Most Disastrous Performances?- Page 4
Most Disastrous Performances?
egghumor
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/9/11
#75Bubble burst
Posted: 6/27/11 at 12:12pm
Perhaps many of you have read "Not Since Carrie" and other books about flops... Remember the one about MATA HARI's disastrous tryout in Washington where leading lady Marisa Mell scratched her nose after being executed by a firing squad?
Also, back in the early '70s, Rex Reed wrote a hilarious account of the opening performance of the first musical version of GONE WITH THE WIND at the Drury Lane in London, 1972. I recall that Reed said that following a series of bad scenes and minor calamities, at closing of Act One ended with a live horse dumping on stage.
I think it was that also show (or perhaps the aforementioned MATA HARI) where a supposedly "dead" character on stage rolled out of the way of a rapidly descending show curtain for protection. Priceless.
MamasDoin'Fine
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/28/08
#76Bubble burst
Posted: 6/27/11 at 12:39pm
'Sunset Blvd' Adelphi Theatre London
Rita Moreno
'Im Coming Out Of Make Up,
'Im Coming Out Of Make Up!'
'The lights are really burning!'
'I'm Coming Out Of Make Up'
'I'm Coming Out Of Make Up'
'I'm coming out.......
and so it went on. I almost took the armrests off with the tension!
Updated On: 6/27/11 at 12:39 PM
egghumor
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/9/11
#77Bubble burst
Posted: 6/27/11 at 12:47pmOh, MamasDF, that's rich! I'm surprised the audience didn't start feeding her the lyrics at some point.
ahhrealmonsters
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/11/10
#78Bubble burst
Posted: 6/27/11 at 12:50pm
This Rent blooper always makes for a good (awkward) laugh:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lv7aDE_xRFc
#79Bubble burst
Posted: 6/27/11 at 1:13pm^ Was the projector getting knocked over and messed up a blooper too?
"I don't want the pretty lights to come and get me."-Homecoming 2005
"You can't pray away the gay."-Callie Torres on Grey's Anatomy.
Ignored Users: suestorm, N2N Nate., Owen22, master bates
carolinaguy
Broadway Star Joined: 10/13/06
#80Not since CARRIE
Posted: 6/27/11 at 1:15pm
I remember reading that also at the "Mata Hari" preview, Mell was acidentally spotlit while nearly naked during a quick change due to a lighting miscue.
NOT SINCE CARRIE also talks about an out-of-town tryout show (I wish I could remember what) where the production was in such chaos that the leading man turned to the audience at one point and said something to the effect of, "There used to be a song here, but you're better off without it."
Just remembering you've had an "and"
When you're back to "or"
Makes the "or" mean more than it did before
henrikegerman
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/29/05
#81Not since CARRIE
Posted: 6/27/11 at 4:11pm
Liza was famously inept replacing Julie Andrews in Victor, Victoria.
I once saw Rex Harrison fall asleep and Glynis Johns having to wake him up during the second act of The Circle.
And then there was Bacall opening night of Waiting in the Wings, sadly and glumly giving an embarrasing and lifeless performance, opposite Rosemary Harris no less. That was painful to see a grande dame giving every impression that she knew she was bombing. To see a legend having a very rough time on stage, fully aware she was in big trouble, and having to get through the night was as torturous for the audience as it was for her.
egghumor
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/9/11
#82Not since CARRIE
Posted: 6/27/11 at 4:28pm
I can't say for certain, carolinaguy (as I don't have a copy of NOT SINCE CARRIE handy) but I think you might be referring to disastrous tryout of CHU CHEM in Philadelphia (also known as Killadelphia). Can anyone confirm?
Molly Picon walked out after her part was trimmed, and poor Henrietta Jacobson (later of 70 GIRLS 70) had to go on with precious little prepartion. A nightmare for actors and audiences.
#83Not since CARRIE
Posted: 6/27/11 at 4:31pm
NOT SINCE CARRIE also talks about an out-of-town tryout show (I wish I could remember what) where the production was in such chaos that the leading man turned to the audience at one point and said something to the effect of, "There used to be a song here, but you're better off without it."
