Nick and Diane's mics went out. So, right after Nick says "I went and got two more beers" (or something like that) the show was stopped. It was about a ten to fifteen minute hold. Two people eventually came back out and re-set the chairs. The godmike asked the actors to take the stage and, to the Stage Manager's credit, they re-started the show at the beginning of the number. But, first, the cast was given tremendous applause when they re-took the stage. And, since the end of the number has one of the few breaks for applause, that worked out well too. Much applause. And, to us, it seemed like the cast got new energy for the rest of the show. We had seen the cast on Tuesday night, and it just seemed livelier tonite. Becky Gulsvig's "Me And The Sky", for example, was more emotional.

This was my first time being in the audience of a professional production where there was a hold.

(The only other time was mumbledy mumble years ago at an invited dress for Hamlet at the Old Globe in San Diego. Someone had nailed shut a trap door where Yorrick's skull had been placed and the gravedigger couldn't open it.)

My First Hold

Posted: 11/17/18 at 10:15am

In my time seeing hundreds of shows (both professional and amateur) I have experienced only one hold. In the London production of Lion King in Jan 2017. In a scene with Timon and Pumbaa a large set piece did not fly out as expected. The actors repeated their dialogue twice in a bit of panic, before the curtain was lowered and the stage manager announced a technical issue. 5 minutes later they continued with the next scene.

My First Hold

Posted: 11/17/18 at 10:37am

In the close to 1,000 shows I've seen in my lifetime since the early 70s, the only time I witnessed a stop in the middle of a performance was at a performance of the 1st US National Tour of the original Broadway Disney's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST in the mid-90s at the Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale, FL. During a scene in the Beast's castle, a fire alarm at the theatre interrupted the scene. The actors (including the original Lumiere: Gary Beach in the tour) just stopped and stood still, never leaving the stage. After about 2 minutes, and announcement was made that it was a false alarm and for the actors to continue. Gary then said "so, where was I? Oh, yes..." and repeated his lines from where he had stopped. The audience, of course, applauded and whooped.

My First Hold

Posted: 11/17/18 at 10:44am

I’ve never seen something like that but I’ve seen a reset before.

At the beginning of the opening number of Hamilton, the guy started his song but the music didn’t play so the stage manager asked for a reset and the actors just walked off laughing. I’ve had a technical difficulty at Anastasia which delayed the show from starting for about 20 minutes.

My First Hold

Posted: 11/17/18 at 11:23am

I wrote about it in the Laura Benanti My Fair Lady thread, but there was a major hold during the Halloween performance.

It happened while the stage was turning in the Embassy Ball sequence. Laura and Karpathy were spinning on the turntable by themselves for about a minute and a half before Laura turned to the audience and said "Yeah, hi, this was supposed to stop spinning a long time ago." She then improvised an entire five minute comedy routine that included a round of "guess this animal." It was quite majestic to see Laura Benanti jump around the stage in her full Embassy Ball dress, pretending to be a monkey. It was an example of why live theatre is so incredible.

My First Hold

Posted: 11/17/18 at 12:01pm

Enjoying these hold stories.

I've experienced five.

Two were SPIDER-MAN - one in 1.0 and one in 2.0. In 1.0, it was near the end and I'm halfway convinced they didn't have a scene/transition ready so they just put a hold there. It was very awkward. In 2.0 it was during the first flying sequence when the stage rises with the Spider-man at the back and he flies to the front after it gets fully raised. The platform stalled about 1/3 of the way up. He did a little dance on it while they were resetting it. Worked fine the second time.

During the GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE tour there was a sound issue that was causing massive feedback during one of the scenes late in act two. There was a 2-3 minute hold and then things resumed at the beginning of that scene. Not terribly familiar with the show but it was just two actors on stage - maybe in an office or desk setting?

One was the national tour of FOOTLOOSE. During the preacher's epiphany where he finally allows the dance to go forward, his mic went out. They made an attempt at the scene but soon realized nobody could hear them. There was never a god mic hold announced but eventually the actor playing the reverend went off stage and left Ren there alone. He improvised a tap number that got huge applause. Soon after the other actor returned with a hand-held mic and finished the scene to more appreciative applause.

