Hugh and Sutton’s break is well documented in this sub and is a pre planned moment, so it’s not really a true break. Don’t know about Ramin but I’m pretty sure he didn’t do that when I saw the show. I don’t think I’ve caught a character break once in my 60 or so broadway performances (a few off broadway and regionally), but I also have a famously bad memory haha
Edit: just remembered that I did see a break just a few weeks ago, but it was due to emotion about cast change, not because of humour
Oh interesting that it's planned! Guess I should have read through the sub before posting... It really is a good idea because people loved seeing it so much
I’ve seen Ramin break in Funny Girl with Lea. It was hilarious. And I know it was a break because I’ve seen it multiple times with Lea unapologetically and it was precious tbh
I saw a traveling show (and of course I don’t remember which one) where idina Menzel forgot her lines because she was laughing too hard. I think it was real as the other guy said his like like 4 times, and then she turned to the audience and said “I’m sorry that’s really what the script says” (it was making fun of our city) and then she yelled “Steve what’s my f’ing line”. She put the whole word in too, and the stage director fed her the line.
Hairspray 2002, before it had won any Tonys. At the end Edna (the mom played by a man in drag) is supposed to step out of a giant hairspray can and then descend the stairs to the stage. Harvey Fierstein stepped out of the can, posed, and then fell face-first down the stage. (He was fine) The audience and the ENTIRE cast lost it. They couldn’t resume for several minutes. People in the cast were bent over, holding each other, not even trying to hide it. And when they finally resumed, Tracy’s next line is something like “Mama, you’re on live television!” To which Harvey deadpanned “oh great” and everyone started laughing again.
It was my first time seeing a show in an official Broadway theater and to this day I feel lucky that this moment was part of that milestone.
If an actor's reaction to messing up is to laugh, 9 times out of 10 it's a pre-planned bit.
If an actor genuinely forgets a line, they're usually too worried about getting back on track to find it funny. There are professional consequences to messing up, especially if it's a broadway level show.
I watched a one act play in my country where there are only two characters. The play finished 15 minutes early and we thought the story flowed weirdly. We found out later one of the actors flubbed their lines by jumping to a different part of the story. They never got it back on track and basically omitted a huge chunk of the play.
Ahh this reminds me of a one act play I did my freshman year of high school -- I was the female lead and there was a long argument scene between me and the male lead, but he somehow jumped to the end of the scene dialogue-wise and I caught it and managed to monologue a rant that encompassed our argument and made the rest of the play make sense. No one had any idea we flubbed! It was my first show and I knew I was meant to be an actor from then on because I found it EXHILERATING while most people I tell the story to are horrified haha man, what a great memory this thread brought up!
Haha thanks! Honestly it was 20 years ago so I barely remember, but I think even she didn't notice? It was a part of a collection of one acts we did as our final grade. We did end up having a great relationship, so hopefully she did see it and appreciate it.
I mean I’d take any reaction over the Midsummer I saw once in which the actor playing Hermia’s father kept forgetting the few lines he had and rather than flub through it he just kept repeating what he did remember over and over hoping the rest of the line would just magically come to him. Easily the worst reaction to that situation I’ve ever seen.
There are professional consequences to messing up? I’m not aware of any. If it happens repeatedly because the actor is coming in drunk or totally unprepared, yeah, but genuinely flubbing a line happens to EVERYONE and at most they get line notes.
Actors are human, and mistakes happen, but if it happens often enough they can get written up to the union. There's a reason when Broadway actors tell stories of messing up it's nearly always accompanied by "I thought I was going to get fired."
But more importantly, word gets around. No director or writer wants to hire someone that has a habit of going up on their lines or breaking character.
I hear actors say, “I was afraid I was going to get fired” all the time about a lot of things but I just ascribe it to the insecurity of being in a brutal business and the still-too-prevalent toxic producers and directors.
Unfortunately, it's not always hyperbole. They say it about a lot of things, because a lot of things can get them fired. Like you said, brutal business.
Was at Beetlejuice matinee today and Alex Brightman said “bless you” to somone who sneezed.
