Theatrical Disasters
Tomorrow night we are heading into the bright lights and glamorous world of the theatre to watch 'Miss Saigon'. As a lover of the theatre you can imagine my excitement! Don the dusty smart clothes that hang neglected in the far, dark depths of the wardrobe, paint the face to enhance Mother Nature's perfection (~chuckle~), spray the air with glittering drops of perfume and step into the scented clouds... and prepare the senses for a treat of mass proportions! Which got me to thinking of some of my previous theatrical experiences...
Come time for the Try Outs and by some stroke of Fate wonder boy and I get called to try out together. Grabbing the page with my lines in very sweaty hands and walking up the wooden stairs which seemed to STOMP in my ears, I found myself onstage with the boy of my dreams. Here it was, time for us to declare our love for each.
I froze! I felt sick! I sweated buckets and stumbled through my lines without once lifting my eyes off the page! End result? I never got the part of Nancy and on opening night, five minutes before the start of the show the elastic on my trousers broke and were hastily sewn back together by one of the teachers. During a dance routine my waistband snapped, the trousers fell down to my ankles and I could have lit the entire room up with my glowing face! A few nights later during another routine where we had to twirl our umbrella`s whilst we were to play the parts of wheels on a make believe carrriage for the artful Dodger and Nancy i forgot my umbrella backstage... and only remembered it as the song was about to start. It was a three wheeled affair while I darted offstage to pick up my 'wheel' !
Opening night... again and here I come with my wheelbarrow through the cut out door in the stage set. You would think that someone would have checked that the wheelbarrow fitted through the door! Here comes Ash - collector of disasters - proudly wheeling her wheelbarrow onto the stage whilst sprouting off the required lines... and the thing gets stuck in the doorway... the scenery sways... and the crowd gasps! It took a while to get the thing out the door, thank goodness the scenery only swayed and did not fall. The next year I decided LIGHTING was more my thing and had a much more successful High School career of that!
So do you like the theatre? Have you had any theatrical disasters?
*pictures courtesy of www.rockyhilltheatre.com
www.thecia.com.au
www.images.killermovies.com
I haven't had any of those type of embarrassing moments but once I did crash straight into a fellow dancer doing pirouettes across the stage! All caught on camera of course.
Miss Saigon is brilliant BTW, hope you enjoy it - make sure you pack the tissues! It affected me for a long time afterwards too.
Photography Tips
MS Paint Art
In view of my connections with kid's concerts of the dancing school variety it's a wonder I haven't a few disasters to tell you about, but if you want to talk about kids, I'm into disasters there.
My son found the filming suited him rather well for the school shows, another string to his everlengthening bow. I think he got hooked into the lighting as well.
I just love those horse drawn carriages etc, and I luuuuuv musicals.
I think you've told us about the wheel barrow before, not in so much detail though......WARNING....I've got one hell of a memory.
katyzzz
Rugby World Cup 2007
Please note I am not laughing at you...but with you....
Will come back when I have a bit more time
NancyAsh hon...although not an actor I did enjoy high school productions.I love the theatre. Attend performances as often as I can. And I also leave the house...
Big hugs...hope you're well...
Dusk
I was an actooooor in a previous life. Luckily they teach you how to manage things.
Most of my theatrical disasters are nightmares. To this day, I have horrid dreams of getting out on stage and everyone else knows what they're doing but I haven't even seen the script yet.
OK - the Freudians and Jungians amongst you can have a field day with that one I'm sure.
Great post - felt like I was on stage with you!
I have never had the gots to try out for anything that involves the theatre!
LOL
I've played the piano on stage when I was 9...not too badly
I've played violin on stage when I was 11...again fairly well
I've done Irish step dancing on stage, when I was 11, fell on my arse about 10 times...
End result?
I do NOT go on stage for man nor beast!
*Snicker*
At least you tried!
Great read!
Take care,
Nick
Love Speaks
Food Slate
- Spring...*Butterfly's* wing dropped off
- Summer...one of the shells covering my boobs fell off! Good thing it was sewed on (badly!) and I was actually wearing something!!
- Autumn was safe, Winter... the star on top the *Christmas tree* was lopsided 'cos the *Candy-cane* knocked it/her!
We didn't win BUT we got an honourable mention for BEST in the unscripted Comedy category
Celebrity Obsession
I saw miss Saigon a couple of weeks ago, it's brilliant. The guy who plays Chris is fantastic (in the Melb version anyway).....cute too!!! I saw Miss Saigon when it was touring a decade ago, and thought this production was way better (hard to say whether it's because the guy who plauyed Chris was so cute....probably...but it is fantastic)
Kylie
Australian Traveller
Flashes of memories
~chuckle~ you got one up on me there... no one I knew had a video camera... thank goodness!
