Stop the show!
The author with Cacai Bautista (left) and Maja Salvador
NEW YORK—During a very emotional scene in “Once on This Island” last Monday night, we had an accident in the house. One of our audience members collapsed in the aisle.
Because this was clearly a medical emergency, we had no choice but to stop the show, and ask the crowd if there was a doctor in the house. Two of them responded quickly, and we were then ushered backstage to wait for further instructions from stage management.
Only six minutes later, after the ailing gentleman was placed in an ambulance that would take him to the hospital, the show continued. The audience applauded the actors as we headed back to the stage.
It’s live theater, which means anything can happen.
For the most part, theater actors endeavor to keep a show going, no matter what distractions are taking place. We’re all trained to move forward. However, there are certain circumstances that warrant a stoppage, until such time that we can safely and comfortably restart.
This isn’t the first time this has happened in a show I was performing in.
‘Miss Saigon,’ West End
During the time of “Miss Saigon’s” original run in the West End, there were many reports of bomb threats all over London. My mother had a fear of the London Underground that she forbade me to ever take it because of those threats.
But fate has a way of laughing in your face. At one matinee show early in the run, during a scene where Keith Burns (Thuy) and I were doing a dramatic scene, the fire curtain started to slowly descend.
Keith and I took a look at it and wondered what was going on. We were then instructed to exit the theater. The reason? Bomb threat. The audience that afternoon had to be evacuated, as well.
We all had to wait across the street until the theater was thoroughly swept, and the authorities were satisfied that it was safe to go back in.
‘Richard III,’ Broadway
I was in the audience watching the incandescent Mark Rylance in the title role at the Belasco Theater.
In this setup, there was proscenium and onstage seating. Mr. Rylance had begun the show and was 10 or 15 minutes in when someone in the onstage section started feeling ill.
So, until help could arrive, he held the show, raising his hand towards the audience downstage while the sick audience member was tended to.
Once things were OK—and he made sure that they were—he continued his monologue, much to the delight of the crowd, who rewarded him with a hearty round of applause.
‘Miss Saigon,’ everywhere
This particular production is a technical beast. There are so many elements dependent on computers for cues and movement, that if something ever goes wrong with the software, all the hardware just stops.
I’ve done the show in London, New York and Manila and, at each of these productions, we’d have to occasionally stop the show.
The only thing we can ever ask of an audience when this happens is to be understanding of the unique situations, and truly, the audiences I’ve been around have been nothing but game and flexible.
To our audience on Monday night, thank you so much for jumping back into the sandbox with us, and for staying engaged in the story we were telling.
With Tina Fey
My golly, we have had some incredible visitors come by the island. It’s wonderful when we receive visitors from the worlds of film, television and theater.
Thank you, Lin-Manuel Miranda, “The Color Purple’s” Cynthia Erivo, “Dear Evan Hansen’s” Ben Platt, Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka, Patti LuPone, Richard Kind, Eva Noblezada, “Madam Secretary’s” Erich Bergen, “Modern Family’s” Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Tracie Thoms, Mary-Louise Parker, Phylicia Rashad, Debbie Allen, Condola Rashad, “Rent’s” Anthony Rapp, “Spotlight’s” Brian d’Arcy James, Bobby Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, 98° member Drew Lachey, basketball legend Shawn Bradley, Will Chase, “M. Butterfly’s” David Henry Hwang, Tina Fey, “Orange is the New Black’s” Laverne Cox and Kimiko Glenn, Tyra Banks, “Hamilton’s” Jordan Fisher and “Glee’s” Darren Criss.
With Neil Patrick Harris
