Still, there’s nothing an audience can do to help a performer in real trouble. Years ago, I saw a revival of Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple, and the telephone was supposed to ring during the poker game, but it didn’t. Actors can only improvise so much. Essentially, they kept playing the poker game, ad-libbing as best they could: "What a lousy hand!" "Another drink?" "Maybe I will have one after all." But the phone still didn’t ring. One of the actors could stand it no longer. "Aren’t you going to answer the phone?" he said to Victor Spinetti, who looked as if he could kill him. Well, Mr. Spinetti couldn’t reply, "No, it hasn’t rung yet." So he picked up the receiver. But to make it all horribly worse, the moment he began talking into the phone, it rang.
Via TMFTML.
No comments:
Post a Comment