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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2017 19:07:37 GMT
John Partridge took a tumble down the stairs on the La Cage tour- I thought it was a pratfall at the time but he was clearly in pain by the end and took his shoes off at the curtain call (and later tweeted about a trip to A&E). 'The Suicide' at the NT had a show-stop when I saw it as an actor got a leg stuck in a bit of set machinery- short 10 minute delay nobody hurt.
And as someone mentioned 'Streetcar' I didn't witness it but about 2 days before I saw it one of the plates smashed, a shard flew and took a chunk out of Gillian's leg- she did the rest of it still bleeding, and then I think had a couple of shows off? (I'm hazy on the details) anyway she was bandaged up when I went later that week and I winced a bit at those plates!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2017 19:09:28 GMT
Sort of in this ilk...from the YV
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Post by profquatermass on Nov 22, 2017 20:36:50 GMT
John Partridge took a tumble down the stairs on the La Cage tour- I thought it was a pratfall at the time but he was clearly in pain by the end and took his shoes off at the curtain call (and later tweeted about a trip to A&E). 'The Suicide' at the NT had a show-stop when I saw it as an actor got a leg stuck in a bit of set machinery- short 10 minute delay nobody hurt. And as someone mentioned 'Streetcar' I didn't witness it but about 2 days before I saw it one of the plates smashed, a shard flew and took a chunk out of Gillian's leg- she did the rest of it still bleeding, and then I think had a couple of shows off? (I'm hazy on the details) anyway she was bandaged up when I went later that week and I winced a bit at those plates! Didn't Simon Russell Beale break his finger during a performance of Timon (or possibly Lear) and have to be replaced by the understudy half way through the show? |
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Post by loureviews on Nov 23, 2017 9:58:16 GMT
Didn't Simon Russell Beale break his finger during a performance of Timon (or possibly Lear) and have to be replaced by the understudy half way through the show? Yes and had his finger bandaged up for the rest of the run. I think it was Timon. |
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Post by kathryn on Nov 23, 2017 15:36:36 GMT
Yes! Completely by chance! Just grabbed some tickets 20 minutes before the performance at the TKTS booth! No he really wasn’t, as that incident happened several times, until he finally got it right. Ba-doom-tish. Taxi for Phantom of London! |
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Post by loureviews on Nov 23, 2017 17:03:36 GMT
Some I can remember:
Charlie Girl. Nicholas Parsons on roller skates nearly shooting off the stage, grabbed by Paul Nicholas to stop him.
Me and My Girl. Trevor Bannister leaning on one of those wheeled food trolleys and nearly shooting into the wings.
The Lion King. Technical problem required death of Scar scene to be restaged at stage level after a short interval.
Richard III. Unclear technical problems meant Robert Lindsay's 'A horse ..' entrance had to be re-run.
Amy's View. Judi Dench had a long coughing fit and someone off-stage had to bring her a jug of water and a glass.
Sweeney Todd years ago in Oldham. An unruly platform, a safety curtain which came down on its own, dodgy lights. But still a great show.
Phantom of the Opera. Peter someone in the lead, voice cracks horribly on the 'starts to soar' line.
An American in Paris. Flag fails to project in the opening scene, necessary to have a break, reset and try again.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2017 17:12:20 GMT
God, I remember seeing 'Phantom of the Opera' once and the bloody chandelier fell down. Onto the stage! You have to hand it to the cast though, no-one batted an eyelid and they just carried on.
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Post by longinthetooth on Nov 23, 2017 18:29:44 GMT
In the bar scene in Love Never Dies, where Raoul is pouring out his woes in a drunken stupor, a drink was spilt. I can't remember if it was knocked over by the bartender or by Raoul, but whoever played the bartender completely lost it and was crying with laughter. Raoul carried on regardless, while the liquid poured down the front of the bar all over the stage, but the bartender had to turn his back on the audience (you could see his shoulders shaking), and even when he turned back to face us, he had to cover half his face with a bar towel!
Two incidents at Les Mis. The first was during Master of the House, when a 'beer' bottle whizzed over our heads and up the aisle, and the second, again involving the Thenardiers, was during the wedding scene, when they are pinching the silver. Some knives and forks fell onto the mesh over the orchestra pit, to be picked up by the conductor. Thenardier asked the conductor for it back, to be told 'No!'
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Post by jasper on Nov 23, 2017 18:45:26 GMT
I remember at Sweeny Todd at Drury Lane with Shelia Hancock. She was playing at a piano and picked up a glass of wine and it shattered.
At the Olivier Man and Superman Penelope Wilton I think it was entered and fell flat on her face. She picked herself up and Daniel Massey's next line was 'About that trip.' Audience fell apart and Massey just looked bemused at us.
At the Gate they turned the stage around so that you entered through the set. A man got ill part way through and left through the stage. A bit later the servant entered and asked the main character if a man could come through and the man who was ill came in and returned to his place.
