Mortifying Stage Moment!

[FOJMO]

OK, this past weekend was the last performances of the musical I was in, "Gypsy." I was playing the lead -- Mama Rose. On Saturday night, at the very end of the show, my show-stopping number really turned into a show-stopper!

I was just ending the powerful song, "Rose's Turn" (and I'm in darkness except for the spotlight), and I reached the end of the stage and fell off about 6 ft. into the orchestra pit!!!!

I must have immediately closed my eyes, and when I opened them, I was really wishing I would be in my bed and it was just a terrible nightmare! But, unfortunately, it was for real and I opened my eyes to two strange ladies who were audience members and nurses.

We had a sold-out house (approx. 300+) and I didn't hear a thing. I asked if the audience was still there and, much to my dismay, they said yes. I looked down at my legs and saw they were both bleeding! After about 5 minutes of people yelling to get ice, I was able to stand up and the audience was standing, yelling, and applauding. I determined that I didn't think I had broken anything, and was also determined to finish the show, which was about 3-5 minutes from the end.

I got back on stage with assistance, and asked the musical director "Where were we?" I finished the song and subsequent dialogue, and exited. I went on for curtain call, which was unbelievable -- that audience was the greatest!

Afterwards, I went immediately backstage and my fellow castmates put ice on my legs and I called my DH to please come and get me.

We went to the ER and they took x-rays, but nothing was broken or sprained. I was so lucky! Sunday morning, I couldn't stand on my left foot and I still had a matinee that day (last performance). I was about to do it on crutches, when I was able to stand on my foot! I did the last performance with some staging modifications and all was well.

I'm now taking it VERY EASY and resting my aching and healing body. I have never been so mortified in my life. I guess it will get easier to laugh at later on, but for now, the term "break a leg" has a whole new meaning for me!!!

 

[tc]

I am so glad you're okay. It's amazing you weren't seriously hurt, and more amazing that you were able to go on and finish the show. The matinee must have been hard too. Aren't audiences great? I'm sure they supported you because of you willingness to go on. They do always say that, you know, "The show must go on!"

Heal fast and congrats on ending great show.

 

[goofy4tink]

OMG!!!! I've done the same thing. I'm blind as a bat without my glasses and most director's won't let you wear them onstage. I walked right off the edge of the stage into the pit last spring. Thank heaven it was only a tech rehearsal!!! Glad nothing was broken and you were able to do Sunday's show. What a trooper!

 

[holycow]

Holycow! You really bring the meaning of "the show must go on" to reality!...It is truly amazing that you were able to get up and finish the show!...I am so glad that you are doing well and there aren't any broken bones!


Holycow

 

[Snow White]

Wow! How awful! I'm glad you are ok!!

 

[Talking Hands]

Glad you are ok.
Been there except it was my husband and he fell 10 feet off the back of a riser right in the middle of a show. He fortunately was only badly bruised and came back the next night to perform the closing show.
You will look back on it later and have fond memories of it believe it or not.

 

[FOJMO]

there WAS some unintended humor when I got back on stage and completed the show...

In the few lines that were left after the song --

GYPSY comes out and is slowly applauding MAMA (me) and I say:
"I was just trying out a few moves you might want to use"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and...

GYPSY: You really would've been something, Mama.
MAMA (me): Ya think so?
GYPSY: If you would have had someone to push you like I did.
MAMA (me): Well, if I could've been I would've been and that's show business. I guess I did do it for me.
GYPSY: Why, Mama?
MAMA (me): Just wanted to be NOTICED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The audience just cracked up after each of those unintentionally funny lines that were really lines in the script! Uncanny...

 

[Briar Rose 7457]

oh my goodness!

glad to hear you're ok and that you were able to finish the show.

 

[AngieBelle]

Oh no! but LOL at the lines in the script! I love "something goes wrong" stories! The worst that happened to me was tearing a big hole in the side of my dress during "Om pah pah" in Oliver and having my underwear visable for the rest of the number!

Oh, and when I was in Annie (though this didn't involve me) Warbucks was about to take Annie out into the city. He reaches for the door knob and the whole darn door breaks off the flat! He then adlibs "Oh and Grace? Get this door fixed!" We were waiting in the aisles and just rolling with laughter and so was the audience!

 

[Amzey]

Oh gosh! That's definitely a mortifying stage moment!

 

[FOJMO]

Angie - my DH and I had a good laugh at the Warbucks story! Great ad lib!

How's Fiddler going?

VAL

 

[Annie&Hallie'sMom]

Not during a show, but during a dress rehearsal of The Actor's Nightmare, "George" and I are standing on the "balcony" (which is just a slightly raised platform with a thigh high railing around it). On the balcony with us is a table with "champagne" and 2 glasses. As the scene ends, he's supposed to climb over the railing and leave. Well he climbs over, but pushes back on the wood railing which brings down the whole thing, including the table, the glasses and the nearly full bottle of champagne onto my leg/foot. I got to hobble off stage with a bloody leg.

