Tonight at "The Elephant Man"

My friend is seeing "The Elephant Man" tonight and he just messaged me this: "Midway through act 2. Loud moaning (assumed it was the show cause he moans the whole time) but then someone screamed and the lights came on. EMS is here. Its been about 15 minutes."

I hope everything is okay!

Updated On: 1/2/15 at 10:22 PM

Holy crap! Any more info?

After returning home from tonight's marvelous performance, I can confirm he aforementioned statement.

SPOLIERS (but not really cause it's based on a true story)
After the death scene moaning was heard (someone at the stage door mentioned they thought it was snoring at first), but I thought it was part of his breathing pattern in the show. However, someone called for help and a doctor and the house lights came on. A stagehand drew the curtains and the actors remained on stage. The EMT's came and handled the situation. I was in the last row of the mezz and I didn't want to be rude and stare (as many others had been). The whole situation lasted around 15-20 minutes. The show continued. And to be honest there was only about 3 minutes left in the show,

At the stage door it was rumored to be a stroke and the person appeared to be unconscious at the time of their removal. Someone on Twitter even mentioned the victim passed, which I can only hope is not true. If anyone can correct/add/verify info please do. I can only pray for the victim and their guests and family during this time.

I've also got to give a shout out to the Booth staff because the situation was handled very well.
The show was marvelous and I reccomend it to everyone.

Orchestra. It appeared to be closer to house right too.

Years ago I witnessed a similar circumstance while at Cabaret (with Molly Ringwald). I was also impressed with both the cast and house staff's swift and professional manner. I was told at the time, that they actually rehearse for these emergencies. I do not know if this is true.

I was also impressed with how smoothly the show went back to business as soon as appropriate.

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This kind of thing is more common than you'd think, and of course staff rehearses (or at least has preparedness) for what to do. Plans are always in place. On average, some Broadway show is stopped for a medical emergency twice a month, at least. Sometimes the emergency can be managed without stopping the show.

I have witnessed several deaths during shows, I don't know how many died or went into a medical emergency during the run of Angels in America, but it had to be in the dozens.

You just don't hear about it because it generally isn't considered newsworthy and/or no one in the tiny world of message boards was there to post about it.

I do hope last night's emergency wasn't serious.

The Stage Manager did speak to the audience last night with updates and all.
I wasn't there, but I remember hearing about something similar over at "Thw Realistic Jonses".
It's a shame there won't be an update. I hope all is well.