Seth Rudestsky's Favorite Broadway Disasters
Seth Rudetsky stars in the musical parody of '70s-era disaster films, "Disaster!" (which he co-wrote) at UConn's Nutmeg Summer Series in Storrs June 7 to 16.
The book writer/ radio host/ theater enthusiast also knows a few things about epic Broadway mishaps, having been a musician in numerous pit orchestras — not to mention being pals with tell-all actors.
These are among his favorite tales of when things go wrong, terribly wrong.
Go With The Flow
Early in the career of Tony Award-winner Priscilla Lopez, she was in the long-forgotten musical "Her First Roman" where she had to wear an elaborate wig. But her hair was really short and didn't fill the head cap, so she took some small pieces of clothing and stuffed the wig to fluff it up. It worked so perfectly she shared the tip with other girls in the ensemble. Soon after, during a funeral scene in the show she noticed one of the girls in front of her didn't pin her wig very well and this giant bra was coming out of the back of her head. Priscilla couldn't laugh because they were at a funeral and she tried her best to hold it in. But what happened instead was that she started peeing. And it came down her leg and since it was a raked stage, a steady stream dribbled down into the orchestra pit. The audience might have not noticed but the musicians who were getting dripped on certainly did.
No-Fly Zone
Shoshana Bean took over as Elphaba in "Wicked," who, at the end of the first act, "flies" — but she's actually on a kind of cherry picker which is supposed to sweep her up as the rest of the ensemble looks up and points to her way up in the air. But one night…