"Putting It Together" - opening number of Act 2, "Back in Business". Carol Burnett, George Hearn, Ruthie Henshall and John Barrowman all onstage. Midway through the number, Burnett's skirt simply falls to the floor. Audience goes crazy, as does Barrowman, who drops to the floor in hysterics, then gets up,, turns and shows the audience where he completely split the seat out of his pants in Act I and they had repaired them with duct tape. The show went on after a hasty costume change.
On a personal note - In college I was in a production of Terrence Rattigan's "Separate Tables", which had a wonderful semi-revolve that moved back and forth between the lounge and dining room scenes. Last performance, last set change, the revolve jumps the track. Actors entering the dining room stagger, silverware, table centerpieces go flying, soup slops out of bowls. Everyone calmly gets seated, picks up everything as if it were a normal occurence and prepares to start the scene. The first line is from the maid to one of the old ladies: "Goulash or chicken fricasee?" Except what came out was:
"Goulash or frickin chickasee?" The cast choked on their soup and the actress playing the old lady later said: "Thank God my line was 'goulash'!" |