Another "fun" moment was back in high school when we were doing Alice In Wonderland and I was Alice. As one group of characters went off stage on stage right, another (Humpty Dumpty) was supposed to be set up on stage left...But Humpty didn't show! Since I had this major monologue before in the show, I just turned to the audience again and said "Here I am, alone again." I don't remember what else I rattled on again. But my best friend was the stage manager/Mad Hatter and she swears to this day I was staring at her when I said the line. She tore backstage to get Humpty on stage. But by this time Humpty felt she had missed her cue and wasn't going on at all! Some how my friend managed to get her on to her little brick wall and the play continued. But let me tell you it seemed like hours of ad libbing!

 

[Mickey's sunshine]

Oh no Val!!! I am glad that you were not seriously hurt though. Take it easy and next time I dont think we should wish you break a leg.

 

[Serena]

Oh my goodness. I'm glad you all are alright.

 

[Robinrs]

FOJMO!!!

I'm so glad you're okay but I swear, my first reaction was DID ANYONE TAPE THIS???? You could make a fortune on America's Funniest Home Videos!!

I bet you made a dynamic Mama Rose! I love playing roles like that!

I PROMISE I won't tell you to "break a leg" again!!

 

[MonaCK]

*laughs*

When I was in Oliver - it was my first ever "real" lead. I had a solo and everything, and I was playing the Widow Corney.

It was opening night, and unlike most theatres we hadn't had a chance to do a tech runthrough before we opened the show. In fact, we had only gotten the lights up and running the afternoon before the show started!

So.. I start my solo:

"I shall scream.. I shall SCREAM!"

And the power went out in the house....

So I continued to sing anyway.. luckily there was a regular piano there too, and not just the pit, and the woman who was on the piano knew the music like the back of her hand since she was our rehearsal pianist too...

Glad to hear that you're alright!

 

[FOJMO]

Robinrs -- Actually, the Saturday before that, the DID videotape the show. And, although I didn't fall that night, I SKIPPED A WHOLE SCENE! It was Scene 2, which included my first big musical number, and also had my "Papa" in it, and for some reason, I panicked and went directly to Scene 3. NO ONE CORRECTED ME! I guess they figured Mama Rose knew what she was doing... The sad thing was that "Papa" was only in that scene, so because the scene was skipped, he wasn't even in the show that night and not on the videotape.

So, the next Saturday, the night I fell, they came back and videotaped Scene 2 to edit it into the videotape. If they would've stayed to videotape the whole show that night, they would have gotten the FALL!

MonaCK -- good for you, you kept on singing. The show must go on -- power failure or not. I had a similar situation last year in "The Women" where we had the fire alarm go off and the whole theatre, cast and audience, had to evacuate into the parking lot, the fire dept and police came, and when they cleared us to return, we got into it again and 3 minutes later the alarm went off a 2nd time, we evacuated, and this time they cancelled the show for the evening and gave everyone rainchecks. Turned out to be a faulty sensor in the A/C system.

These are moments we look back and laugh at!!! Thanks for sharing!

 

[snoopy]

Oh my goodness! I am so glad you are o.k.

What a fun story that was to read though. You really showed remarkable humor throughout, and no wonder the audience was so appreciative.

 

[Robinrs]

Awwww SHUCKS!

You would've won $10,000 for that video!

 

[AngieBelle]

Fiddler on the Roof opens Friday! Tonight is our first dress rehearsal. We've already had some funny goofs in rehearsal! Once, Motel sang "lumpless worth of clay" instead of "worthless lump of clay" in Miracle of Miracles. The other day, a wheel broke off of Tevye's cart right before he says "I am sick and tired of pulling this cart!" the next line is "yes, I know, I should push it" but he adlibed "I should carry it" lol.

I have more funny stories from past shows. Once I was in a rogers and hammerstien musical revue, we came out singing the opening number "oh what a beautiful morning" and the stage lights wouldn't come on! We sang the whole song in the dark. we started into the dialogue about R&H, and then one girl came out with "and if you'll excuse us a moment we seem to be experiencing technical difficulties!" we then did the number again with the house lights. It was a children's theatre show with a cast of 50 ranging from age 5 to age 18. The music director playing the piano had the audience applaud us for acting so professional.

Some shows I've done had pranksters! When I was in King and I, I played one of the wives. There's a scene where Anna shows the wives a locket with a photo of her deseased husband, Tom. Well, on the last performance, the locket was not empty as usual! Someone had taped in a partially obscured picture of a naked man! So suddenly there was a different tone in our voices when we all repeated the name Tom!

I didn't see it for myself, but I was told during last year's Oklahoma that Will Parker's "little wonder" one night had a picture of Will's head taped to the body of a ballerina when you looked through it!