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Post by adrianics on Nov 24, 2017 8:01:56 GMT
The only mistakes I've seen (or at least noticed) were both in Act 2 of I Can't Sing and involved that absolutely insane revolve. A couple of times the stage started revolving unexpectedly, once a potted plant fell over and Nigel Harman bellowed, in character, at one of the ensemble to pick it up. The second time, it started moving during Harman's monologue and he just stared at the stage until it stopped. Both very funny and well handled by Harman, who was pretty great throughout the whole show.
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Post by SageStageMgr on Nov 25, 2017 19:58:25 GMT
Combination of shows I’ve worked on and watched from the audience;
Phantom: Too many to list them all... but here’s a few;
A very nervous understudy Phantom in one of his first shows lost his fedora into the stalls during “All I Ask of You Reprise”, made a desperate grab for it, without missing a beat. Crew collected it during the interval.
John Owen-Jones’ final performance of his original run, before returning to Les Mis, the Overture simply stopped playing after about 20 seconds. The house lights came up, there was a 10 minute delay, and it started from scratch.
The candle prop not firing to cut Raoul free in the Final Lair several times, the lasso getting tangled in the stage right wing as the Phantom captures Raoul.
The fireballs not firing from the Phantom’s staff at the end of Wandering Child on several occasions
The Phantom simply running off stage instead of using the trap after Why So Silent
Loads of line flubs, best was Earl Carpenter’s first performance
Elsewhere, a show stop at Les Mis (Queens) with the barricade getting stuck. Usual line flubs etc.
Jeeves and Wooster, Worthing, the main set piece (a sort of expanding box thing) falling apart during the show - the show had already started late due to the same problem
Idina corpsing for ages after being smacked full in the face by a ribbon thing during “One Short Day” at Wicked
Reece Shearsmith getting stuck in the coat hanger bit in The Producers (Manchester), actually the only funny memorable bit of the show which made me think it might have been staged. He couldn’t get the coat off, then it seemed to be stuck on his costume underneath, he needed Ulla to help him and added in character to the audience “this doesn’t usually happen”...
An entire portion of the Avenue Q (Selladoor) set falling forwards and hitting the false pros arch at the Brighton Dome. Long delay and continued with extra support braces in place
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Post by SageStageMgr on Nov 25, 2017 20:05:51 GMT
Oh and my personal favourite, Rik Mayall in Present Laughter on tour at the Brighton Theatre Royal. Stumbled over his lines, tried again, messed it up. Yelled “F**K!!” in a very Rik Mayall way, turned and asked the wing for his next line, then carried on like it hadn’t happened.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 26, 2017 2:01:08 GMT
Last month in Nativity!, the second act opened with Jennifer (played by Sarah Earnshaw) singing on top of a Hollywood hill set with light up letters, however the D was delayed by about 10 seconds (and was met with a cheer from the audience!) so until then it said "HOLLYWOO".
In Alex Gaumond's first week as Miss Trunchbull in Matilda he threw his gym "TRUNCH" hoodie off to stage left, but it got caught on the letter tile set so remaining in character (and still during the moment of silence in the song) he walked over, threw it off and walked back and carried on. It was hilarious and he handled it brilliantly!
I also remember seeing the second preview of The Wizard of Oz in Southampton 10 years ago which was plagued with mishaps, such as Toto being pushed onto the stage against his will, actors referring to the Witch (played by Matthew Kelly in drag) as "he/him/his" and finally Glinda's bubble smashing into the false arch on it's way out.
There probably have been other little fluff ups, but those are the most noticeable. I've also seen the show stop due to technical reasons twice (but otherwise they were clean performances), the first being The Wizard of Oz (again!) at the Palladium and The Exorcist in Birmingham last year.
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Post by rmechanical on Nov 29, 2017 16:39:20 GMT
Perhaps this should be in the Loud Noises thread.
At the Joe Penhall play Landscape with Weapon in the Cottesloe there is a tense interview/ interrogation scene set in a factory.
There are industrial sounds in the background which when I was there got louder and louder till they totally drowned out the dialogue.
Eventually the actors stopped and the SM appeared to say they were trying to reset the soundtrack but it could take some time.
Julian Rhind Tutt chatted away for ten minutes and when it was sorted asked where they should restart from?
My “helpful” suggestion at the beginning was understandably ignored.
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Post by PhantomNcl on Nov 30, 2017 9:42:27 GMT
Phantom of the Opera, first UK tour, Edinburgh Playhouse (or could have been Manchester).
During the overture the dust sheet which covers the false prosc arch got stuck on the outstretched finger of one of the moulded figures. There was much pulling and flicking of the cover to try and get it unstuck, even to the point where the creaking of the set could be heard over the overture. In the end the cover was tucked around the corner of the set for the duration of the first act, and a crew member came and rescued it with a long pole during the interval, to great applause!
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Post by theglenbucklaird on Dec 3, 2017 17:49:52 GMT
Casting Keira Knightley in the Misanthrope??
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