When Theatres Goes Wrong (unintentionally)

On Tuesday night in Southampton in Wicked there was a show stop just after “No one Mourns the Wicked” for about 10-15 mins whilst we were informed there were troubles with the automation system which were being fixed. All started where it had left off.

The Wizard was also having trouble with his mechanical head where the mouth and head didn’t move. It also didn’t move downstage as it should have so Chistery who normally climbs it before he sprouts wings had to improvise running around the stage and climbing other set pieces. The set was eventually closed in front of it during the show. It was comical a bit as the wizard was upstage for a bit and miles away from Elphaba and Glinda he was meant to be talking to! The head was also playing up in Act 2 where it didn’t spin to reveal the other side and whilst it did slide downstage, it didn’t like retuning upstage which it did very shakily.

this thread reminds me of this show report from the Rocky Horror Show tour around 2016(ish)

I've got two!

The first preview of Wicked - massive hype, audience is electric - Glinda's first entrance in her bubble, half tracks onto the stage and then stops, everything stops..! They started the show from the beginning again after a short wait and the line 'It's good to see me isn't it' has probably never gone down as well with the audience as it did that night.

Mary Poppins - During its first run at the Prince Edward, there was an automation issue in the second act, which stopped the show long enough for the two children playing Jane and Michael's contractual hours to run short. They picked the two shortest ensemble member to finish the last couple of scenes as them, that was pretty funny.

I was there and I remember that! Thank you for the reminder! 😀😀

I’m loving all these stories, keep them coming.

Back in Australia, my best friend's brother is a professional pianist, who got a job working in the orchestra of Aspects of Love, which was playing at the time. So my friend when to see the show to support his brother.

As part of the set design there were a series of sliding panels and apparently the actor playing the main role of Alex, walked into one of these sliding panels. He hit it so hard that the whole panel wobbled.

Now, in Aspects of Love, the character of Alex is in most scenes at the beginning so, despite the impact of this collision, the actor had to stay on stage, singing and discreetly trying to rub his nose throughout

Most memorable was original London production of Cats. The revolve was initially placed the wrong way round and as the production started it was meant to revolve 180 degrees. However at the performance I attended it didn’t move. Several stage crew placed around the perimeter used hand winches to turn, taking about 15 minutes to do so.
The curtain calls at the end were cut!

Saw the Blood Brothers tour a year or two back, I distinctly remember when Sammy takes the bag of sweets, he snatched it so hard the bag exploded, sending tons of flying hard candy down into the first few rows of the audience.

The funny part is, when I saw the tour again recently, I swear on my life the exact same thing happened. This time, there were maybe four compared to the twenty something of last time. Someone must have learned a lesson.

I remember during a phantom show with John Owen Jones the Velcro on the Phantoms chair would not attach to the cape so he couldn’t disappear at the end leaving the mask on the chair in his place. He managed to get Meg’s attention before she went to rip off the cape, instead she picked up the bridal veil which was a good save I felt. During the curtain call John wasn’t able to get the mask so had to take a bow with just the wig.