Live Theatre - Lounger's Appearances and Stories

[happyfilmluvguy]

Here's a question that's been baffling me for years.

As an audience member, there have been times where I was watching a play, especially in high school, and a small group of students in the seats on the right, would chuckle and laugh at the most awkward moments during the production, and nothing really happened that was funny. I've seen groups like this in many productions I've attended. Only this group is laughing. So who are these people and what are they laughing at!?

I was in stage crew for 2 and a half years in high school, but the teacher never really taught us how to work the lights and sound. We helped build the sets, cleaned up the auditorium (I spelled that correctly the first time, woohoo!), and folded and unfolded chairs. Most of the students treated it like a free class, but when there was work, there were workers.

I'd also like to hear of upcoming productions that those of you are a part of. How about some funny stories that went on backstage, on the stage, at the after party, and during rehearsals? Appropriate ones, of course.

 

[imoldfashioned]

My girlfriend and I were in "The Music Man" with Heights Players, in Brooklyn Heights. She made her acting debut as a Pick a Little Lady, and I was Mayor Schinn:

What a great "how we met" story! Terrific picture too.

Has anyone here performed at the Paper Mill Playhouse? I've seen a couple of shows there (Anything Goes was especially good). I have a friend who did crew at the Montclair Operetta Club in NJ as well--her backstage pictures are great.

 

[dhermann1]

What a great "how we met" story! Terrific picture too.

Actually, we met at the NY Swing Dance Society.
Funny stories? Last year in our production of "Music Man", the leading lady suddenly completely, I mean completely, lost her voice 45 minutes before curtain one night. The girl playing Ethel Toffelmeyer went on for her with just that much notice. She had been in a couple other prodn's of Music Man, had auditioned for the role (Marion) and had nerves of steel. She had played the lead in South Pacific the year before, so she's no slouch. She hid scraps of the script all over the stage, memorized scenes in the seconds before going on, and pulled it off brilliantly. She has a great voice, and was completely secure there. Oh, yes. The fellow playing Harold Hill was her hubby. You think everyone in the joint wasn't totally swooning by the time the big kiss scene came along? And also guess what? Her mom was there from Indiana to see the show, only for that night! So she had her moment of glory with her mom in the house. And it may be a while before she gets to do any performing, because after the run was over, she announced that she and aforementioned hubby were expecting a bundle of joy in 7 months.
You can only get this kind of thing in live theater, folks.

 

[fourstarbanner]

We were always taught in our theatre classes that the audience laughs sometimes at inappropriate times when they don't know how else to react. If the scene is particularly tense, the audience may laugh as a defense mechanism.

As for funny stories...I have several! I was stage managing our school's production of Beauty and the Beast. We had a castle platform built about 9 feet or so above the stage, and that's where the final battle between Gaston and the Beast took place (the show is JUST like the Disney movie). Our Gaston was supposed to stumble backwards, bump a railing we rigged up on hinges, and fall into a waiting jump pit. I always waited by the jump pit to supervise, just in case something went wrong.

It was the last night of the run, and it came to the big battle. I was waiting by the jump pit, like I always did. Gaston moved backwards to the railing, but it didn't fall right away. It got caught on something. He started hitting it with his rump to make it fall so he could make his jump. When it finally did fall he overshot his jump and the back of his head came down on the bridge of my nose. My nose started bleeding almost instantly. I was convinced it was broken. It swelled up pretty nicely. That night at the cast party, Gaston made it up to me by buying me a few drinks and all was forgiven. lol

 

[Nashoba]

I fell off the stage during rehearsal for Pirates of Penzance. We had a horseshoe extension off the stage and I was supposed to be running from a pirate. I slipped on the turn and went from looking at the backdrop in front of me to staring up at the ceiling with my feet up on the piano keys. They awarded me the 'banana peel award' at the cast party. Not one of my finer moments.

 

[David V]

Met my wife 31 years ago when we where cast as husband and wife in 'The Mousetrap". We appeared together on stage last month, again as husband and wife. It was the first time we had been on stage together since doing The Mousetrap.

 

[ShortClara]

LOL Nashoba! I, too, have a Pirates of Penzance story. This was at the community theatre. All the daughters (me included) are imminently being kidnapped by the pirates and Mabel and Frederic are down center stage singing. Fred takes his hat off in a big swoop to Mabel and out plops a cockroach so big it makes a thud on the wooden stage. Every pair of eyes onstage and in the audience follows this bug to the floor. THUD. Fred just stares at it, horrified. Mabel continues singing and follows the bug down stage, stomping at it until she finally squishes it - ALL while still singing perfectly. The audience was crying they were laughing so hard! lol lol lol

 

[Nashoba]

nicely covered . after all the show must go on....

