They had to do it EVERY performance- Page 2
They had to do it EVERY performance
Chrysanthemum62001
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/14/04
#25re: They had to do it EVERY performance
Posted: 10/20/04 at 7:42pmTwo words-"Prairie Oyster"!
"What a mystery this world. One day you love them and the next day you want to kill them a thousand times over." The Masked Bandit in THE FALL
dancinfan
Broadway Star Joined: 8/9/04
#26re: They had to do it EVERY performance
Posted: 10/20/04 at 8:35pm
Dolly Levi has to eat at every performance. The Dolly I worked with preferred chicken (turkey was too dry), whipped red potatoes (again, moister and lighter than standard Idahos), and real pickled beets. When beets became too tough to bear, she asked for a mix of buttered peas and carrots, but we kept fake beets on the table because the dialogue called for them.
Carol Channing had a recipe for puff pastries that she took with her everywhere she played the role. The pastries looked enormous, but when she stuffed them in her mouth, the collapsed and melted very quickly. She could stuff what seemed like dozens in her mouth at once, but much of the chewing and swallowing business she did was mugging for effect.
#27re: They had to do it EVERY performance
Posted: 10/20/04 at 8:40pm
There's actually a picture of her eating them with Vandegelder looking on. There's steak there but all she's eating are the pastires. That in my opinion always looked like fluff.
Another thing:
In Les Miserables, Jean Valjean has to eat bread and swallow it before saying his lines and has to break a chair.
"Sing the words, Patti!!!!" Stephen Sondheim to Patti LuPone.
#28re: They had to do it EVERY performance
Posted: 10/20/04 at 8:45pmWell... this isn't so bad, but when I was in Wait Until Dark... basically all of the characters smoke. They didn't use herbal cigarettes in our performance. Thankfully I was Gloria, and only 11, so they didn't make me. lol But most of the people who had to smoke already did in real life... it was discusting... ugh
#29re: They had to do it EVERY performance
Posted: 10/20/04 at 8:58pmWhen I was in BIG in the "Susan's friends" scene we had to eat caviar or some form of something that looked like it. It was sick. We also had stale vegetable thins and crusty jam. I liked hearing your Grease stories cause when I was in it there were fake cheeseburgers wraped in tissue paper, dunno. Budget I know.
morosco
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/10/04
#30re: They had to do it EVERY performance
Posted: 10/20/04 at 9:34pm
On the SUNDAY video when Bernadette Peters sings "Everybody Loves Louis" it's obvious that the pastry she chomps into is a store bought Twinkie.
#31re: They had to do it EVERY performance
Posted: 10/20/04 at 11:00pm
I hate to burst your creative bubble, but my high school did the Nicely Nicely eating thing too. At the last performance there was a hilarious gag involving a rapidly disappearing three foot sub (I believe the entire cast was backstage helping him eat it- every time he came on he it was noticably shorter). Our Nicely was about 6'2" and skinny.
A friend of mine in Bye Bye Birdie, as Conrad, had to chug a lot of seltzer water. And burp on command.
"WHEN is the winter of our discontent?"
"NOW is the winter of our discontent!"
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jonartdesigns
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/04
#32re: They had to do it EVERY performance
Posted: 10/20/04 at 11:16pmin my production of chicago we get to deal with the joys of fake cigars and cigarettes due to the not too friendly fire marshall won't allow it and the bulk of my cast is underage....however we get the difficulty of remembering not to inhale the poweder within them under any circumstances
"Grease," the fourth revival of the season, is the worst show in the history of theater and represents an unparalleled assault on Western civilization and its values. - Michael Reidel
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#33re: They had to do it EVERY performance
Posted: 10/20/04 at 11:27pmHow about in Shirley Valentine when she had to make steak and eggs on stage every single peformance. And talk the same park every time. Once she dropped an egg on the stange and just cleaned it up while talking. Like it was part of the show. It was very cool.
jonartdesigns
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/04
#34re: They had to do it EVERY performance
Posted: 10/21/04 at 12:32amthere was a show recently that the cast ate a full gourmet meal and copious ammounts of faux wine....it was called ominium gathering or something like that
"Grease," the fourth revival of the season, is the worst show in the history of theater and represents an unparalleled assault on Western civilization and its values. - Michael Reidel
Jon
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/20/04
#35re: They had to do it EVERY performance
Posted: 10/21/04 at 11:13am
HELLO DOLLY SPOILER:
The huge "puff pastry" Carol Channing was eating was actually cotton candy. hey wanted something big that she could devour, so they bought a cotton candy machine for the show.
