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| Longish group of anecdotes. | |
| Posted by: Charlie_Baker 10:51 am EST 12/20/17 | |
| In reply to: What are the 'best' onstage mishaps that you've seen in live theater? - GrumpyMorningBoy 10:15 am EST 12/20/17 | |
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| A few off the top of my head, first two personal: A community theater production of Hello, Dolly, where the hat shop set was prematurely struck, leaving the actors absolutely nothing to hide behind once they are interrupted by Vandergelder. A stock production of Mame where the robes of the Lithuanian bishop were caught under the casters of a pouf stood upon by Mame and young Patrick and being rotated by the ensemble. Robe pulled off and immediate blackout. That was the most exposed I've ever been on stage, though probably very few of the audience caught it. A way back from the Broadway run of Lena Horne:The Lady and Her Music. Ms. Horne was speaking and noted two women in the front row were agitated. "What's worryin' you?" she asked them, breaking out of her monologue. They pointed at the floor, and there was a mouse scampering around the hem of the star's gown. Ms. Horne had a good laugh, picked up the mouse by the tail and calmly crossed the stage to give it to a crew member. Resuming her place center stage, she deadpanned, "It's an OLD theater." And the show went on. More recent: in the Signature revival of Burn This, Catherine Keener's character says she spent too much on a couple elegant wine flutes. Then one of them is accidentally broken. Ms. Keener, I think, made her stage debut in that production, and was a total pro. She chuckled briefly, then adlibbed, "I think I might have another," and sure enough pulled one from a cabinet. At the dress rehearsal for the current cast of the Met's Merry Widow, Susan Graham had a line about it being time for fireworks, and there was supposed to be a sound and projection effect. Nothing. She repeated the line in classic fashion, and with a brief delay the effect happened. Then her next line is about how the fireworks are always so prompt. Those are my old theater geezer's tales for today. :-) |
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| re: Longish group of anecdotes. | |
| Posted by: wwxyz 01:14 pm EST 12/20/17 | |
| In reply to: Longish group of anecdotes. - Charlie_Baker 10:51 am EST 12/20/17 | |
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| The version of the Lena Horne story I heard was that a mouse fell out of the flies and landed near her on stage. She said 'I've worked with bigger rats than that' and threw it offstage. | |
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| re: Longish group of anecdotes. | |
| Posted by: Charlie_Baker 01:39 pm EST 12/20/17 | |
| In reply to: re: Longish group of anecdotes. - wwxyz 01:14 pm EST 12/20/17 | |
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| I personally witnessed the incident I described. Maybe it turned into a running mouse bit? :-) | |
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| re: Longish group of anecdotes. | |
| Posted by: wwxyz 02:10 pm EST 12/20/17 | |
| In reply to: re: Longish group of anecdotes. - Charlie_Baker 01:39 pm EST 12/20/17 | |
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| I have to admit your version sounds more likely. I was working at the Nederlander, where it supposedly happened, when I heard it, and at the time that theater was a real dump. I could easily imagine a dead mouse falling out of the flies. | |
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