LOL Nashoba! I, too, have a Pirates of Penzance story. This was at the community theatre. All the daughters (me included) are imminently being kidnapped by the pirates and Mabel and Frederic are down center stage singing. Fred takes his hat off in a big swoop to Mabel and out plops a cockroach so big it makes a thud on the wooden stage. Every pair of eyes onstage and in the audience follows this bug to the floor. THUD. Fred just stares at it, horrified. Mabel continues singing and follows the bug down stage, stomping at it until she finally squishes it - ALL while still singing perfectly. The audience was crying they were laughing so hard! lol lol lol

 

[dhermann1]

I got the part! "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial"

On Tuesday I auditioned at Heights Players in Brooklyn Heights for their November production of "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial". I was hoping for Capt Queeg, but the director had me read for Capt Blakely, the presiding officer at the court martial. I just got a call, and I got the part! Luckily one of the guys in the cast is a WW II reenactor, so we should have pretty authentic uniforms.
I'm jazzed! I'll post info on the performances when the date approaches, but we open Friday, Nov 30, and run for three weekends.

 

[scotrace]

I fell off a "ship" onstage during Annie Get Your Gun. Splat on the boards, which were supposed to be ocean. By the time I slowly climbed back aboard the "ship," dusted myself off and felt my face beet red from audience laughter, I looked up to find the rest of the cast on stage literally trembling and chewing their lips off trying not to lose it, which made me mad! So I belted out my line, and the other guy struggled to control himself. When he finally spoke, it was a high pitched squeak!

On another occasion I was supposed to be shaving when the lights came back up: Blackout! I have about 14 seconds. I move into position, and pull out the hidden can of shaving cream. TSHHHHHT into my hand, and when I moved my hand to my cheek I realized I had a gob of cream in my hand as big as a volleyball. Lights up! Throughout the scene, I was fussing with this white puffy mess, getting it in my hair, all over my clothes, etc. More audience convulsions at my expense. Moral: rehearse every last little piece of business before you have to do it in front of people.

When playing Scrooge, the Ghost of Christmas past forgot all his lines opening night, stared blankly into the darkness, then ran off stage in a panic. While listening to the struggle offstage in loud whispers "get your [beep] back out there! Get out there! Go! Go!" I had to cover, mixing my lines with his until he came back and I could start "feeding" him.

At a play competition, I was doing a scene from The Rainmaker and just as I took the female lead into my arms and kissed her, there was a power failure.

Opportunity!

We filled the 60 seconds or so until power was restored kissing loudly, and when the lights were restored, we went right on with the scene (to applause). We won the day!

I really miss it.

 

[scotrace]

On Tuesday I auditioned at Heights Players in Brooklyn Heights for their November production of "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial". I was hoping for Capt Queeg, but the director had me read for Capt Blakely, the presiding officer at the court martial. I just got a call, and I got the part! Luckily one of the guys in the cast is a WW II reenactor, so we should have pretty authentic uniforms.
I'm jazzed! I'll post info on the performances when the date approaches, but we open Friday, Nov 30, and run for three weekends.

Congrats!!! Very cool!

(We both returned to this thread at the same time) :eusa_doh:

 

[dhermann1]

I really miss it.

So what's stopping you???

 

[scotrace]

Nothing to audition for. My kids just tried out for "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" but didn't make it. Four hundred kids tried out! A testament to the popularity of High School Musical, I think.

The local group is doing "Proof" in the spring. We'll see if there's kissing. lol


Edit: I wasn't familiar with the show. Having checked... no part for me. So 08 is out. The rest of the season is Beauty and the Beast and some madcap thing populated with twentysomethings.

 

[carter]

Congratulations dhermann1!

We'll be looking for updates!

After reading all your stories, I've decided to share.

Until about a year ago, I'd been acting, directing, singing, and dancing since high school.

Played the title role in Old Doc, the Venusian Chief of Interplanetary Investigation in the Guy From Venus (caught my pants on fire from a backpack rocket/liftoff device), and the lead in The Twelve Pound Look in High School.

I also appeared as some sort of evil henchman in The 13 Clocks and in Antigone at the Oak Grove Summer Theatre.

In college I played Kent in King Lear, Eilert Lovborg in Hedda Gabler, Happy in Death of a Salesman, Henry David Thoreau in THe Night Thoreau Spent in Jail, a defendant in Judgment at Nuremburg, a singer/dancer in My Fair Lady, Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream, various minor roles in Hamlet and MacBeth, as well as designing lighting for modern dance concerts and Gilbert & Sullivan's Rudigore.

Summers I worked in Outdoor Dramas. I was a dancer in THe Common Glory, Simon Girty, the white savage, in Trumpet in the Land, and Captain Lem Hawkins, Texas Volunteers, in Beyond the Sundown as well as Production Stage Manager for Hernando DeSoto Conquistador.

I was a member of the Acting Company at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre during their 1st season, as well as a member of the Touring Companies for the Asolo Children's Theatre and the Flatrock Playhouse.

While in the Army, I played Charles Condomine in Blithe Spirit, Abraham Van Helsing in Dracula, Clive in See How They Run, and a few other roles that escape me at the moment.

