[jcstar]

I have seen three actors fall down the staircase in act 2.

In Ottawa 1991:I have heard about the chandeleir getting stuck on the way up during the Overture. They had to restart the show, and it got stuck again. A brief intermission was called and the show was restarted. It diodn't get stuck this time.
In the same show, it got stuck on the way down during the Act 1 finale.

In Toronto, 1999, when Paul Stanley set the graveyard on fire, the effect fizzled and popped. Stanley looked at the audience, shrugged and exited.

Have you seen any mishaps happen onstage?

Andy.

[Paula74]

I was at a matinee on Broadway in September 2005 that was a mess...it was about two and a half weeks before Hugh Panaro left.

First, Hugh was almost late. I saw him just before the show and he explained he'd been hit by a car on the way to work.

During the show, Tim Martin Gleason flubbed some lines in "Little Lotte." Not the worst thing to happen.

During the title song, the boat emerged from the wings and promptly ran into a candelabra. We could hear a crack as the head of one of the sphinx-figures on the base broke off and we could hear Hugh hiss, "Keep going."

Once he and Rebecca Pitcher stepped out of the boat, the boat nearly ran him over. As it is, the boat pole hit him and tangled his cape, almost throwing off his timing.

When Rebecca unmasked him the first time, she dropped the mask. It landed on the floor under the organ and between his feet. When he tried to step clear, he tripped and fell hard.

At the beginning of Il Muto, the curtains didn't open on cue.

By the time Hugh was getting into the angel, my friend was clutching my wrist and we were both convinced he wasn't going to make it to the end of the show without getting killed.

Fortunately, there were no more mishaps that day. After, Hugh was royally ticked off...the accident with the boat happened because someone new was at the controls.

My favorite mishap, though is Hugh's wardrobe malfunction as Raoul. I didn't witness it, but I've heard the story a few times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2aNu9WvFgw

The story was even funnier when Hugh told it to me over dinner in a crowded bar. He ended the story by bunching up the hem of his t-shirt to explain just how "awful" the incident was. I rolled my eyes and said, "Yeah, Mark told me, 'Hugh LOVES to tell THAT story!"

[Quique]

3rd National Tour - Costa Mesa, CA - August, 1994

The chandelier swooped violently downward during the overture and a whole bunch of beads fell and bounced around the stage deck.

Broadway - July, 2007

When Meg took the cape off the chair at the very end, there was no mask. She just kneeled, looked up in wonder and the lights faded. No spotlight.

[lesmisboy]

Manchester Opera House - Josie Walker was Christine. Raoul was a bit late in 'rescuing' her and at the end of act one, the chandelier hit her full-on instead of hitting the curtains....ouch.

[Fantine]

What happens if the chandelier gets completely stuck or something like that, aka: when it doesn't work anymore, does the show get cancelled? I mean it is quite an important set piece.

[Paula74]

[phantomopr1]

[Mistress]

Panaro's stories are always hilarious, but espicially love his Raoul open fly story and the story about his understudy getting stuck in the thrown under his cape at the end of the 2nd act.

Another good story I know was one I got from Wikipedia (so it's not actually verified, but apparently it's true) involving Michael Crawford. The story goes that he had just had some sort of surgery and was still drugged up and actually fell asleep in the angel statue and had to be prodded awake by a stage hand!

When I saw John Cudia perform as Phantom in Toronto,
I'm pretty sure he messed up some lines in Stranger
than You Dreamt It. I think he said lying Pandora instead of lying Delilah

[lckysvn777]

The Phantom almost losing his hat when he's up on the statue.

During the curtain call Geoff Packard took a nasty fall while running and then goes "I'm Safe" making the gestures with his arms.

The end when Meg is supposed to pull the cloak off the chair didn't happen. She had to reach underneath it and you could see the Phantom handing the mask to her. LoL

[santtu]

The boat broke down in Act 2 so during "Down Once More..." The Phantom and Christine walked across the lake. Some one sitting behind me whispered "This just got biblical: they're walking on water!" At the end of Act 2 as Christine and Raoul leave the Phantom's lair the boat was fixed and working again...

[Megziid]

A couple of weeks ago Anthony Warlow's understudy, Simon Pryce, threw the dummy in the final lair scene, it crashed into the monkey and broke it. Apparently this was the Monkey from the orig Aust production and was something of a 'good luck charm' for the company. Oops.

[Xxmcfly85xX]