Ummm... when an actor misses their cue and is MIA on live TV, that's called improv. And I'm not saying that mistakes can't be funny. When actors break, that can, to a point, be funny. But the way the actors handled Brent's absence wasn't even the slightest bit funny- in fact, I would go as far as to say that it bordered on hostility. I've been on stage when an actor does a no show, and it's hard not to get pissed, because their absence is pretty much making you look like an idiot. They're leaving you holding the bag. You're the one fumbling for words. The initial inclination is to deflect some of this judgement and say, it's not my fault, but a good actor will dig deep and scrounge together some grace and cover. But these were not good actors.
I'm not saying that they shouldn't work again, but, if they're going to do an entire season of live television, someone needs to sit them down and teach them a few basic principles of what to do when things go awry.
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SnoopyStyle
9 years ago
Actually when things go wrong, I would want them to break or point out the other guys' mistakes. This show should NOT try for perfection. Leave that to the live Peter Pan performance.
This show should try to be fun. They should always try to break the other cast members. I'm not sure when Brent went missing. I do remember Brent and Bridgit Mendler couldn't keep a straight face when they're stealing glances. If Brent goes missing, I would suggest the other actors stall glaringly calling out Brent's character Justin. "I'm sure Justin is coming annnnyyyy minute...."
The funniest part of the show was Bianca kissing Scott Foley. I think I heard somebody say that it wasn't in the rehearsal. That's hilarious. Think of this more like SNL than Broadway. SNL can be a real grind but it's always hilarious when somebody breaks.
PS. I would also try to get a better musical guest or none at all.
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dvd123
9 years ago
Bianca kissing Scott Foley and the line where Justin yells "Hey, that wasn't rehearsed!" were both in the East Coast feed (in the West Coast feed, 3 actors try to kiss Scott).
I'm talking about the West Coast feed. Track down a copy of the West Coast version, watch it, and then come back and talk about how funny the screw-up was- because it wasn't the slightest bit funny.
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nightc1
9 years ago
The Scott Foley kiss on the East feed seemed unrehearsed as they noted... the West feed was much better on that part because after so many try to kiss him he says something like "Don't worry this happens to me wherever I go". I thought that was hilarious.
As for Brent going missing, I thought it was funny and had I not seen the East cost version first I wouldn't have known he was actually supposed to be there for that moment. I think that sort of spoils watching both versions is determining which is rehearsed and which isn't.
But the fact of the matter is, unless you are at rehearsals and have the scripts for both versions you have no idea what is improv and what isn't. For all we know "Hey, that wasn't rehearsed!" was indeed rehearsed much like the whole phone swap deal at the beginning of the episode was clearly rehearsed but you wouldn't fully know that if you didn't watch both versions and see it play out pretty much the same way. Same for Brent going missing, that was most likely a staged moment to add some differences to the two versions... in which case they did a great acting job convincing you that it was bad improv.
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SnoopyStyle
9 years ago
Brent Morin was talking about it on Conan and they showed the clip. Apparently, somebody told him that he wasn't in the scene and he went over to the bar. It's funny to see it knowing what happened but I can see how confusing it must have been at the time. Everybody was calling Brent by his real name.
The way to make the scene funnier is to stop the scene until Brent actually shows up. The moment he comes back would be greeted with such a glorious roar. Brent was actually there when they started using his real name. If the actors would push it further, Brent would be forced to sheepishly walk on stage. It's a missed opportunity.
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