63 replies to this topic

[abatt]

Thanks for that video of McKenzie in his sweat pants. I laughed out loud.  I recall two fun bloopers.  One was Stella Abrera at ABT.  There was a scene where she has to pull a handkerchief from her cleavage.  ( I guess this must have been Othello.).  Well, I guess the darn thing must have slipped down her dress because she was endlessly searching her cleavage for it, but it was nowhere to be found.  The other fun blooper, also ABT, involved Carmen Corella as Myrta.  There is a scene where she has to pull a branch from what looks to be a tree.  The branch would not move.  She pulled on with all her force, without success.  My all time favorite blooper was not at the ballet, but at the opera Aida at the Met.  The triumphal march in this staging has a white horse.  The horse decided to, um, do its business on stage during the performance. The performance proceeded as the singers studiously avoided the pile and tried not to laugh.  Suddenly, a cleanup crew dressed as slave servants in the production comes out with a bucket and other tools to clean the mess up in a jiffy.  Ah, those Franco Zeferelli productions with live animals.

[richard53dog]

abatt, on 22 December 2010 - 06:29 PM, said:

  My all time favorite blooper was not at the ballet, but at the opera Aida at the Met.  The triumphal march in this staging has a white horse.  The horse decided to, um, do its business on stage during the performance. The performance proceeded as the singers studiously avoided the pile and tried not to laugh.  Suddenly, a cleanup crew dressed as slave servants in the production comes out with a bucket and other tools to clean the mess up in a jiffy.  Ah, those Franco Zeferelli productions with live animals.

Fortunately , there are no animals in Act 3 of Aida. Imagine poor Aida singing "mai piu, mai piu" (which sounds like "my pew")
over and over as she does in Act 3 with an extra little (or not so little) deposit on the stage next to her....

Ok, corny joke , I know.


My recollection, along the same lines was a Cavalleria (another Zeffirelli production), where the donkey couldn't wait.

Same thing, the cast chewed the scenery, but carefully avoided a certain spot on the stage. Finally a maintenance man, in a peasant costume, came padding stiffly out on to the stage with a broom and a long handled dust pan. The dustpan was boldly stenciled "Metropolitan Opera House"

I could make out the letters all the way up in the Family Circle standing room (with binoculars)

So much for the illusion of being in Sicily.

[carbro]

richard53dog, on 17 April 2005 - 02:31 PM, said:

I wonder why he did this? Actually I think they were sweat pants (grey) and they were baggy

Among those who were at the performance with me on that unfortunate occasion are friends who insist they were legwarmers.  I'm glad to have this evidence to the contrary.    Thank you, Aurora.

I suspect that what happened was this:  Right after the bedroom scene, Kevin put on his sweats to keep his legs warm.  Then, long before he was due to enter the crypt, the dressers draped the cape over him.  In the interim and with all the excitement and tension of a live broadcast, the sweatpants were ... whoops!   ... forgotten by all parties.

Ultimately, it seems not to have thwarted his career path.  

[abatt]

At what point do you think McKenzie realized he was wearing sweats?  Clearly, when he goes for the vial of poison he is aware.

[esperanto]

I saw a clip on balletoman.com from Fille in which the donkey/pony taking all to the picnic just sat down on the stage. No one could move him. Alain tried poking him with his umbrellas while still dancing his variation, but to no avail.

I read that in one of the Bolshoi's first visit to California someone stepped out of a painted door right on to the stage where Ulanova was dancing.

And a faux pas that I saw was at the old Met in the opera La Boheme. Rulodpho fell onto Mimi's deathbed and the bed collapsed!

[JMcN]

I've seen a number of naughty pigeons in Ashton's Two Pigeons. At one performance in Plymouth there seemed to be three pigeons, two of whom spent most of the performance fornicating on the Paris rooftops! On the final evening a couple of years ago at the Lowry, when the pigeon flew in at the end, he landed on Chi Cao's head! Chi managed to extricate the bird from his hair and he and Ambra ended up cuddling said bird. What could have been a disaster turned into a moment of sheer romance and magic.

At a performance of Northern Ballet's Romeo, during Romeo's fatal altercation with Paris the dagger flew onto a piece of scenery out of sight and reach of Juliet. She ended up finding enough poison left in Romeo's vial to kill herself.

At a performance of Mathew Bourne's Swan Lake, the conductor's baton flew out of her hand and landed in my friend's lap!

I guess that there are far more mishaps than the audience ever realises because the dancers are so good at covering them.  Well done to them all.

[Rosa]

[Birdsall]

OMG, Rosa!!! How did that cat get there????? That made me laugh out loud!!!!

[Mme. Hermine]

chasing the big black bird?

[sandik]

Mme. Hermine, on 28 May 2012 - 12:25 PM, said:

chasing the big black bird?

Oh ouch!

[diane]

Wonderful! I love it! I wonder if it was perhaps part of the show? ;)

"chasing the big, black bird" is great!!


-d-

[bart]

A surprise worth waiting for.  I've always loved the pas de chat.

[esperanto]

If Rothbart can change into an owl (?) and then human form at the Grand Ball, why not a cat as well?

[Birdsall]

esperanto, on 03 June 2012 - 09:02 AM, said:

If Rothbart can change into an owl (?) and then human form at the Grand Ball, why not a cat as well?

Yes, maybe it was Rothbart! LOL

[Drew]

Even thinking about it makes me laugh--