Bwaychick84
Chorus Member Joined: 9/29/04
#36re: They had to do it EVERY performance
Posted: 10/21/04 at 11:48amIn a production of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers that I was a part of, our brothers had to eat cold oatmeal and muffins everynight... sometimes twice a day it was a two show day... Needless to say, they weren't too fond of it by the end of the run...
#37re: They had to do it EVERY performance
Posted: 10/21/04 at 12:01pmOmnium Gatherum - ridiculous show. The food was the only thing that made sense.
Have I ever shown you my Shattered Dreams box? It's in my Disappointment Closet. - Marge Simpson
Fair 2 Middlin
Broadway Star Joined: 8/9/04
#38re: They had to do it EVERY performance
Posted: 10/21/04 at 12:04pmI feel sorry for the people who had to clean up after the last scene of Normal Heart.
Thank you so much Fair. You are such a "Bewitching" HUSSY! -(DAME 12/2)
jezzebelle
Featured Actor Joined: 4/19/04
#39re: They had to do it EVERY performance
Posted: 10/21/04 at 12:20pm
My school is actually doing Omnium Gathering as part of the Long Island Play Project. I'm not in it, but I read the play and didn't get it either.
Fair 2 Middlin
Broadway Star Joined: 8/9/04
#40re: They had to do it EVERY performance
Posted: 10/21/04 at 12:44pmThe whole 1st act of Top Girls -Caryl Churchill takes place at a dinner in a restaurant. A full meal is served complete with dessert.
Thank you so much Fair. You are such a "Bewitching" HUSSY! -(DAME 12/2)
Skempp
Understudy Joined: 7/26/04
#41re: They had to do it EVERY performance
Posted: 10/21/04 at 12:57pm
As a stage manager, I always hated shows with food.
In the Miracle Worker, every night, we'd have scrambled eggs for Helen to throw around the stage in the food scene with Annie Sullivan. Eggs went everywhere and were a bear to clean up during the act break.
During a production of Tobacco Road, the set was placed on about 4 feet of dirt that had been hauled in. "Granny" lived under the porch and would have turnips thrown to her to eat. The actress playing Granny ate those dirty turnips every night and developed a really nasty intestinal infection.
#42re: They had to do it EVERY performance
Posted: 10/21/04 at 12:58pmWhen I was Lt. Schrank in "West Side Story," I had to smoke every performance. Not a problem for me, because I like to have the occasional cigarette anyway. The only problem was that the director (the one and only Joey McKneeley) wanted me to simply chuck the cigarette into the wings when I was done with it (without putting it out first). Not only was I worried about setting the place on fire every performance, but I had to throw it only a couple feet away from where Tony was standing, and one night I actually hit him with it!
#43re: They had to do it EVERY performance
Posted: 10/21/04 at 1:06pmI sang in the chorus of an opera company in a production of "Madama Butterfly". During the wedding scene we actually had food in our picnic baskets. The best was when we performed in Long Island near the Entenmann's factory. Our picnic baskets were full of various baked goods and it was quite hysterical seeing everyone eating them with chopsticks.
Hey Dottie!
Did your colleagues enjoy the cake even though your cat decided to sit on it? ~GuyfromGermany
Updated On: 10/21/04 at 01:06 PM
#44re: They had to do it EVERY performance
Posted: 10/21/04 at 1:14pm
OT: My aunt has worked at the Entenmanns on Long Island for the last 8 years or so. Ever single day she gets to take home 1 free cake. In the beginning, this was great b/c we'd always have cakes around (she lives right down the road)...8 years later, I can't even look at any Entenmanns without feeling sick.
Sort of like Rath's twinkies.
JC14
Stand-by Joined: 3/25/04
#45re: They had to do it EVERY performance
Posted: 10/21/04 at 1:31pmUpdated On: 3/12/05 at 01:31 PM
#46re: They had to do it EVERY performance
Posted: 10/21/04 at 1:45pm
To the Hello, Dolly posters....
Carol stopped using Cotton Candy, as it made her sick....
on the '95 tour they used tissue sprayed with tea and they would dry them over lightbulbs...24 to be exact, peel them off and twist them shut....
"It never bothered me that she called me a c*nt, it bothered me that I answered to it!" Carol Channing about Ethel Merman filming an episode of "The Love Boat"
broadwayguy2
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/18/03
#47re: They had to do it EVERY performance
Posted: 10/21/04 at 1:47pmThanks Bobby. That sounds interesting...
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