Last one was at LOMBARDI. The show used a lift to bring the chairs and tables for the Lombardis' living room up/down. Someone must've not put a chair in the right place because the third or fourth time that set came on, one of the chairs in the corner got crushed by the lift in the edge of the opening. There was an announcement and a short hold. The platform lowered and when it returned, the crushed wooden chair was replaced by a metal folding chair. It remained for the rest of that performance.

My First Hold

Posted: 11/17/18 at 12:45pm

I've seen a few - mostly for technical reasons, but once it was for an audience member's medical emergency that Molly Ringwald spotted (Cabaret). They will always back up to a logical beginning point, that is protocol, I believe.

If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it? These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.

My First Hold

Posted: 11/17/18 at 12:59pm

Oh love these!

During a preview of Rocky, there were three 30-minute holds during Act 1. Act 2 went off without a hitch, surprisingly.

The first preview of Groundhog Day, which was held after the opening number for about an hour before a concert performance began.

Another preview of Groundhog Day where they held for 5 minutes immediately following “Playing Nancy”.

Does Shakespeares in the Park “Julius Caesar” count, when protestors/morons stormed the stage during Caesars death?

I feel like there are definitely more that I’ve experienced, but these are the ones that pop to mind. On the other hand, I can think of a ton of times something has noticeably gone wrong on stage, but the performance continued amongst the mixup.

My First Hold

Posted: 11/17/18 at 2:17pm

Around the time Hairspray first opened there was a technical issue that stopped the show. Harvey and Marissa came out, talked to the audience, and did some funny back and forth. It was a nice added bonus!

#10

My First Hold

Posted: 11/17/18 at 7:36pm

Only one hold but it's a funny story.

So it was during a tour of Aida but not long before seeing it, my college professor set us up with a tour of the performing arts center that it was held at. One of the VERY specific things that they made note of while we were on the tour was how when a show that came in that used smoke effects that they had to disable a few zones of the fire alarm system in the wings. That was a VERY specific thing they brought up on the tour.

Not a month later, when I saw Aida, their were heavy smoke effects at the top of the show with Amneris' entrance (it was not a Disney produced tour so it was very different staging but that's a whole other story about how the Egyptian solders were running around in jeans and polo tees but I digress...) Things were progressing okay until the transition into the scene where Radames takes Aida to his chamber on the ship for the first time when the fire alarm starts going off. With the swell of the music, the actors on stage could not hear it and the curtain coming down almost hit them but a fellow actor ran back onto the stage and pulled them back behind it.

The house manager came on and said to remain in our seats that the show would resume shortly. They did start again from the same spot.

#11

My First Hold

Posted: 11/17/18 at 9:18pm

The first time I've ever been to a show with a hold was Thursday night at Cursed Child. The speaker right near me starting buzzing during the first big meeting at the ministry and got progressively louder as time went on. Then it started beeping rhythmically, continuing to get louder and louder. They finally stopped the show two scenes later. A sound guy came and turned the offending speaker off and they were able to restart.

I wish they had stopped the show sooner. I'm easily distracted and missed two full scenes that they didn't go back and redo. Luckily I have seen the show before so I knew what happened, but I enjoy those scenes and was sad to miss out. The usher ended up telling a bunch of people what they missed at intermission. Everyone was pretty annoyed. I get that the show must go on, etc., and they were probably hoping the speaker would calm down on its own. But as soon as it started getting louder they should have given up and called it.

#12

My First Hold

Posted: 11/18/18 at 12:18am

Only time I ever had a hold was in a regional production of Annie Get Your Gun. The mics went out at one part. Announcement made, house lights came up and about 5 minutes later it resumed from where they left off.

Only other hold was the beginning of Jagged Little Pill when Nora Schell found out she was on as Frankie 5 minutes before curtain. She was already in her ensemble costume. It started 20 minutes late.

Hi, I'm Val. Formerly DefyGravity777(I believe)

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