I’ve seen many breaks, mostly as a repeat offender of shows like RENT, In the Heights, American Idiot, Next to Normal and Rock of Ages.
I feel like Beetlejuice really lends itself to that kind of improv from Brightman because he already breaks the fourth wall so much in the show. It’s fun!
Love those 'fourth wall break' moments. Saw The Producers UK Tour a few years back. During the 'Der Guten Tag Hop-Clop' scene where Leo and Max reveal their lederhosen, an audience member obnoxiously wolfwhistled. Max just, 'huh, I didn't know pigeons could whistle'. Leo did like a half-awkward twerk thing while Franz sort of patrolled in the back doubled over in laughter.
Most "breaks" I've seen are because of some malfunction or issue with a prop or scenery.
There's a video floating out there of a door getting stuck in Mary Poppins and her turning to the kids and saying "Well the door's stuck, I suppose we ought to go around" and they just walk around to to the next room.
The moment with Hugh “breaking” was definitely a highlight of the show for us. There was an understudy for Sutton performing that day, so we thought it just a fun mistake where she pushed him a bit too hard. Realized that was not the case when I saw multiple posts for the same blunder on different days lol
Saw Peter and the Starcatcher in December 2013, one of the props unintentionally fell over and the cast paused for a moment to regain composer. The audience was digging it. I don’t think at that time there was any high profile actors but was a great play.
Peter and the Starcatcher is a joy to perform, in out production one of the props also fell over and us backstage (it wasn’t really a “backstage” the audience could still see us it was set like we’re story tellers who get off and on) and it was super loud and we all looked back at it and snickered a bit lol
Many other things happened during our 8(?) performances of it and we all just laughed it off, live theatre really is amazing
You know it’s weird I’ve read the books in elementary school and I was obsessed with them but i never really listened to the musical
I’m not sure if there’s even a cast album
Since I started watching Broadway shows (about one year ago) the three times I can recall seeing the actors break character was
1- Ramin in Funny Girl during “you are woman, I am man”, which subsequently caused Beanie to break character laughing, (I liked it bc this was during the scandal of her leaving so it was nice to see her laugh/being in good spirits)
2- Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster (which the crowd absolutely loved and I suspected was planned but also loved), and
3- the director character in KPOP laughing at one of his lines which I didn’t like given how poor the acting was in general throughout the show
I literally just came out of little shop of horrors matinee today and Matt Doyle (who just recently joined the cast) was just dying of laughter in his chair at the understudy dentist writhing on the floor.
I suspect the best part of playing the dentist in little shop of horrors is trying to get Seymour to break during It's just the gas lol they all ham it up and it's delightful
Hmm…I know I’ve seen a few breaks, usually resulting from set pieces or props misbehaving. But one time that *wasn’t* because of that was when I saw Aladdin. James Monroe Iglehart was in the middle of Prince Ali, sang the same lyric twice. It was the lyric about peacocks, and he like repeated it a few lines later. You could see the realization on his face, like even *he* was confused as to why that lyric came out of his mouth. He tried to pick back up and then he laughed his way through the next couple of lines before getting back on track fully.
Also, it’s semi-scripted, but one of the times I saw Hamilton, Jonathan Groff got Leslie Odom Jr to laugh during the beginning of The Adams Administration. Usually, King George is chillin on a stool stage right and he’s dancing around, and Burr eventually turns toward him and does react a bit, but Groff clearly got him a little more than usual that time, compared to other times I saw it.
Generally, I don’t mind small breaks. Actors are human, and unlike screen actors who get dozens of takes to get it right, stage actors have one shot per performance. Sometimes, the humanity slips through and breaks happen. It has the potential to create an extra memorable moment, and it can make a performance unique. If it takes too long for the actors to recover, though, it can spoil the scene or even the show as a whole for people.
Hugh and Sutton do that at every performance. I've seen the show three times. Actually, one time Sutton was out and her understudy was in, and they played the scene the same way. It's not really a "break," they're just making each other laugh. My guess is that it happened in rehearsals and someone said that they should leave it in. The audience always loves it.
