Scariest Moment in a Musical or Play- Page 2
Scariest Moment in a Musical or Play
Color and Light
Broadway Star Joined: 10/23/05
#25re: Scariest Moment in a Musical or Play
Posted: 6/4/06 at 7:08amThe very, very end of Sweeney Todd gives me chills, but I've never been as scared in a theater as I was when I saw Cabaret at Studio 54. My palms were so sweaty, and it took me a few moments to collect myself. But that ending is always terrifying, no matter how it's staged. Hell, the movie still scares me.
Stop looking at my charisma.
#26re: Scariest Moment in a Musical or Play
Posted: 6/4/06 at 8:11amShoshana Bean and David Ayers singing As Long As Your Mine.
#27re: Scariest Moment in a Musical or Play
Posted: 6/4/06 at 8:36am
I second RentBoy86. Could someone who knows the terribly disturbing end of Cabaret please fill in the rest of us who never got a chance to see it?
#28re: Scariest Moment in a Musical or Play
Posted: 6/4/06 at 8:45amI think the emcee takes off his costume to reveal a concetration camp uniform or something along those lines. It's been a while, sorry.
"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."
To Kill A Mockingbird
To Kill A Mockingbird
icantbelive
Featured Actor Joined: 5/5/06
#29re: Scariest Moment in a Musical or Play
Posted: 6/4/06 at 10:00amThe loud music freaked me out in MAMA MIA
#30re: Scariest Moment in a Musical or Play
Posted: 6/4/06 at 10:06amNothing scared me as much as the cast of the RENT tour a couple of years ago. Blah. They were horrible.
"TO LOVE ANOTHER PERSON IS TO SEE THE FACE OF GOD"- LES MISERABLES---
"THERE'S A SPECIAL KIND OF PEOPLE KNOWN AS SHOW PEOPLE... WE'RE BORN EVERY NIGHT AT HALF HOUR CALL!"--- CURTAINS
Scottie310
Stand-by Joined: 5/24/04
#31re: Scariest Moment in a Musical or Play
Posted: 6/4/06 at 11:12amPeople mentioning that scene in Pillowman still freaks me out. I literally jumped a few inches out of my chair as well as made a verbal noise. That whole show I was FREAKED out. They need to make a movie of that play
Sgasrock
Chorus Member Joined: 3/3/06
#32re: Scariest Moment in a Musical or Play
Posted: 6/4/06 at 11:17amIn Beauty and the Beast, when Belle's father comes out in that car thing and it makes that loud exploding noise...that scared the crap out of me
#33re: Scariest Moment in a Musical or Play
Posted: 6/4/06 at 3:42pm
SWEENEY TODD REVIVAL. i was on the second row and several points during the show Tobias, Johanna, Sweeney, and Patti would just randomly stare at you. ahhh it was chilling.
and the very last door slamming. gee minelli
"My Mother's punishing me for going to jail without permission!"
~Penny Pingleton from HaIrSpRaY
#34re: Scariest Moment in a Musical or Play
Posted: 6/4/06 at 4:08pmThe guns in "Assassins" and the stage door crowd the night I saw Wicked in May of 2004.
Just give the world Love.
Smaxie
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/26/05
#35re: Scariest Moment in a Musical or Play
Posted: 6/4/06 at 4:22pm
Chita Rivera standing on that slanted table in wet heels during the Grand Canal section of the Nine revival.
Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.
#36re: Scariest Moment in a Musical or Play
Posted: 6/4/06 at 4:25pmOh, Smaxie, I totally agree. Every time I saw that I just waited for someone to wipe out.
"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy."
-Charlie Manson
COOOOLkid
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/15/05
#37re: Scariest Moment in a Musical or Play
Posted: 6/4/06 at 5:21pmCan anyone fill me in on what was the scary scene in Pillowman that you guys have been answering with?
"Hey, you! You're the worst thing to happen to musical theatre since Andrew Lloyd Webber!"
-Family Guy
#38re: Scariest Moment in a Musical or Play
Posted: 6/4/06 at 5:31pmCOOOOLkid: The scary scene in PILLOWMAN is when the supposedly dead corpse of a young boy (The Writer's Brother) springs from a bed with a scream. That scene is also the scariest scene I've ever seen in theatre.
MARGARET: "Clara, stop that. That's illegal." - The Light in the Piazza
"I'm not in Bambi and I'm not blonde!" - Idina Menzel
"I'm not in Bambi and I'm not blonde!" - Idina Menzel
#39re: Scariest Moment in a Musical or Play
Posted: 6/4/06 at 6:44pm
"Could someone who knows the terribly disturbing end of Cabaret please fill in the rest of us who never got a chance to see it? "
MAJOR MAJOR CABARET SPOILERS FOLLOW....
After Cliff leaves Germany, the Emcee begins singing Cabaret again. You realize the Customs Official is actually the Emcee. As he wanders around the stage, he reminds the audience that all their troubles are gone now. When he repeats that, "even the orchestra is beautiful" the scrim is pulled away and there is no orchestra there anymore, but you can still hear them. The sound builds, and becomes increasingly dissonant. Gradually, all of the principal characters start to descend the staircases which flanked the stage. You begin to hear the sound of an oven/incinerator. The stage is completely bare and the cast moves towards the back of the stage. The sound of the incincerator continues to get louder. The Emcee steps forward, bids us all goodnight, and then, as the music builds to a final cymbal crash, takes off his coat to reveal the uniform of a concentration camp prisoner. In addition to the Jewish star, he also has the pink triangle. As the lights move to a blackout, he goes and takes his place with the other "dead" cast members. There is a final symbal crash, and then we are left in darkness.