It was a really great show... although not quite what I expected (don`t know what I expected actually!) The first Act seemed to drag a little with no real meaningful words to the songs. The second Act was a lot better.... very touching parts. I felt really heartless when I walked out because all these women were crying and I was dry-eyed... perhaps I wasn`t in the mood for it.... maybe it needs a second viewing on my behalf?
ash
Australian Traveller
Flashes of memories
Yes it was the wheelbarrow episode that put me off on stage performances for good so I probably have mentioned it at some stage or another.
I really got into Lighting and carried on doing it for the kids productions when I was teaching. Good fun.
ash
Australian Traveller
Flashes of memories
ash
Australian Traveller
Flashes of memories
hhhhmmm well if you dream about being on stage..... yeah I`ll leave that one to the experts!
ash
Australian Traveller
Flashes of memories
I don`t quite know where I got my courage from ... I belonged to all those things... Drama Club, Debating Club, entered Speech and Drama Eisteddfods.... now? yeah you have more chance of fidning an elephant stampede through Sydney than find me doing any sort of public speaking!
Seems you are more musically inclined... The Rhythm Doctor!
ash
Australian Traveller
Flashes of memories
ash
Australian Traveller
Flashes of memories
Yeah you kinda learn to deal with t he clumsiness as you get older hey? Still a little embarsing thoiugh!
I enjoyed Miss Saigon but just felt it lacked something... not really sure how I felt about it really. It was good and I would recommend seeing it... but it didn`t have that WOW factor for me... maybe I just wasn`t really in the mood for it?
Chris was GORGEOUS btw... his body?? grrrrr!! And if a guy sang to me with a voice like that I would just melt into a puddle!
ash
I think rather than the story itself Miss Saigon got to me because it made me realise what all those women in Saigon must have gone through - the prostitution side of it etc. The footage of the orphanage was pretty upsetting to me too - all those displaced children who were unwanted because they were seen as the enemy from both sides - being half caste. Moods definitely affect how we respond to something though - hey, any excuse to go back to the theatre a second time is a good one I say!
Killer Beats
Ramble On
Hipnotherapy
Thanks so much for that antedote.... When I taught Kindergarten, there was always a winter and spring perfomances. Kindergarten children are like herding cats on a good day so when on the stage all bets were off. I always told my students that whatever they did "look cute" because their parents really did not care what they did on stage!
Mis
Like Dusk I am laughing with you!
Kalikapsychosis
I played the doormouse in Alice in year 6, and I did a bloody good job. I saw 'blood brothers' with mum, I saw 'Miss siagon' with school, and I went to the opera house with my english class for 'macbeth'.
Cant say Ive had disasters like yours, but Ive enjoyed reading....(giggle) I adore the theatre. So alive. I loved everything Ive seen and cant wait to go again. I cant say which was the best because they all rocked. I was ultra excited to go to 'macbeth' because I had a major crush on my english teacher......But he tactfully did not sit with me. Damn!
Australian Traveller
Flashes of memories
Yes that was terrible... I think that was what was missing is that it was such a sad story and the words of the songs were just so ordinary... you got me thining now!
Those children in the orphanage was very upsetting... you can only imagine the lives that they grew up having. War definitely lasts so much longer than the actual fighting....
ash
Australian Traveller
Flashes of memories
I adore seeing kids on stage - they are just so unpredictable. It must be a teachers worst nightmare ha ha I recall my cousin having to be taken off stage because as soon as he saw him mum he burst into tears... all dressed up as a teddy at the teddy bears picnic and boo-hooing the whole way through!
I admire anyone who is a kindergarten teacher. I taught first years... and oh my word! Glad to have given you a chuckle... those fun things we do!
ash
Australian Traveller
Flashes of memories
ooohhh Macbeth is great isn`t it? I saw an excellent production of that in Hervey Bay at the beginning of the year... the cursed play!
Male english teachers are always quite hot aren`t they? Pity that there aren`t many around when you actually leave school!
ash
Kalikapsychosis
My english teacher looked like a complete nerd, but he was a triathlete! He rode his bike to school then ran in the afternoon and was rock hard under his very proper collared shirt! We vowed to keep in touch because he wanted to follow my writing but he changed schools. Im still looking for him - I feel lost without him as my guide.
Hear that Sir! Mr Garrett! My poetry needs you! The novel needs you!
Yes. We need to find ourselves an out of school english teacher.
Australian Traveller
Flashes of memories
Kalikapsychosis
Kalikapsychosis
Kalikapsychosis
Australian Traveller
Flashes of memories