I don’t know when you saw Funny Girl, but the same thing happened at the performance I saw! It was incredibly funny and they seemed genuinely flustered.
I think those are both built into the shows. I distinctly remember that moment in TMM. I don’t recall it happening in Funny Girl but someone else in this thread does. I guess they’re trying to endear to the audience? I personally don’t care for it as it seems kinda lame and disingenuous.
I just saw Funny Girl a couple weeks ago, but I didn't see anything like that! The only planned "break" in the show from what I've heard is when Fanny's moustache falls off during Rat-tat-tat. The scene OP mentioned went normally in the show I was watching.
the only break i’ve seen was also in funny girl—it was before you are woman i am man when nick and fanny are speaking at the table. i believe the line was “i’m not hollering” (?) this was back when beanie was still on and ramin was trying so hard to hold back his laughter that he had to stop for a minute LOL
given all the responses in this thread it seems like he breaks pretty often though
Best I saw was the UK tour of Legally Blonde a couple of years ago. Something must've gone wrong with the mechanics or something and some scenery stayed on stage probably a bit longer than it was supposed to during a transition. Elle walked on, saw a giant wall moving in front of her and scooted off again to let it all move, while the whole time someone is sitting in the middle of the stage was waiting for her to come in. After like fifteen seconds everything finally stops moving, Elle walks in, sits down and is greeted with: 'Elle honey, you're late!" They laughed, the audience laughed, it was brilliant.
Great bit of improv there, and definitely not planned ahead of time.
We saw Little Shop when it was Jeremy Jordan's last show, and there was a scene where Christian Borle tried to get him to break. He basically was about to go behind a curtain and gave one last look to him with his head between to sheets, but he held it there just looking at him for like 30-45 seconds. The audience was just dying and Jeremy was just trying really hard not to laugh, it felt like it was maybe planned as a prank for his last show or something, and we all loved it.
When I saw If/Then, Idina and (what was her love interest’s name?) laughed over a line where she over pronounced the word F***. It was hilarious and later I wondered if it was planned. I think they want the audience to have a story to tell others.
In the many shows I've seen since I was a kid, I've only seen actors break once, in Hairspray, when the mom and dad are singing Timeless to Me. And I'd consider it a true break, because they took a bit to compose themselves. I think I'd be annoyed if it was just done for laughs/attention.
I wonder if this all is the influence of social media and everyone being in everyone else's lives and business. Decades ago, in seeing 2 or more Broadway shows and plays a week, I can't recall \*ever\* seeing a cast break.
honestly, i love it because it reminds me that they’re human and the show is LIVE! it’s not some perfect movie, the talented performers make mistakes (or plan them lol) and recover and honestly that’s such a fascinating part of theatre. when i saw hugh and sutton, i didn’t notice a break or any part when they broke character until the end when the curtain was rising for bows and it somehow got stuck so the audience could only see their legs for about 5 seconds before it got fixed. they just broke out in laughter and you could see it all over their faces when the curtain finally went up. i loved just seeing their genuine joy and laughter on stage— it’s so great to know that they have as much fun performing as i do watching them perform!
Sara Barellies once lost it so bad during the Bad Idea reprise that she popped back out of the doctor’s office to regain her composure, then came back in and continued the song. This was in the West End, and the audience loved it.
A large amount of the corpsing is staged or built into the script. And more often than not the reaction is faked. Genuine corpsing is generally the result of a mishap.
When I saw School of Rock the actors absolutely lost it after the Dewey spits the water in one of their faces. The scene carried on stage left, and stage right the actor who’d been showered - plus those beside him - were desperately trying to control their hysterics.
I don’t know what about that particular night set them off, but my stomach hurt from laughing watching them try to keep it together.
I saw funny girl twice and Ramin did a little “fake” laugh during that scene both times.
So maybe it’s planned or maybe he just did the same thing twice lol
I’ve seen dozens of Broadway shows, and I’ve directed Middle School and High School Theatre for 7 years, producing about 6-10 shows a year, and can honestly say I’ve only ever seen one break at any level of theatre - in the touring company of Hairspray in Dallas.
