Onstage mishaps happen to everybody. They can range from small little things to huge things that completely throw you off. Let me give you some examples and we can talk about how you deal with them.
The first comes from Wicked on Broadway. Shoshana Bean (one of the most passionate Elphabas ever) actually knocked her hat off her head during the climax of "Defying Gravity". Due to the fact that her mic was in her hat, the audience lost audio for a brief period of time. How does one deal with this? This was where the beauty of multiple mics came in. The soundboard switched to her other mic and audio was regained. You might think that was enough of an onstage mishap. Oh no, she had another during her run in Wicked. She dropped the broom during Defying Gravity. Oh, and there was also the time when (because Wicked is performed on a raked stage in New York at the Gershwin Theatre), Shoshana made her first entrance and something legendary happened. They still talk about it at the Gershwin to this day. Elphaba's first entrance entails her running through a set of doors to all the way downstage. Yeah, one day Shoshana ran all the way downstage and fell into the net that covers the orchestra pit. Legendary.
Wicked in San Francisco had its share of mishaps too. The Elphaba standby broke the broom on her second show in.
I could go in to many other Wicked stage mishaps but I won't. Suffice it to say, lots of broken suitcases and lots of broken shoes. If you all are lucky I might decide to share the story I heard about an Elphaba swearing at a member of the audience during the show (she was offstage of course). That's for another week though. I promised you all Elle Woods and I will give her to you because she had a classic onstage mishap.
It happened during previews of "Legally Blonde" in San Francisco. Laura Bell Bundy, the original (and fabulous) stage Elle Woods has to do a kick towards the end of "So Much Better". On this particular night she did the kick and one of her shoes flew into the audience. What did she do? Without missing a beat, she took off the other shoe and threw it offstage. Luckily an audience member was kind enough to return the other shoe and both shoes made it safely to New York.
So what's the lesson? No matter what happens. Soldier on. Do not let it throw you off. It happens to everyone.
In my first post, I promised you all something about "Kinky Boots" in a future post. I'm happy to say that's coming up next week. I waited because I've not yet seen "Kinky Boots" but that's changing this Sunday. I've been told by a friend who has seen the show to be prepared to ugly cry.
P.S. If you want to get one of the best behind the scenes looks at "Wicked" and a day in the life of an actor in general, you MUST go to YouTube and type in "fly girl Lindsay Mendez". I swear it is the best backstage vlog I've ever seen.
Finally, Miss Lola joins the blog next week...
Oh, and shameless plug. If you want to see a boatload of musical theatre stars and not pay a bunch of money, watch "Madam Secretary" Sunday nights on CBS. You'll thank me later, believe me.
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