Showstoppers - Witnessed Accounts of Show-Stopping Moments

[CapnHook]

Posted: 1/3/05 at 11:52pm

I want this post to be FULL of moments that YOU witnessed on stage that stopped the show. The only limitation is that I don't want these moments to be injuries - but show-stoppers due to the performance.

Describe the moment, describe the audience's reaction - including your own.

Go!

[Dextrous Existence]

Posted: 1/3/05 at 11:57pm

-The ending of "Don't Feed The Plants" in the OBC of Little Shop. (With the plant right over me in the audience, I thought I would wet my pants.)

-Of course, the first time I saw "Defying Gravity" in Wicked...but since then, it's sort of lost its charm on me.

-"No Day But Today" from the Touring Cast of Rent.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 12:01am

Sutton Foster singing "Gimme Gimme." Of course there were the screams and cheers from the audience.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 12:06am

The Adam/Daphne Kean concert, when they joined up to sing Light My Candle and Another Day. Showstopping and heartstopping. Audience went WILD. I cried...

As far as stuff in musicals... Given the timing, one thing that comes to mind is the second to last time Adam ever sang I Don't Care Much. Audience stopped the dialogue following to give him a good, solid round of applause.

Updated On: 1/4/05 at 12:06 AM

[CapnHook]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 12:08am

I saw WICKED in December 2003. I believe it had only been open for two months, since Halloween. This is directly after all the rave reviews and hype, before the huge teenage fanbase derived.

A huge standing ovation was given after the Act I Finale, "Defying Gravity." Though, it did not stop the show, since an intermission followed.

However, the show was stopped briefly later in Act II. Idina Menzel just finished "No Good Deed." A couple of people in the middle of the Orchestra section stood up and applauded loudly, just a tad more audible than what the audience's applause level. This prompted other random people throughout the Orchestra to stand. I turned around to see other small random section of standing patrons. Menzel was breathing heavily, smiled, and the show went on, forcing the audience to sit. But those brief 30 seconds seemed like an eternity.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I also remember during the revival of INTO THE WOODS, the cow "Milky White" did something rather humerous, and the laughter in the audience would not stop. The cow then milked all he could get, adding more motion.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 12:12am

Jennifer Holliday
Dreamgirls
End of Act I
"And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going"
There was an applause break and cheers at the end of the first PHRASE.
The standing ovation started halfway through the song.
Sheer pandemonium at the end of the song.
Several people rushed down the aisle to the front of the orchestra, reaching out to her.
Some people were literally standing ON their seats, screaming and cheering.
By the time she reached the last note of the song, it looked a riot had broken out in the Imperial Theatre, with everyone on their feet, yelling bravas until they were hoarse ..... some people were even weeping......

Nothing I've ever seen since remotely compares.

Posted: 1/4/05 at 12:13am

ive seen sebastian bach fans add a few seconds onto jekyll&hyde by screaming and cheering after This Is The Moment... he blushed and had to turn away from the audience.

sutton foster's closing night at millie, lots and lots of extended applauses.

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 12:19am

God, what I would give to have been alive to see Jennifer Holiday in Dreamgirls.




And on a Wicked note: "This is directly after all the rave reviews"
I certaintly don't recall that.

[CJR]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 12:19am

The final performance of Bells Are Ringing. When Faith Prince finished singing "I'm Going Back" the entire audience was on it's feet, screaming, hooting and hollering for nearly 3 minutes... to the point where cast members actually broke character onstage to motion to the audience to quiet down.

[TheGaIsSilent]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 12:21am

Margo, that's a great story.

I'll go with the 7/18 performance of Wicked, since no one has yet. I'd never (nor since) seen anything like it. What was MOST impressive was that despite it being Kristin and Norbert's last day, the audience gave a full standing ovation for "The Wizard and I". The whole theater was just breathless.

[jmnpublications]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 12:27am

When I saw Bernadette Peters in GYPSY last year, the audience gave her a standing ovation after "Rose's Turn." If there had been an applause meter, I'm sure it would have broken.

lc

[bjivie2]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 12:43am

Standing O for Bernadette in Gypsy here too.

What? Wicked got a rave?

[CapnHook]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 1:01am

"This is directly after all the rave reviews."

Let me rephrase - not reviews from critics, but from theatregoers at this message board. It was BroadwayWorld.com that sparked my interest in the show, and further research that made me want to go see it.

[pab]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 1:08am

I totally concur with Margo having seen "Dreamgirls" a few times on Broadway with Ms. Holiday. It's the first time I'd ever seen a standing ovation in the middle of a song.

Some of this was also discussed in this thread:

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?boardname=bway&thread=464308#464308

[MatureDignity]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 1:20am

I would give *anything* to have been a part of what Margo saw at Dreamgirls.

I don't know if this counts, but during Assassins there was a tangible "stopped" feeling when the Zapruder film was projected onto Lee Harvey Oswald's shirt.

