LIVE ANIMALS ON STAGE

A Crowd Pleaser

-Two summers ago I was Wardrobe Mistress at Millbrook playhouse we were doing a production of "Scrambled Feet" a musical farce that essentially makes fun of all things theatre. In one of the last scenes an actor sings about how horrible it is to be onstage with animals. Well we had a duck that always got his cue right...he shit right on the stage every night, that is after chasing the actor around and almost always running off into the house.-Jenny Butler

-It was the summer of '98 and we were doing South Pacific. As you know, there is a scene where Liat and Lt. Cable have to kiss. So, my friend Courtney (Liat) was laying in Matt's (Cable) arms. Before the show, we had to spray the theater for crickets because they kept coming out. Well, we sprayed the orchestra pit and as Matt's eyes connected with Courtney's, their lips almost touching, a cricket landed on Matt's mouth. Courtney started laughing but no one could tell except for us actors and actresses backstage. -Timberly Deville

- I was Stage Managing Man of La Mancha a few summers ago. As I called the lights up for "Little Bird", I noticed something flying madly about in the house (I was in the booth), swooping sometimes to go under the proscenium and fly around the stage. The audience, of course, was delighted and laughed. After consulting with my master electrician/board op, I discovered that he had been up in the attic smoking during preshow and a BAT had gotten out at some point. The actor singing the song later said he had a very hard time not singing "Little bat, little bat....."-Shannon

A few years ago I was in the musical The Fantastics. There is a lamb in one scene of the play, and we decided to be brave and use a real lamb. We had to use two lambs actually because the show was running for two weeks and the first got too big. But anyways, the first lamb was great, he was quiet and a good actor. The second, well, as soon as he was brought onstage he started bleating. The audience got a big kick out of it. The lamb wouldn't stop bleating even when he was brought backstage. The audience was roaring with laughter and it was the hardest thing for me to do to remain in character. -Belle

-I was stage manager for a revival of HURLYBURLY off-off -Broadway. It was in the middle of the first scene, during one of Artie's speeches to Eddie, when a mouse ran across the stage. And it ran the full length of the stage. EVERYONE saw it. Artie just paused mid-sentence, then said, "Jeez, Eddie, whattsamatter, you got MICE here?" ...and then went on with his speech.
We later heard audience members arguing during intermission about whether we'd trained a real mouse, or whether we'd used a mechanical one -Kimberly Wadsworth

-While I was at Elizabethtown College (1995), we did a show called "Scenes for an Autumn Eve," which was a show comprised of monologues for women from "Talking With" and "Vital Signs" by Jane Martin. The director wanted one actress to hold a cat during her monologue. The cat was great during the monologue, but when it came to the curtain call I guess the applause scared it! As soon as the cat was set down so that curtain call could commence, the cat left a nice puddle in plain view of the entire audience! Good thing that it was closing night.....
Sara

-This is an animal story...actually three.. One is about Annie. I played Lt. Ward in Annie. I have to watch Annie call Sandy to her. If he doesn't I have to make up for that. Well he did come to her in the rehearsals but not the performances. Instead of saying "Well I guess he is your dog!" I had to say "Well I'll let it pass..THIS time" The audience LOVED it. The second is another story about Annie. I also played Drake in the show. Near the end of "New Deal for Chrismas" which is the finale I bring Snady on stage. One night he decided he didn't want to come on. I wound up pushing him on. THen he decided to go to his owner instead of annie. The third is about "Chowzie" in Gypsy. The Dog had major stage fright. Several times in the finale he would come out and wet the stage. -Todd

-When I was playing the Scarecrow at Peninsular Center Stage in California, we danced around the yellow brick road which went along a ramp around the orchestra pit. We were doing it the third time (after picking up the tin man), and we took the second curve back to the stage. I danced up to the stage and realized I was all alone. I turned around and only saw Dorothy and the Tin Man squatting over the end of the ramp. They were leaning down trying to ge toto, who hadn't turned quickly enough and had gone flying into the first row. An audience member lifted him back up to Dorothy (he was all right). -Steve Channon