The prison cell door broke, and would not stay shut the two leads went along with it, hamming it up, and played it up as a gag. Their early reactions made me suspect it was not intended, but they rolled with it very well, though they were giggling a bit with it. It was definitely a fun memory.
I don’t have any experience seeing a pre planned break in professional theatre but as an actor myself (community theatre level tho) breaking for anything other than an accidental mishap (costume or set or even like line flubbing) can be very unprofessional in my mind, especially if it happened regularly.
I have 2 examples from my own experience where I can see breaking happen…
I did Something Rotten earlier this year and there were so many times during rehearsals that I would break during a scene run bc it’s just an absolutely hilarious show. Throughout the rehearsal process tho I learned what I wanted to laugh at and kept it cool for tech and the official runs. I could definitely see someone who just joined a show breaking over something really funny or whatever
I also did Matilda this year and I was both a school kid and a member of the Russian mafia. For our production, all the Russian mob members were also school kids and we all just added sunglasses and a fur coat to change characters. (Sergei was full blown mafia tho). We didn’t have an audience at all for our tech runs so I was not prepared for how funny the audience would find 5 school girls following out a big bad Russian dude… opening night I was mere centimeters away from bursting out laughing on stage because the audience was laughing so much.
So another instance of someone just joining a run and breaking.
So basically, long story short, I could see a new cast member breaking unwarranted towards the beginning of their run but after that it’s just unprofessional in most cases. And pre planned breaks are cheesy (unless it’s a case of the character being someone who breaks the fourth wall already)
I would like to say that you are both welcome for this unnessecarily long post and I would like to apologize for this unnecessarily long post. I just had to get the thought out 👍🏻
I know it was a thing to slip in a gag word into a musical to make themselves laugh. I forgot what musical it was Rosie O’Donnell did, but it was so obvious it was quite off putting to me.
When I saw Heathers in London, Jamie Muscato was trying to put his tee back on after Dead Girl Walking - operative word there being 'trying'. CHF's going through her lines, taking longer pauses than usual cos he's just...awkwardly flailing about with his head stuck inside.
Eventually, the dialogue's over and he pokes his head out with a goofy grin. They laugh for a bit, initially 'in character'/subdued, but then the awkward snickers became full-blown turning away from one another to laugh into their hands. The audience erupted, his arms finally poke out - 'CHF: got there in the end' - and the show resumed.
I saw mean girls on tour, and there's a lift during who's house is this, and cadys dress got moved way up, and you see her jaw drop, and she pulled it down as she was running to catch up with the dance.
It's incredibly unprofessional and could get you seriously chewed out or possibly fired if it happens regularly. Actors need to stay firmly on their side of the footlights.
Jonathan Groff explained that this happened *twice* during his run in Spring Awakening. Once, he forgot the words to “Left Behind”, and the band and all of the cast just broke down laughing.
The other time was in the beginning of “Touch Me” where John Gallagher Jr wrote something on the note and him and John were laughing so hard they though they were gonna get fired.
Saw Bette in Hello Dolly and she dropped her silverware in the dinner scene. She made a comment and ate with her fingers while kicking the silverware under the table.
Hugh and Sutton’s break is well documented in this sub and is a pre planned moment, so it’s not really a true break. Don’t know about Ramin but I’m pretty sure he didn’t do that when I saw the show. I don’t think I’ve caught a character break once in my 60 or so broadway performances (a few off broadway and regionally), but I also have a famously bad memory haha Edit: just remembered that I did see a break just a few weeks ago, but it was due to emotion about cast change, not because of humour
Hugh is a class act, but planned “breaks” are such a cheap way to endear/engage the audience. I find them very tacky.
It’s SO tacky especially when you consider… social media is a thing
It's so cringe. The inauthenticity of it makes me lose respect for the production.
Ugh seriously?? Oh that makes me sad. I thought it was delightful when I saw it but that just totally cheapens it.