I hope I remembered everything. It was truly shocking and incredible. Even as I type it, I am getting goosebumps. Nothing will ever compare to seeing it live, however.
Updated On: 6/5/06 at 06:44 PM
#40re: Scariest Moment in a Musical or Play
Posted: 6/4/06 at 7:02pm
Last Midnoght Into The Woods
Michael Cerveris's Epiphany, not the best, but the scariest
I was almost Ten when I first saw Les Mis and the baricades freaked me out with all the guns.
I agree about Pillowman
#41re: Scariest Moment in a Musical or Play
Posted: 6/4/06 at 7:14pmWhen Patty Lupone is sitting on that chair cleaning the tools. The day I saw it I was sure that chair was going to fall.
Just give the world Love.
rocker05
Stand-by Joined: 11/20/05
#42re: Scariest Moment in a Musical or Play
Posted: 6/4/06 at 9:55pmDoes anyone here remember "Night Must Fall" with Matthew Broderick. That scared the crap out of me. The beginning was by far the scariest thing I have ever been subjected to in the theatre. I didn't see "The Pillowman", I was very upset about it, but I'm sure it was very frightening. "Night Must Fall" started with a huge lightning crash without any warning just like Tarzan, except the Lyceum was a much more intimate theatre, which made it all the more frightening.
#43re: Scariest Moment in a Musical or Play
Posted: 6/5/06 at 2:53am
Now I'm even sorrier that I missed Pillowman. 
Completely agree about the revival of Cabaret.
In the original Broadway production of Spider Woman, there were two moments that gave me the shakes. In Act One, when Valentin is poisoned, the cell's curtains suddenly part to reveal the Spider Woman standing there, coming for him. It's a quick moment, but wonderfully creepy. In the second act, the title song scared the bejeezus out of me. The subject matter was intense enough, but Chita's delivery of it-- the triumphant roar of that last line as the music speeds up and seems to crash down around her-- was just heartstopping.
Ahem. Yeah. Thirteen years later, and I'm still obsessed. Right, then. Moving on.
Much as I wasn't wowed by Shining City, the last seconds of the play gave me a nice little shudder. I wouldn't necessarily agree with Ben Brantley's description of the moment as "shocking," but it's appropriately creepy, and earns more than a few gasps.
Assassins, yeah. Intense, scary, gorgeous, wonderful. Ditto Sweeney. All of it, both original and revival.
One final memory: about twenty years ago (I'm so dating myself here), my school went on a trip to see a local children's theatre troup perform an adaptation of Poe's Fall of the House of Usher. (Why they thought Usher was a good story for a bunch of kids to read is subject for another thread.) Towards the end of the play, as the characters realise that they have buried Mrs. Usher alive, there were three flashes of lightning. In the first, we saw Mrs. Usher in the tomb, lying on her bier. In the second, she was sitting up. In the third, she was gone. I had nightmares for weeks.
"I hate musicals... People don't sing in real life."
"Well, maybe they should."
--Kiss of the Spider Woman (cut line)
"Well, maybe they should."
--Kiss of the Spider Woman (cut line)
#44re: Scariest Moment in a Musical or Play
Posted: 6/5/06 at 6:22pmI found the beginning of Tarzan a little disturbing.
The choice may have been mistaken, The choosing was not... "Every day has the potential to be the greatest day of your life." - Lin-Manuel Miranda
sondwisenheimer
Stand-by Joined: 5/3/06
#45re: Scariest Moment in a Musical or Play
Posted: 6/5/06 at 6:48pm
I agree with a lot of moments mentioned here, but no play has ever had the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end like "The Weir."
Truly creepy, atmospheric, and underrated as a piece of drama.
#46re: Scariest Moment in a Musical or Play
Posted: 6/5/06 at 7:25pm
I have major problems with seeing blood, so sitting through a production of Sweeney Todd was rather frightening.
Um... the whole pseudo-Rape sequence in Oklahoma is scary if done right.
#47re: Scariest Moment in a Musical or Play
Posted: 6/5/06 at 8:16pmThis is kind of wierd but, on eof the most happiest/ scariest moments for me is when Sweeney reveals himself to the Judge.
TheaterAddict7652
Broadway Star Joined: 2/7/06
#48re: Scariest Moment in a Musical or Play
Posted: 6/5/06 at 8:37pm
Michael Cerveris's Epiphany
When I saw Sweeney, during Epiphany, Michael Cerveris looked at me and I almost screamed. It scared me that much.
Also, the door slamming at the very end when the music suddenly stops...still gives me chills when I listen to the recording.
There's a lot I am not certain of...
Broadway Star Joined: 12/31/69
#49re: Scariest Moment in a Musical or Play
Posted: 6/5/06 at 8:40pmGunshots always scare me. So when Kim shot Thuy in Miss Saigon I was 3 feet off my seat.
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