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| Is this theater story true? | |
| Posted by: theaterbear 01:11 am EDT 08/30/21 | |
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| I remember hearing a story years back about how one night, during the final scene of West Side Story (the 1980 revival) Josie DeGuzman's Maria was doing the "How many can I kill?" scene and the gun accidentally went off - causing a couple of the Jets to try and cover the mistake by hitting the floor as if they'd been shot. Unfortunately, those same Jet boys were supposed to assist carrying Tony off so the Shark Girls kind of dragged him off while Office Krupke cuffed Maria. Is ANY of this true? There are so many theater stories floating around that are either pure fiction, attributed to the wrong performer, or just embellished to the point of farce - so I'd love to know!! |
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| re: Is this theater story true? | |
| Posted by: AnyaS 10:55 am EDT 08/31/21 | |
| In reply to: Is this theater story true? - theaterbear 01:11 am EDT 08/30/21 | |
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| I remember Josie DeGuzman telling this story on a talk show in the 1990s. I want to say it was on Maury Povich's show when he was still trying to produce a somewhat respectable talk show. Although, it's possible that it was Geraldo's show. She also discussed getting fired from Nick and Nora in thw same interview. | |
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| re: Is this theater story true? | |
| Posted by: KingSpeed 04:27 am EDT 08/30/21 | |
| In reply to: Is this theater story true? - theaterbear 01:11 am EDT 08/30/21 | |
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| That would be cool if that were true. Great improv by everyone. But why would a stage gun even have the capability of "going off"? | |
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| re: But why would a stage gun even have the capability of "going off"? | |
| Last Edit: waterfall 09:12 am EDT 08/30/21 | |
| Posted by: waterfall 09:00 am EDT 08/30/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Is this theater story true? - KingSpeed 04:27 am EDT 08/30/21 | |
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| I don't know about this particular production of the 80s WSS, but 40 years ago, it was not uncommon to have stage guns that were fired by performers. Said guns, which fired "blanks" were considered dangerous, even then, and were kept under a prop master/mistress' lock and key until just before they were used, handed directly from props to the performer in the wings. Two awful examples of how this could go wrong (film related) are the deaths of Jon-Erik Hexum, who shot himself in the head with a blank pistol while clowning around between takes in the 80s, and the death of Brandon Lee, Bruce Lee's son, in the 90s. Actor Michael Massee fired an improperly prepared prop gun at Lee, killing him. On a lighter note, regarding improv and stage guns: Vivian Beaumont's CONTACT. Part two was titled "Did You Move?" and was about a Mafioso and his wife, out for dinner in an Italian restaurant. Towards the end of the evening, the increasingly irascible mafia man pulls out a gun, which he immediately loses possession of. Three waiters engage him in a shell game with the weapon under pot lids. While the Mafioso is distracted, one of the waiters slides the gun along the stage to the wife, who traps it under her skirt. The husband bribes the waiters to reveal which pot lid the gun is under, and they lift all three lids, to show they no longer have the gun. Disgusted and infuriated, the man turns towards his wife and [SPOILER ALERT!] she shoots him. ...at least that's what is supposed to happen. On this night, the actor sliding the gun did it a little too enthusiastically. It shot past the actress, lost beyond the curtain just upstage of her. She didn't have the gun she needed to kill her husband seconds later - so she shot him with her forefinger. The gunshot was a sound effect, and it all happened so fast that I don't think the audience noticed that she wasn't actually holding a gun. It was either Ziemba or d'Amboise. |
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| re: But why would a stage gun even have the capability of "going off"? | |
| Posted by: BHandshy 06:02 pm EDT 08/30/21 | |
| In reply to: re: But why would a stage gun even have the capability of "going off"? - waterfall 09:00 am EDT 08/30/21 | |
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| Well, the gun is Chino's, which Maria takes from him, and has already been fired in this scene by Chino. The gun isn't fired any time after that, so assuming the actor playing Chino actually fired the gun (with a "blank"), there would be no need to have another blank loaded and ready to go. So, to me, the story sounds far-fetched. | |
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| re: Is this theater story true? | |
| Posted by: MockingbirdGirl 08:08 am EDT 08/30/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Is this theater story true? - KingSpeed 04:27 am EDT 08/30/21 | |
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| Because Chekhov wills it so. ;) | |
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