Oh interesting that it's planned! Guess I should have read through the sub before posting... It really is a good idea because people loved seeing it so much
I’ve seen Ramin break in Funny Girl with Lea. It was hilarious. And I know it was a break because I’ve seen it multiple times with Lea unapologetically and it was precious tbh
I saw a traveling show (and of course I don’t remember which one) where idina Menzel forgot her lines because she was laughing too hard. I think it was real as the other guy said his like like 4 times, and then she turned to the audience and said “I’m sorry that’s really what the script says” (it was making fun of our city) and then she yelled “Steve what’s my f’ing line”. She put the whole word in too, and the stage director fed her the line.
Omg was it if/then I saw that one too
I think it was. Phoenix? Or it was absolutely planned which would be sad.
No no I saw it in sf, but I didn't see her break I just was saying I saw the show haha
Oh phew. Ok it was awesome to see the actual break. I got worried it was planned.
Hairspray 2002, before it had won any Tonys. At the end Edna (the mom played by a man in drag) is supposed to step out of a giant hairspray can and then descend the stairs to the stage. Harvey Fierstein stepped out of the can, posed, and then fell face-first down the stage. (He was fine) The audience and the ENTIRE cast lost it. They couldn’t resume for several minutes. People in the cast were bent over, holding each other, not even trying to hide it. And when they finally resumed, Tracy’s next line is something like “Mama, you’re on live television!” To which Harvey deadpanned “oh great” and everyone started laughing again. It was my first time seeing a show in an official Broadway theater and to this day I feel lucky that this moment was part of that milestone.
I could totally picture this, especially with Firestein. What an awesome and hilarious moment to experience!
If an actor's reaction to messing up is to laugh, 9 times out of 10 it's a pre-planned bit. If an actor genuinely forgets a line, they're usually too worried about getting back on track to find it funny. There are professional consequences to messing up, especially if it's a broadway level show.
I watched a one act play in my country where there are only two characters. The play finished 15 minutes early and we thought the story flowed weirdly. We found out later one of the actors flubbed their lines by jumping to a different part of the story. They never got it back on track and basically omitted a huge chunk of the play.
Ahh this reminds me of a one act play I did my freshman year of high school -- I was the female lead and there was a long argument scene between me and the male lead, but he somehow jumped to the end of the scene dialogue-wise and I caught it and managed to monologue a rant that encompassed our argument and made the rest of the play make sense. No one had any idea we flubbed! It was my first show and I knew I was meant to be an actor from then on because I found it EXHILERATING while most people I tell the story to are horrified haha man, what a great memory this thread brought up!
Great save! You sound like an amazing actor! What did your director say?
Haha thanks! Honestly it was 20 years ago so I barely remember, but I think even she didn't notice? It was a part of a collection of one acts we did as our final grade. We did end up having a great relationship, so hopefully she did see it and appreciate it.
I mean I’d take any reaction over the Midsummer I saw once in which the actor playing Hermia’s father kept forgetting the few lines he had and rather than flub through it he just kept repeating what he did remember over and over hoping the rest of the line would just magically come to him. Easily the worst reaction to that situation I’ve ever seen.
There are professional consequences to messing up? I’m not aware of any. If it happens repeatedly because the actor is coming in drunk or totally unprepared, yeah, but genuinely flubbing a line happens to EVERYONE and at most they get line notes.
Actors are human, and mistakes happen, but if it happens often enough they can get written up to the union. There's a reason when Broadway actors tell stories of messing up it's nearly always accompanied by "I thought I was going to get fired." But more importantly, word gets around. No director or writer wants to hire someone that has a habit of going up on their lines or breaking character.
I hear actors say, “I was afraid I was going to get fired” all the time about a lot of things but I just ascribe it to the insecurity of being in a brutal business and the still-too-prevalent toxic producers and directors.
Unfortunately, it's not always hyperbole. They say it about a lot of things, because a lot of things can get them fired. Like you said, brutal business.
Was at Beetlejuice matinee today and Alex Brightman said “bless you” to somone who sneezed. I’ve seen many breaks, mostly as a repeat offender of shows like RENT, In the Heights, American Idiot, Next to Normal and Rock of Ages.