I've done scenes for church retreats and conferences, short pieces for a women's prison in TX, and taught workshops at women's prisons and well as high schools.

I did some radio commercials years ago in Columbus, GA as well as some voice work for The Talking Yellow Pages.

Most recently, I've appeared in The Crucible, The Celebration of the Ressurection, and as Phil in Phil's Nativity Extravaganza with local churches.

I always thought I'd get back to acting as a profession but it hasn't happened yet.

My degree is in Communications with a concentration in Theatre and Speech and a Minor in Secondary Education.

 

[K.D. Lightner]

Scotrace's stories remind of some wild things that have happened to me onstage.

One was in a 1969 Plattsburgh Summer Theatre production of See How They Run, an English farce (thank goodness it was a farce, anything goes in a farce). In one scene, I answered a telephone call from my uncle. When I went over to pick up the phone, the audience tithered and continued tithering through my "conversation" with my uncle. I began to wonder what was wrong, the phone had stopped ringing on cue, so that wasn't it. I glanced down to see if my clothes were still on, up and around to see if a set piece or light gel had fallen, all the while talking on the phone.

Then, I spotted it: the prop man had forgotten to attach the end of the telephone cord to the table, so the cord was dangling out in mid-air for all to see. I looked down at it, frowned, by now the audience was chuckling even more, knowing that I now knew.

I then blurted out "You'll have to speak up, uncle, we have a bad connection."

Got a big laugh and applause on that one....

karol

 

[scotrace]

ha! That one made me laugh out loud!

Carter... did you happen to do Trumpet in the Land in my backyard? It has been running continuously here for decades.

 

[sweetfrancaise]

I performed in several shows in high school, mostly as "animated scenery", until I started working backstage building sets and such. During my senior year of school, and a year afterward, I did community theatre, at a Rep company nearby. It was fun for a while, but most of it was volunteer, and I can't afford that! Most of what I worked on was stage crew--lights, sound, props. I stage-managed one show, $300 for the entire run. We did Wait Until Dark, True West, The Odd Couple, and The Boys Next Door to name a few, and I became close to many of the regualrs. The company as a whole got difficult after a while, with infighting and the actor hierarchy. Even though I was one of the "founding members", my love for theatre could only extend so far! I can't even watch Waiting for Guffman without cringing!

 

[Gideon Ashe]

Does this count,....?

We (my wife and I ) frequently attend the productions at almost ALL of the theaters in this area. We last attended the Stagedoor Theater in Wilton Manors (Fl)last Friday evening. The Show, "Sisters of Swing" the lives of the Andrews Sisters was painfully poor.
But we are polite people and stayed in our seats until the final curtin (There was NO curtin) call and last song was throughly butchered.

We have a show on Sunday (The Weding Singer) and a Barbara Cook concert later next week.

We have Season Box Tickets at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts (Fort Lauderdale)and see EVERY show of the Broadway Across America tour, as well as a dozen or more selected concert performances.

For a period of years I was Operations Officer and Concept Director of numerous undercover stings, and have played the parts of various individuals in fairly large and complex cases as well. (Not hand to hand drug buys and definitely no local misdemeanor matters)

I have had as many as twenty eight "performances" going at one time, with myself and/or others directed by me, playing the parts appropriate to the specific investigations. Does that count as participation in acting, in community Theater??
Of course it depends on your interpertation of community.lol lol lol

 

[Nashoba]

The Taming of the Shrew

Well News Year's resolution #2 Down! On sunday I auditioned for the MCAG production of The Taming of the Shrew. I was cast as Grumio (well Grumia, since there were more women who auditioned than men, some of the roles are being reversed, for example Baptista is going to be the mother instead of the father) So I will be Petruchio's lady servant and oddly enough comic relief. This is actually a fairly large part and I'm very excited. My next set of auditions will be for the Rennaisance Faire!

This new year is gonna hold some incredible things!

 

[dhermann1]

Nashoba, when do you open??? That's great! Congrats!
I just auditioned here in NY for the Village Light Opera Group's spring prod'n of the Music Man, as Mayor Shinn.
The two groups I've been involved with the last couple years are really remarkable. VLOG was founded in 1936 by a bunch of doctors and lawyers in Greenwich Village, who wanted to have a little fun doing amateur theatricals. 71 years later they still do a G&S show every fall and a Broadway or other non- G&S show each spring, featuring a 20 plus member professional orchestra.
The Heights Players were founded in 1956 in Brooklyn Heights, and have a similarly amazing history. Among many other famous stars to pass through were Alan Arkin and Richard Mulligan. In the early days it was not unknown to see Marilyn Monroe or Norman Mailer in the audience.
Come on folks, if you're even the slightest bit tempted, give it a shot. There's nothing like live theater, either from an audience or a performer's point of view. A whole generation of kids is growing up never having seen any entertainment that was live and spontaneous.