[sydney23]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 1:50am

A certain Saturday matinee's audience response to Mandy Patinkin singing "Finishing the Hat" fairly early on in run of "Sunday in the Park with George" back in like 1984. It was a great performance of one of Sondheim's greatest songs - and he sang and acted it wonderfully - with his trademark intensity (but well placed and justifiable in this case! ) and the audience gave him a generous and sincere hand - but nothing out of the ordinary at first. As I remember the staging, George would close his book and get up and walk upstage and stand with his back to the audience as the scene continued. Well, Mandy stood and faced upstage, and as the applause started to ease down there was this odd surge in the clapping that came all over the theater. This was not just a few people leading the crowd - it was a steady, universal groundswell - almost a delayed reaction - as we kind of all suddenly registered what we'd experienced. He stood there with his back to us, seeming to take it in, and it was almost as if the audience was acknowledging Seurat (in the guise of mandy, of course) very unusual - and very moving. i've never forgotten it.

a few months later i saw the show again with another actor - it was an amazingly different response. the audience was so underwhelmed that there was an uncomfortable pause for a few seconds after the song was over before they even started tepidly applauding. Really made the Mandy experience resonate all the more.

[sweetiedarlinmia]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 2:22am

Brian Stokes Mitchell in MOLM singing "The Impossible Dream." Standing ovation, tears. It was classic. I do believe that is the exact moment I fell in love with him.

[Sheri]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 3:52am

At a peformance of 1776 with Reprise! in LA when Kevin Earley finished his rendition of "Molasses to Rum" - the entire audience broke out in thunderous applause. It was so loud and so long after he left the stage that the actors in the next scene had to repeat their lines - twice!

And Sutton's final performance of "Gimme, Gimme" definitely stopped the show - and even got a mid-show standing ovation.

[andyf]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 3:58am

Sorry to put you to shame Margo, but I guess you never got to see Melanie in Chicago.

What was supposed to be the "Hot Honey Rag"....WOW.
Just...WOW.


The audience was just screaming by the end...I had tears in my eyes...

Sidebar - Who's Jennifer Holiday?

[andyf]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 4:03am

Thank God...a sign of life.

Updated On: 1/4/05 at 04:03 AM

[TheatreRatinBlue]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 4:06am

i saw a performance of Kiss Me Kate and the number "It's Too Darn Hot" stoped the show for a solid 5 minuets. the guy who sang it did a huge tap number near the end of the song and it was absolutly amazing. Also when i saw Jeykll and Hyde "Murder Murder" stoped the show it was done very well.

[Eastwickian]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 5:25am

Oddly both of my moments feature Maria Freidman

The first was at a performance of the Witches of Eastwick. As a journalist who has trouble expressing herself, the character of Sukie has a patter song which builds to a 100mph finale. This night, Maria did it about twice as fast normal (ie: as on the cast recording) and you could almost feel the entire audience holding it's breath waiting for a slip up. There was none, and as she hit the final note, the whole theatre erupted in applause, cheers and screams which carried on until she took a small bow to acknowledge the reaction. It obviously threw her a bit as she completely messed up the next line!

The second time was during the final performance of Ragtime in London. The end of 'Our Children' received a sustained applause which didn't die down for a good few minutes - then a quarter of an hour later, 'Back to Before' brought the house down completely and Maria Friedman just stood there in tears for what seemed like ages until the orchestra forced the audience to quiet down! Needless to say at the curtain call the audience went insane, with most people standing from the last note of the finale

[wildcat]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 6:43am

The one night only "Follies" concert in Melbourne, 1993. Beautiful Girls was sung by Jeff Warren, ( who replaced Russell Nype in "Call Me Madam" in 1950 then opened the West End company with Billie Worth in '52) Jeff had not been seen on the Australian musical theatre stage since he came out here to play the King in "The King and I" in 1962. As the parade of leading ladies came down the staircase it was like watching our musical comedy history unfold: Sheila Bradley, the English mezzo who had replaced Joan Diener in the London "Kismet" then made her career and home in Australia. Nancye Hayes, our Charity Hope Valentine, Dorothy Brock and Parthy Ann Hawks. Toni Lamond, who starred in "Pajama Game", "Oliver!" and "Gypsy". Jill Perryman, Australia's Funny Girl and Dolly. Glenda Raymond, a legendary opera soprano coming out of retirement after almost 40 years. Maggie Fitzgibbon, who had made her career in London but returned for one show in the 60s ("Sail Away") at the request of Noel Coward. The mere sight of these fabulous ladies on one stage brought forth a roar from the audience that none of us had ever heard before. It was a sound repeated steadily through the night...Lamond's Broadway Baby, Hayes and the women dancing with their ghostly counterparts in Who's That Woman?, Perryman's electric Could I Leave You and...the piece de resistance...Maggie Fitzgibbon revealing that laser beam voice, unchanged since her West End triumphs in "Boys From Syracuse" and "Do Re Mi", as she tore into I'm Still Here. One Night Only..but no-one in the audience that night will ever forget it.

[paradox_error]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 7:09am

The thought of that Follies concert gives me chills.

I literally got goosebumps reading your recount, Wildcat.

[wildcat]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 7:22am

The terrible thing was that Flora Roberts (Sondheim's agent)had it in the contract that the performance was not to be taped, so we were all broken hearted that there would be no record of this extraordinary night. Then many months later, apparently Mr. Sondheim inquired if there were any tapes of the show floating about. When he was told that the contract had been honoured, he was quite surprised, saying that usually the overtures of special events like this are drowned out by the "clicking on of cassette recorders"!