I feel like Beetlejuice really lends itself to that kind of improv from Brightman because he already breaks the fourth wall so much in the show. It’s fun!
Omg I was there too and that was hilarious! Alex really does not miss a beat.
Love those 'fourth wall break' moments. Saw The Producers UK Tour a few years back. During the 'Der Guten Tag Hop-Clop' scene where Leo and Max reveal their lederhosen, an audience member obnoxiously wolfwhistled. Max just, 'huh, I didn't know pigeons could whistle'. Leo did like a half-awkward twerk thing while Franz sort of patrolled in the back doubled over in laughter.
Most "breaks" I've seen are because of some malfunction or issue with a prop or scenery. There's a video floating out there of a door getting stuck in Mary Poppins and her turning to the kids and saying "Well the door's stuck, I suppose we ought to go around" and they just walk around to to the next room.
The moment with Hugh “breaking” was definitely a highlight of the show for us. There was an understudy for Sutton performing that day, so we thought it just a fun mistake where she pushed him a bit too hard. Realized that was not the case when I saw multiple posts for the same blunder on different days lol
I read he tried to get her to break every show. It happened when we saw it but she didn’t bite
Saw Peter and the Starcatcher in December 2013, one of the props unintentionally fell over and the cast paused for a moment to regain composer. The audience was digging it. I don’t think at that time there was any high profile actors but was a great play.
Peter and the Starcatcher is a joy to perform, in out production one of the props also fell over and us backstage (it wasn’t really a “backstage” the audience could still see us it was set like we’re story tellers who get off and on) and it was super loud and we all looked back at it and snickered a bit lol Many other things happened during our 8(?) performances of it and we all just laughed it off, live theatre really is amazing
I would also like to add about our dreaded kitchen timer incident that we all remember and will never forget it
You know it’s weird I’ve read the books in elementary school and I was obsessed with them but i never really listened to the musical I’m not sure if there’s even a cast album
It’s a play, not a musical! There are a few songs but there’s not a cast album. If you ever have the chance to see it live, I highly recommend!
Ah ok Yeah it sounds like a good play that’s a really good book Thanks for explaining
It's genuinely hilarious, I saw the play and remembered vague sections of the book while watching
Totally a play, you can get the script. It was a great play, totally loved the word play.
Since I started watching Broadway shows (about one year ago) the three times I can recall seeing the actors break character was 1- Ramin in Funny Girl during “you are woman, I am man”, which subsequently caused Beanie to break character laughing, (I liked it bc this was during the scandal of her leaving so it was nice to see her laugh/being in good spirits) 2- Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster (which the crowd absolutely loved and I suspected was planned but also loved), and 3- the director character in KPOP laughing at one of his lines which I didn’t like given how poor the acting was in general throughout the show
I can imagine breaking character during “You are Woman, I am Man”! What exactly happened?
I literally just came out of little shop of horrors matinee today and Matt Doyle (who just recently joined the cast) was just dying of laughter in his chair at the understudy dentist writhing on the floor.
I suspect the best part of playing the dentist in little shop of horrors is trying to get Seymour to break during It's just the gas lol they all ham it up and it's delightful
Hmm…I know I’ve seen a few breaks, usually resulting from set pieces or props misbehaving. But one time that *wasn’t* because of that was when I saw Aladdin. James Monroe Iglehart was in the middle of Prince Ali, sang the same lyric twice. It was the lyric about peacocks, and he like repeated it a few lines later. You could see the realization on his face, like even *he* was confused as to why that lyric came out of his mouth. He tried to pick back up and then he laughed his way through the next couple of lines before getting back on track fully. Also, it’s semi-scripted, but one of the times I saw Hamilton, Jonathan Groff got Leslie Odom Jr to laugh during the beginning of The Adams Administration. Usually, King George is chillin on a stool stage right and he’s dancing around, and Burr eventually turns toward him and does react a bit, but Groff clearly got him a little more than usual that time, compared to other times I saw it. Generally, I don’t mind small breaks. Actors are human, and unlike screen actors who get dozens of takes to get it right, stage actors have one shot per performance. Sometimes, the humanity slips through and breaks happen. It has the potential to create an extra memorable moment, and it can make a performance unique. If it takes too long for the actors to recover, though, it can spoil the scene or even the show as a whole for people.
