MovieChat Forums > Waiting for Guffman (1997) Discussion > My community theater moments

My community theater moments

posted 17 years ago by snakeguy76
9 replies | jump to latest

The reason why I love this film is because of all the parallels to my own experiences in commnuity theater. I went a few year of theater when i was in college. I havent done it in a few years, but everytime I miss it I watch Guffman and laugh.
I can identify with EVERY single thing that has happened in this:

1. I was in a local production that didn't go to broadway but off off broadway. Close enough.

2. I had the married couple that was in every production.

3. The guy off the street who didn't know stage left from a light bulb.

4. The director jumping in at the last minute to fill a part and looking horrible.

5. Not knowing how to sing a song but trying to learn teh choreography.

6. Rehearsing in ridiculous places. I rehearsed in a Elk's lodge once.

7. Having musicians in the pit that were 10 times more talented than the cast on stage.

8. A director who really though he was amazing becuase he had performed in a few lousy off broadway plays.

Some other amusing events:
An actor wandered on stage during a scene he was not in. he seemed very confused. Another time he was staring through a window in the set.

An actor lost a false tooth and his toupee in one scene. he was so distracted that he said a line that could have ended the play in the first 10 minutes. For those who know 1776, Our Dickinson voted in FAVOR of Independence in the first act.

A piece of set fell down when an actor missed the door.

I had an actor who sounded like he just crapped in his pants.

So many fun events. please share your own

[–] sayhellokitty 17 years ago

...The tech running to find paint for a foam setpiece he had forgotten to paint, and upon which the curtain would be rising in about 30 seconds.

...In "The Sound of Music" one of the children had "a pee pee accident" onstage just before the curtain rose for the second act.

...A heavy actor in a flesh-colored dress rose to tell off another character upstage of her, clearly displaying her dress wedgie.

...A music director insisting we all sing do re mi fa sol la "te" do in the song "Shipoopi" instead of si do because it was correct solfege for the key the piece is written in.

...A play in which a door is used considerably, but was mimed throughout, while great efforts went into constructing a realistic window, which was never used.

...A group of actors finding a way to sing Happy Birthday to a fellow actor (who had a birthday the weekend of the show) in the middle of the show itself.

...monologues being added to the show because set changes couldn't be made on time.

...An outdoor production of "Camelot" in which a very drunken Lancelot swept a very frightened Guenevere onto an actual horse.

...Too many things to name under the heading "It will never show from stage."

[–] alwagner83 17 years ago

1. The married couple in every show

2. I have rehearsed in an empty storefront, people's houses, and in the local park

3. Someone threw a towel at me, and it landed over my eyes (supposed to happen). I was supposed to turn and run through the hallway offstage, instead I ran into the wall.

4. When asked what her name was, one actress said her real name instead of her character's name

5. I saw the fake blood onstage and instead of saying my line, I just gagged.
Noises Off:

I was in the closet playing Brooke, and when the handle was removed, I had to hold on the door to keep it from opening. When Belinda came by to shut it, she slammed my finger in the door

Dottie accidentally locked herself in "the kitchen"

The actor playing Gary didn't stop himself falling down the steps, and when he didn't get up right away it looked so realistic a crew member screamed "call 911!"

The straps to my underwear broke onstage, and I almost pulled a Janet Jackson-like costume malfunction.

[–] thirdrow 16 years ago

An actor who refused to leave his beeper offstage, instead wearing it prominently and turned ON in case he got a call FROM WORK! Like, was he going to leave in the middle of a show if he got paged? (He was not a doctor or anything like that).

Appearing in a play requiring multiple bellhops with fast-paced entrances and lines. Except no actors would commit to doing the parts every night. So we had different arrangements of bellhops every night, and none of them knew the lines or blocking.

All ten actors onstage skipping a whole scene in a murder mystery. The scene that sets up the premise and has the first murder. They went back and added the scene later! Ugh.

[–] trickg1 15 years ago

The whole reason I love the movie "Waiting for Guffman" is due to the hysterically accurate parallels to my own small Nebraska hometown and the community productions we'd do every summer as one of the "main attraction" events of the annual county fair. It's like Christopher Guest got his ideas for his characters from spying on my hometown and its community theater productions, right down to the flamboyant "Corky St. Clair" character who could have been directly modeled after our music director, right down to the impeccably trimmed goatee and his speech patterns.

Like everyone else, I continue to be amazed by this movie and find new funny things every time I watch it. What I'd like to know is whether or not someone who doesn't come from a small town, or has never been part of a community theater production, finds this movie as funny as I do because every time I watch it I find myself saying, "YES! That's almost exactly like it was when we did 'The Music Man!' (Or any of the other summer musicals we did.)

[–] irishtom99 12 years ago

in nyc-
1-a run of arsenic and old lace..the leading man(the cary grant part)quit on opening night,deciding he didnt want to be an actor..he was replaced by our director,a talented man,but he had a long ponytail and a thick puerto rican accent..
2-in a run of 12 angry men,last performance..the foreman got stuck going to the downstairs bathroom,and we spent several minutes of act two with 11 angry men.
3-in an original play,born again again,in a run down black box theatre on 8th avenue,a mouse ran across the stage,back and forth,up and down furniture,for several minutes..the actors never broke character..
and thats what i love about the film..as in real life,the cast was totally commited to their projects..limited resources,and limited talent,did not
stop them from their love of what they do..after all, amatuer ballplayers in bar leagues are just as committed as the pros,just not as talented..

[–] wainot 12 years ago

Like everyone else, I continue to be amazed by this movie and find new funny things every time I watch it. What I'd like to know is whether or not someone who doesn't come from a small town, or has never been part of a community theater production, finds this movie as funny as I do because every time I watch it I find myself saying, "YES! That's almost exactly like it was when we did 'The Music Man!' (Or any of the other summer musicals we did.)

In answer to your question, yes...if not for the very same reasons, perhaps. I come from a suburb of a big city and my only "real" theater experience was my senior class (HS) play. Yes, I love WFG . I love true humor, ad-libbing (am a humor writer and speaker), watching ensembles work their magic, etc. This film works on many levels.

(And, I didn't have to be a folk singer to love A Mighty Wind or a dog owner (or a dog, for that matter) to enjoy Best in Show.

[–] hodie 12 years ago

I have never been involved with community theater, but I do remember going to upstate NY to see the New York City Ballet do "Swan Lake". We were late so we sat WAY off to the side, far enough from the stage to watch bored stagehands plopping large plastic swans onto a treadmill.

"Joey, have you ever been in a Turkish prison?"

[–] trekkie313 12 years ago

I remember Jesus on a cross getting stuck while being hoisted.

[–] taijiquan12 12 years ago

I've done community theatre, and although I've never experienced exactly what was in this movie, how seriously the cast treated such a small time production was very relatable to me.

It's like I was the only one who knew the scope of what we were doing (not that great) and everyone else there was acting as if it were Broadway or something major.

The little mishaps, the lack of money, rehearsing in odd spaces though, I've been in all of that, this movie is funny in general, but really strikes a chord with anyone who's been close to those situations.

"Bulls**t MR.Han Man!!"--Jim Kelly in Enter the Dragon