Those quirky moments in community theatre you love

You know sometimes you get situations that if it was in a big expensive production you pay top dollar to see you'll hate it, but in community theatre, it only adds to the charm of the show?

Okay, I may not be explaining myself correctly but for example I recently saw a community theatre production of CHESS (using the modified London book) and I swear Anatoly looked to be 25 while Svetlana and Florence where looked to be both pushing 50.

So basically I spent the entire show with the amusing thought that Anatoly had a granny-fetish going on. It made me laugh to myself several times (actually it was a pretty good production and Svetlana was sublime, but I got alot more amusement then I thought I would out of it).

Funny thing is asking around afterwards, all 3 actors are of a similar age, but the gentleman playing Anatoly seriously looked younger then me (I'm 27) and Florence & Svetlana... hate to say it... they looked like Barbara Bush (the cranky Barbara not the drunken floosy Barbara).

Florence was actually a last minute replacement when the lady originally cast became a little to visibly pregnant with twins, so I will grant them that. But as said, only in community theatre, which is why I love community theatre... all these little fun things happening.

So anybody got some amusing Community Theatre stories that make you love community theatre even more?

I saw a production of The Fantasticks in a community dinner theater. This was actually just a big room in the back of a bar. Three long tables set up to eat family style chicken and sides. No stage, just the actors at the end of the room with a piano and the usual few props needed for The Fantasticks.

The action literally took place on the floor right in front of us. I thought, "well, if this can work with any show, it can work with The Fantasticks."

The actor who was to play Matt was snowed in out of town and the director had to fill in. He was so nervous and unprepared that he kept freezing in the middle of his songs. You could tell he'd never performed in his life. He had no idea on how to improvise his way out of it. He just stood there looking at us with the piano playing the same vamp over and over.

Fortunately, because of the cramped set-up, I was sitting at the head of the table just a few feet from him and, knowing the entire score by heart, decided I might as well feed him the lyrics. This happened a good dozen or so times throughout the show.

Keep in mind, I had no connection to this production and no one in it knew me. I was just a helpful little audience member. I've never had so much fun at a show in my life.

---

It was actually a parochial school production of "Godspell" where the Last Supper scence turned into a high Catholic mass, complete with Latin and the "apostles" crossing themselves.

a few years ago i saw a production of footloose in colorado and the person playing "REN" couldn't dance at all.

My favorite was when I saw a local production of MAME and the woman playing the title character was very much overweight. The group had rented her costumes from Books-Van Horn and had been let out as much as humanly possible. Still, Mame had some rather slinky outfits and I spent the entire night staring at the V-Panel in the woman's girdle.

---

all the shows i've been in have been top quality we try to run it
like broadway but during our production of the king and i when the stage manager went to turn off the house lights he also turned the lights in the pit off and it was near the end of the overture.and during our production of beauty and the beast our house lights wouldn't turn off so we did the entire first scene with them on. and i don't know why our director did this but
he casted a prince for the finale and he stunck the guy who played the beast was 5times better than him.

Updated On: 8/17/07 at 12:00 PM

I have more horrible community theatre experiences than quirky. I saw a production of ANNIE where all the leads were directed as if they had one adjective to their personality. So Annie was chipper. Daddy Warbucks stern. Miss Hanigan was played like an 1800s melodramatic villain, and she was staged so she was constantly turning to the audience and scowling out her lines. It was HORRIBLE.

I saw HELLO, DOLLY! where they added in several lines for Dolly knocking our then governor. Not only did she stumble over the lines, they weren't funny and were flat-our distracting.


Broadway Blog: If You Don’t Like the Way I Look

I saw a wretched production of Jekyll & Hyde where Emma looked about 50 and Jekyll was in his mid 20s. Later, I commented on how bad his accent was, too. Then I read his bio. He was actually from England, but had lived the past 8 or so years in the US. Oops!

---

what about watching a show and the curtain gets stuck on a light? and they need to stop the show to get a ladder to pull the curtain down from a light hung by a HS techie? Or The cast running through the aisles? I felt like I was watching "Red White And Blaine".
Also a Production of WSS where the white, jewish boys were so painted, they looked like Tall Umpa Loompas.

sally, you must have seen the production of West Side Story that I'm currently in!

I do commmunity theater and we do it a higher leve quality but I know what you are talking about. Sometimes making a casting strech can work but sometimes it is now way believable.

When I did Dolly, I played Ambrose and the lady who played Dolly is phenomanal. She had played the role twice before and a true talent. One night in the beginning of the show where Dolly and Levi discuss being late for the train, she started choking. She couldn't clear her throat and coughing up a storm, so she asked the gentleman at the table next to the stage for a glass of water. That is something you can only get at a dinner theater.

Oh, and to add to the above - the same production at one point featured scenes from Moulin Rouge in which Satine and Christian were played by, respectively, a 14-year-old with braces and a 45-year-old with a potbelly. It was hilarious - and surprisingly well-sung.

how about an all male, gay version of the fantasticks? that is going on this fall at a community theatre near me.....should be...interesting?