Stop the Show! A History of Insane Incidents and Absurd Accidents in the Theater

by Brad Schreiber

The first book to compile all of theater's glorious bloopers--an uproarious homage to the stage

Stop the Show! is the first book to assemble humorous, frightening and bizarre anecdotes about the history of all that went wrong during live theatrical productions in the U.S. and the United Kingdom. It is the publishing equivalent of TV bloopers for the legitimate stage.

This book includes stories from top directors, actors, playwrights and technicians from New York, Los Angeles, and points in between, to the United Kingdom, from the 19th century to today. There are stories about missed entrances and exits, onstage unscripted fights between performers, improvised lines, accidental pratfalls, falling scenery, and costume, lighting and makeup screwups. The backstage provides sordid tales of practical jokes, treachery, misplaced props, wild arguments, and generally the kinds of things Michael Frayn created for his farce about a theatrical disaster, Noises Off .

This book doesn't leave out the theatergoers either, who snore, fight with each other, talk back to the performers, search for their seats, become suddenly ill, eat, drink, make merry, and are yelled at by the performers--all of which sometimes prompts the show to stop, even though we've always been told it must go on.

Genres: Nonfiction, Theatre

273 pages, Paperback

First published August 22, 2006

Reviews

[Brielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hilarious

[Michael Gravante · Rating 3 out of 5]

Take heed of this review: the entries of incidents and accidents in this book aren't all comedic, laugh-out-loud stories like the book promises. There are also tales of theatres burning, performers dying onstage, and riots occurring in response to scandalous shows. It additionally went on a little too long for my taste, but it was still interesting and enjoyable to read. And the laugh-out-loud parts really were laugh-out-loud funny!

[Eric Hyche · Rating 2 out of 5]

A few funny stories, but not many

This is a collection of funny stories of things that have happened in live theatre: missed cues, missed lines, missing props, problems with sets, etc. I would say that maybe one in ten stories are actually funny.

[Amber Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of fluff but fun to read for the schadenfreuden!

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining stories. It dragged in a few places, but overall an interesting read...and I would not describe myself as a theater guy.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable. An entertaining read!

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stories are fun and interesting, though at times the telling can be a little dry. A lot of the stories also sometimes begin to feel the same, but that's easily over-looked, too. On the whole, it's a great read for someone who works in the theatre and wants to be reminded that things could be going worse than they currently are.

[Bridget Maguire-Colton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute book with some nice anecdotes from theatres across the country. I found the first half far more interesting than the last. The last chapter included anecdotes that not only were not funny, they did not have anything to do with the chapter title and felt like they were thrown in just for filler.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really great assortment of theater tales for any enthusiast. Some anecdotes were pure fun, others were quite sad or cringe-worthy. And gives extra connections to actors, shows, and stages for any theater-goer/veteran of the stage.