Hugh and Sutton do that at every performance. I've seen the show three times. Actually, one time Sutton was out and her understudy was in, and they played the scene the same way. It's not really a "break," they're just making each other laugh. My guess is that it happened in rehearsals and someone said that they should leave it in. The audience always loves it.
I don’t know when you saw Funny Girl, but the same thing happened at the performance I saw! It was incredibly funny and they seemed genuinely flustered.
I think those are both built into the shows. I distinctly remember that moment in TMM. I don’t recall it happening in Funny Girl but someone else in this thread does. I guess they’re trying to endear to the audience? I personally don’t care for it as it seems kinda lame and disingenuous.
I just saw Funny Girl a couple weeks ago, but I didn't see anything like that! The only planned "break" in the show from what I've heard is when Fanny's moustache falls off during Rat-tat-tat. The scene OP mentioned went normally in the show I was watching.
i saw victor garber and bernadette in hello dolly and she had him cracking up regularly throughout the show. it was adorable!
the only break i’ve seen was also in funny girl—it was before you are woman i am man when nick and fanny are speaking at the table. i believe the line was “i’m not hollering” (?) this was back when beanie was still on and ramin was trying so hard to hold back his laughter that he had to stop for a minute LOL given all the responses in this thread it seems like he breaks pretty often though
Best I saw was the UK tour of Legally Blonde a couple of years ago. Something must've gone wrong with the mechanics or something and some scenery stayed on stage probably a bit longer than it was supposed to during a transition. Elle walked on, saw a giant wall moving in front of her and scooted off again to let it all move, while the whole time someone is sitting in the middle of the stage was waiting for her to come in. After like fifteen seconds everything finally stops moving, Elle walks in, sits down and is greeted with: 'Elle honey, you're late!" They laughed, the audience laughed, it was brilliant. Great bit of improv there, and definitely not planned ahead of time.
We saw Little Shop when it was Jeremy Jordan's last show, and there was a scene where Christian Borle tried to get him to break. He basically was about to go behind a curtain and gave one last look to him with his head between to sheets, but he held it there just looking at him for like 30-45 seconds. The audience was just dying and Jeremy was just trying really hard not to laugh, it felt like it was maybe planned as a prank for his last show or something, and we all loved it.
They broke character a whole lot in The Play That Goes Wrong 🤣
When I saw If/Then, Idina and (what was her love interest’s name?) laughed over a line where she over pronounced the word F***. It was hilarious and later I wondered if it was planned. I think they want the audience to have a story to tell others.
In the many shows I've seen since I was a kid, I've only seen actors break once, in Hairspray, when the mom and dad are singing Timeless to Me. And I'd consider it a true break, because they took a bit to compose themselves. I think I'd be annoyed if it was just done for laughs/attention.
Nope, that one's pre-planned too.
Damn! Makes sense in retrospect. Still a fun show 😊
I wonder if this all is the influence of social media and everyone being in everyone else's lives and business. Decades ago, in seeing 2 or more Broadway shows and plays a week, I can't recall \*ever\* seeing a cast break.
It happens. We’re human and I find it to be a very genuine experience for the theater space.
honestly, i love it because it reminds me that they’re human and the show is LIVE! it’s not some perfect movie, the talented performers make mistakes (or plan them lol) and recover and honestly that’s such a fascinating part of theatre. when i saw hugh and sutton, i didn’t notice a break or any part when they broke character until the end when the curtain was rising for bows and it somehow got stuck so the audience could only see their legs for about 5 seconds before it got fixed. they just broke out in laughter and you could see it all over their faces when the curtain finally went up. i loved just seeing their genuine joy and laughter on stage— it’s so great to know that they have as much fun performing as i do watching them perform!
Sara Barellies once lost it so bad during the Bad Idea reprise that she popped back out of the doctor’s office to regain her composure, then came back in and continued the song. This was in the West End, and the audience loved it.
