Those quirky moments in community theatre you love — Page 2

So not community theatre, but a camp production. We did "Annie" this summer and my extremely guy friend Ben was cast as Ms. Hannigan. A boy. And he was absolutely brilliant.

I saw a production of "The Best Little Whorehouse..." where, during the Aggie dance, one of the dancer's 'kibbles and bits' kept poking though the fly in his boxers. Apparently he was not versed in the miracle that is the dance belt.

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I saw a Community Theatre production of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF and when the villagers were walking around in the circle during Anetevka, I noticed that many had 'Travelite' suitcases and wore Levi cords.

At another, during a production of EVITA the actress playing Eva was lifted during 'Rainbow High' and her wig slid off. In the same production after 'Don't Cry For Me...' when the balcony moves back and the actors exit, someone took the stairs away before the last actor left. He was left standing on the balcony in semi darkness all through the following scene. Ah, the magic of theatre!

Well, if that's CUTC's Beauty, friday night, the magic mirror split in two during Kill The Beast. And the Beast tripped on the stairs coming down for his final dance with Belle.

Years ago, my daughter was in an unauthorized, unlicensed version of Beauty, and the Beast got a nosebleed in the middle of Act I and the show had to stop.

True story: The year before last was my town's (Newton, NC) 150th anniversary. A guy who used to (badly) direct many of our community theatre shows, but had moved to NYC and played piano in a few national tours, came back and wrote a musical about our town, called The Heart of Catawba County and the show-stopping act one finale was called "Rootin' Tootin' Newton." It was the Red, White & Blaine of North Carolina.

I have so many community theatre stories...I've grown up there. One of my favorites was during a production of Cheaper By the Dozen, during the lovey dovey family song, this guy wearing big red pants falls out of a door next to the stage, directly into the laps of the people in the first row.
We have really old instruments as far as lighting goes. During the big ballad in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, in which I played Becky, two lamps blew at the same time. The guy playing Tom and I both jumped about three feet into the air, and I'm pretty sure I made one of those embarassing little girl startled squeaks.
Outdoor theatre is also particularly entertaining. I did Horn in the West, a Revolutionary War drama, for 5 summers, and there's a scene in the show, a very politically incorrect scene, in which the entire cast dons full body paint and runs out onstage as indian braves to do a fire dance. It always seemed to rain during that scene, so there were a bunch of very streaky people jumping through flaming hoops and making incoherent "Indian" noises. I'm still surprised no one sued us for that.

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My favorite community theatre memory. I was playing the Baker in Into the Woods. One night we had ALOT of kids in the audience. When I was singing the "Baker's Reprise" and I said "Do I want a child or not?" some brat in the first row just screams, "NO!!!" I kept in character, but the whole audience erupted in laughter for the rest of my song... so much for that.

Years ago in a strawhat production of Noises Off, Mrs. Clackett had tossed back a few prior to curtain. She was slurred throughout the show (not a good show to be tipsy in) and when it came time to break the bottle over Brooke's head, she whacked Freddie instead. The show (and she) stumbled on.

1) The SWEET CHARITY where they cut "I'm A Brass Band."

2) The GODSPELL that took place in central park and had 50 people that wandered around throughout the production and magically stood in lines for the chorus numbers.

3) THE WIZARD OF OZ with no yellow-brick road.

4) Not on-stage funny, but I was stage managing a production of A CHRISTMAS CAROL and the actor playing Dick Wilkins missed his entrance, so Young Scrooge and Fezziwig had to improvise a scene without him. After it was over, before I knew what I was saying, I told my fellow technicians over head-set: "That went surprisingly well for having no Dick."

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I saw a local production of "Sweeney" earlier this year where they re-created the original broadway set that rotates. (It looked JUST like it!). However! The chorus members (short, thin teens and older adults) doubled as stagehands. They were REALLY working hard to get that set turned around on more than a few occasions. I swear you could almost hear them going "uuuuuhhH!!! UuummmphhH!!" pushing on it to get it rotating. They even set the whistle off again during some of the scene changes because it took so long for them to haul the set on and off stage. I loved every second of that production.

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"And the Beast tripped on the stairs coming down for his final dance with Belle."

LMAO - Oh my God, I'm so glad I wasn't your Mrs. Potts!!!!


"When I was singing the "Baker's Reprise" and I said "Do I want a child or not?" some brat in the first row just screams, "NO!!!" I kept in character, but the whole audience erupted in laughter for the rest of my song"

oooh that reminds me - time for my birth control pill....

Updated On: 8/19/07 at 02:21 AM

"When the Jets and the Sharks are so flaming that it is distracting..."


When JESUS is so flaming that it is distracting...

Worst.Godspell.Ever.

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My brother was in a production of the wiz like 2 years ago, and there were only two african americans in the whole cast. Love that one.

I was in a production of Fiddler on the roof once. Our tevia was a GREAT actor and apparently a great improvisor too, cuz one day he forgot what he was saying during the part of tradition where he talks about the horse and mule argument. Here's what he said.

Well he sold him a horse but he TOLD him it was a mule and he LIED. He LIED like a fish in the sea!!!

The whole cast could barely keep a straight face. There was a whole thing in the middle that I don't remember cuz it was a year ago but it just went ON AND ON AND ON! I think by the end he was enjoying it.

Updated On: 8/19/07 at 07:05 AM