If ANYTHING goes wrong in a theatre production, one can be sure it usually happens on Opening Night. And one Opening Night did it ever.
This was a theatre I designed for in a small city, with a huge amount of support from its patrons. Especially when "Annie" was scheduled one season, the famous musical about Little Orphan Annie.
Now keep in mind Annie had a beloved dog named Sandy. So in our production "Sandy" was being portrayed by Ranger. And anytime an animal is involved in a stage production the unexpected may happen.
Also keep in mind the character of Daddy Warbucks, Annie's wealthy benefactor who eventually adopts her, is bald. Jackson, the actor playing the bald Daddy Warbucks had a thick head of lovely hair, which necessitated a skull cap to give Jackson the appearance of being bald.
And finally, keep in mind a "iron" spiral staircase was needed as part of the set. I had been told the staircase would not actually be used by anyone and was needed only for a visual effect for the time period. So my assistant and I constructed an amazing spiral staircase made out of wood I painted to look just like real iron, yet not built to really support anyone. Inaddition the spiral staircase only went up so high beyond the view of what the audience saw, which further created the illusion it was a solid real one.
Now then, Theatre Lighting can contribute to making actors more sweaty, especially if there is singing involved too. And dancing. All of a sudden Jackson's skull cap went flying high in the air landing way up the spiral staircase.🤣
In very quick succession Ranger suddenly broke character and charged up the staircase to get this amazing "toy" that had just appeared.
Following right behind Ranger without thinking was Jackson as we watched in horror from the wings. With both the weight of Ranger and Jackson now on one side of the staircase, it began tilting precariously to that side, coming to rest on a theatre light. Not good, not good.😬
Meanwhile "Annie" and all the kids began laughing like crazy which then caused the Opening Night audience
to lose it. Of course they had no clue to the horrors those of us backstage were experiencing at that moment as to how to stop this unfolding catastrophe happening before us.😱
It was also at this precise moment the Stage Manager standing behind me made a sudden very interesting observation.
Ed said, "You know, it would be awesome if somebody had a camera to capture for posterity the wide eyed look we're seeing on Jackson's face just now."
Devon, the Lighting Designer who wasn't as concerned about the possibility of electrocution as the rest of us, responded, "Oh yeah, trapped on the Leaning Tower Of Stairs with a dog, caught by a theatre light before a sold out house currently drowning in laughter is the perfect moment for a photoshoot!"😂
Devon had a point.
Suddenly Ranger made the decision to leap onto Daddy Warbuck's desk, then onto the stage running to his handler in the wings with the prize skullcap.
Immediately without Ranger's weight the staircase shifted somewhat, which Jackson used to his full advantage by throwing his weight in the opposite direction. Lo and behold, this not only miraculously freed the staircase from the theatre light, but righted it back into place!👏
By this time our costumer had located another skullcap which Jackson replaced upon his head, continuing his performance as if none of this Leaning Tower Of Stairs moment had ever occurred.🤩
We all felt quite fortunate to learn after the performance the critic to review this Opening Night fiasco had been unable to make it but would come the next night. The Theatre Gods were looking down upon us.🙏🎭
Jackson, being the dedicated wise actor he was did a very noble thing after the performance. He shaved off his wonderful head of hair so there would never be a repeat of Opening Night for the remainder of "Annie's" run.
All of us backstage loved the song the cast of "Annie" sang each night titled, "It's A Hard Knock Life." And it was...it really was, for you see at times our hard knock lives working backstage in theatre could be tough, very tough! Yet none of us would have ever changed it for all the wealth beyond a rainbow.🎭
As my career as a Theatre Set Designer began winding down, a play called for a ornate coffin. No problem. My intern and I constructed a basic looking coffin which I painted to look like a fancy bronze one with ornate fixtures.
The audience would not be able to see in it, as the coffin opening was hidden from their view. They would only see the back of the open lid. What could possibly go wrong?!!
Of course none of us could forsee what the crazy young acting intern would do. He dressed like a clown and hid in the coffin. No one knew he was there.
The scene was of course a sad one. As the "grieving" actors stood before the coffin, the intern suddenly made his presence known to the actors but remained unseen by the audience. Well, that is he would have been.
Unfortunately, he so startled the grieving actors
one of them said, "Oh I can't bear to see father like this!" And suddenly slammed the lid down in anger at the intern which happened to be on the intern's hand, which by the way not only caused him to then very loudly yelp, but to leap high out of the coffin and dash off stage.
Obviously, this not only ruined the very sad moment in the play for the audience but made them confused as hell by suddenly seeing a clown make a flying leap out of the coffin!
However, the coffin lid broke into pieces as it was not made to be slammed shut. This event in turn nearly caused the Set Designer to put the intern permanently in a real coffin, but the Executive Director sent the intern packing before the Set Designer could.😂🎭
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