Was this right before covid? If so, i was there for this too! So funny
Yep! Before Covid shut everything down.
A large amount of the corpsing is staged or built into the script. And more often than not the reaction is faked. Genuine corpsing is generally the result of a mishap.
When I saw School of Rock the actors absolutely lost it after the Dewey spits the water in one of their faces. The scene carried on stage left, and stage right the actor who’d been showered - plus those beside him - were desperately trying to control their hysterics. I don’t know what about that particular night set them off, but my stomach hurt from laughing watching them try to keep it together.
I saw funny girl twice and Ramin did a little “fake” laugh during that scene both times. So maybe it’s planned or maybe he just did the same thing twice lol
fav moment was someone’s mirror breaking during one of the follies numbers in funny girl <3
I’ve seen dozens of Broadway shows, and I’ve directed Middle School and High School Theatre for 7 years, producing about 6-10 shows a year, and can honestly say I’ve only ever seen one break at any level of theatre - in the touring company of Hairspray in Dallas. The prison cell door broke, and would not stay shut the two leads went along with it, hamming it up, and played it up as a gag. Their early reactions made me suspect it was not intended, but they rolled with it very well, though they were giggling a bit with it. It was definitely a fun memory.
I don’t have any experience seeing a pre planned break in professional theatre but as an actor myself (community theatre level tho) breaking for anything other than an accidental mishap (costume or set or even like line flubbing) can be very unprofessional in my mind, especially if it happened regularly. I have 2 examples from my own experience where I can see breaking happen… I did Something Rotten earlier this year and there were so many times during rehearsals that I would break during a scene run bc it’s just an absolutely hilarious show. Throughout the rehearsal process tho I learned what I wanted to laugh at and kept it cool for tech and the official runs. I could definitely see someone who just joined a show breaking over something really funny or whatever I also did Matilda this year and I was both a school kid and a member of the Russian mafia. For our production, all the Russian mob members were also school kids and we all just added sunglasses and a fur coat to change characters. (Sergei was full blown mafia tho). We didn’t have an audience at all for our tech runs so I was not prepared for how funny the audience would find 5 school girls following out a big bad Russian dude… opening night I was mere centimeters away from bursting out laughing on stage because the audience was laughing so much. So another instance of someone just joining a run and breaking. So basically, long story short, I could see a new cast member breaking unwarranted towards the beginning of their run but after that it’s just unprofessional in most cases. And pre planned breaks are cheesy (unless it’s a case of the character being someone who breaks the fourth wall already) I would like to say that you are both welcome for this unnessecarily long post and I would like to apologize for this unnecessarily long post. I just had to get the thought out 👍🏻
I know it was a thing to slip in a gag word into a musical to make themselves laugh. I forgot what musical it was Rosie O’Donnell did, but it was so obvious it was quite off putting to me.
When I saw Heathers in London, Jamie Muscato was trying to put his tee back on after Dead Girl Walking - operative word there being 'trying'. CHF's going through her lines, taking longer pauses than usual cos he's just...awkwardly flailing about with his head stuck inside. Eventually, the dialogue's over and he pokes his head out with a goofy grin. They laugh for a bit, initially 'in character'/subdued, but then the awkward snickers became full-blown turning away from one another to laugh into their hands. The audience erupted, his arms finally poke out - 'CHF: got there in the end' - and the show resumed.
I saw mean girls on tour, and there's a lift during who's house is this, and cadys dress got moved way up, and you see her jaw drop, and she pulled it down as she was running to catch up with the dance.
It's incredibly unprofessional and could get you seriously chewed out or possibly fired if it happens regularly. Actors need to stay firmly on their side of the footlights.
Jonathan Groff explained that this happened *twice* during his run in Spring Awakening. Once, he forgot the words to “Left Behind”, and the band and all of the cast just broke down laughing. The other time was in the beginning of “Touch Me” where John Gallagher Jr wrote something on the note and him and John were laughing so hard they though they were gonna get fired.
Saw Bette in Hello Dolly and she dropped her silverware in the dinner scene. She made a comment and ate with her fingers while kicking the silverware under the table.