Wasn't that Donald O'Connor in Bring Back Birdie?
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
blacktie
Understudy Joined: 6/7/10
#84Not since CARRIE
Posted: 6/27/11 at 4:45pm
"2) Colman Domingo in CHICAGO...He has the slick ruthlessness that Billy Flynn requires, but could not sing "We Both Reached For The Gun" worth his salt. It definitely killed the performance for me to a degree"
He must have been having an off day. I saw him and he performed it to perfection...so much that Mama Morton slapped him a high five as he exited the stage.
ggersten
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/11/06
#85Not since CARRIE
Posted: 6/27/11 at 5:01pm
Sting in The Three Penny Opera - we saw it in DC before Broadway and his voice was beyond shot. For someone who supposedly performed in rock venues every night for months, it was beyond shocking how weak and strained and cracking his voice was. And his voice was the best part of his performance.
At a preview performance of Hamlet at the San Diego Old Globe, I somehow got in early and seated, when the doors closed behind me and somehow I didn't get kicked out. I saw a stage hand nail something on the floor. Then when the Gravedigger came out, he tried to open a floor door to get at Yorrick's skull, but the panel was nailed shut. He kept going and struck the handle with his shovel and the other gravedigger did the same until finally the director yelled "Stop" and they came out and took the nails out and started the scene over from the beginning. Truly, Alas, poor Yorrick!
In a community theatre production of Oliver (my daugher was Oliver), the u/s for Nancy had only had two weeks to get up to speed and was thrust on stage - and well, she kind of got lost in "As Long As He Needs Me" - stanzas and lines mixed up. Somehow, the conductor followed her and at some point she ended the song. It's on DVD - but I ain't uploading it - because the actor really is a fine actress and it was just unfortunate.
#86Bloopers/Disasters
Posted: 6/27/11 at 5:05pmahhrealmonsters don't bash JoKo! Josh Kobak is a great performer. Best St. Jimmy there was and overall awesome person. (It's slightly funny though, just because it is him)
#87Bloopers/Disasters
Posted: 6/27/11 at 7:08pmI love Nathan Lane's acid-edged ad-libs in Wind In The Willows. From what I recall he was pretty sassy during that and Merlin making reference to their respective impending closures.
With Irma you gotta do something!
#89Bloopers/Disasters
Posted: 6/27/11 at 7:33pmThe first time I saw the UK tour of EVITA, pieces of set were flying in all over the place. At one point (when Eva appears behind the portrait of herself during the Requiem), the balcony she was leaning on shot upward and nearly beheaded her. She let out the most terrifying scream.
egghumor
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/9/11
#90Bloopers/Disasters
Posted: 6/28/11 at 5:49am
FOUND IT!
According to the Wikipedia entry on the show CHU CHEM, here's the moment:
"During rehearsals Picon, upset that her role had been reduced, walked out, but eventually returned. The November 1966 tryout at the New Locust Theatre in Philadelphia was plagued by constant revisions to the script and score, and an unhappy Picon quit permanently. At one point on opening night, her successor Henrietta Jacobson turned to the audience and announced, "There was a song here, but you'll be better off without it." The reviews were brutal, with one critic describing it "like blintzes and soy sauce" and suggesting "a better title might be The King and Oy." Co-producers Leigh and Cheryl Crawford immediately cancelled the scheduled Broadway opening at the George Abbott Theatre."
SondheimFan5
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/20/10
#91Bloopers/Disasters
Posted: 6/28/11 at 9:35amRegine in FOllies at the KC. Thank god Solange is such a bit part.
egghumor
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/9/11
#92Bloopers/Disasters
Posted: 6/28/11 at 10:58pmIt was in 1963, after winning the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, that Vivien Leigh was escorted from the stage during a performance of TOVARICH. Apparently she was speaking directly to the audience rather incoherently about her co-star Jean-Pierre Aumont and other issues. Very sad.
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