History ThrowItIn / Theatre

* In one of the performances of the 2004 revival of StephenSondheim's ''Theatre/{{Assassins}}'', the actor who played GeraldFord tripped while entering the stage and fell flat on his face. However, since Ford had a history of accidentally tripping and falling (most notoriously down the stairs of Air Force One), the cast ran with it and it became a fixture of the scene in question for most subsequent adaptations.

** Following the Seattle Seahawks' Super Bowl victory, the 2014 5th Avenue Theatre production featured a 12th Knight.

* As recounted in the book ''Making It On Broadway: Actor's Tales of Climbing to The Top'', John Rubenstein, the original ''{{Pippin}},'' had very bad bunions on his feet that made him reject every pair of shoes that the costume department ordered for him. In a fit of pique, he resolved to do the entire show barefoot one night. It was uncomfortable, but he did it. Bob Fosse ran in to see him at the end of the night, and Fosse said, "John, I loved what you did tonight. Keep it in. Barefoot! Gives you that innocence." To this day, the title role in ''Pippin,'' wherever you go, is done barefoot.
* ''{{Spamalot}}'': The scene where the French soldiers are taunting Arthur and his knights has become famous for ad-libs. One famous showing of Spamalot in New York City featured the French soldiers spitting out "I throw both my shoes at you!" in reference to the recent incident where an Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at President Bush. The actors were visibly smiling and trying not to laugh on stage.

* During one of the rehearsals for the final scene of ''ThePhantomOfTheOpera'', the wedding veil Sarah Brightman was wearing fell off as she left the Phantom for the last time. Michael Crawford, in the title role, picked up the veil and buried his face in it, sobbing "Christine!" the whole time. It was left in and still continues to be an important bit of business for the character twenty years later.
* The bit in GilbertAndSullivan's ''ThePiratesOfPenzance'' where the Pirate King [[BreakingTheFourthWall engages in a sword fight with the baton-wielding conductor of the orchestra]] was originally improvised by John Clark, the actor who originated the role on Broadway. Sullivan, who personally conducted the orchestra during the opening performance, so enjoyed hamming it up a little that he convinced Gilbert to rewrite the script to include it. Most performances of ''Penzance'' still has feature such a fight.
** In ''[[GilbertAndSullivan Patience]]'', there is a scene where Bunthorne's admirers are commiserating on their unrequited love for him. Gilbert scripted the following exchange, minus the final line, introduced by the actress playing Saphir but liked by Gilbert so much it is now part of the script:

** ''The Mikado'' has perhaps more of this than any other GilbertAndSullivan play. (E.g.: "Modified rapture!")
** Gilbert himself invited this in The Mikado. The "Knightsbridge" line invites the director to substitute a place known for scandal at the time instead of saying "Knightsbridge." The joke is not very funny, anyway, but results like "'He has gone abroad!' 'Abroad? Where?' 'The Watergate!'" can be vaguely amusing. Of course, it usually ends up devolving around perennial favorites "Parliament" or "Congress," depending on which side of the pond you're on.
** Unlike Sullivan, Gilbert often hated unauthorised ad libs, though, and often clashed with D'Oyly Carte baritone Rutland Barrington over this. Pooh-Bah's line from ''The Mikado'', "No money, no grovel!" was entirely Barrington's invention, and was used in performances over Gilbert's angry objections.

* In the premier performance of the opera "Rigoletto", the singer performing the title role, though experienced, was so unsure of his performance (due to wearing a prosthetic hump; Rigoletto is a court jester) that he suffered severe stage fright. The director/author, realizing this, shoved him on stage. The audience thought his stumbling entrance was a scripted joke and loved it.

* [[AVeryPotterMusical Harry's]] line about what he'd do with an invisibility cloak ("I'd kick wiener dogs") was an ad-lib when Darren Criss forgot his line. Also, Lauren/Malfoy's line "And-you-have-to-be-my-slave-for-a-whole-day-starting-now!!" was an ad-lib, judging by Joe Moses and Joe Walker's reactions to the line, given that Moses usually kept relatively straight-faced (well, sort of), and he was laughing in the background.

** The exclaimed "Enjolras!" at the start of the ABC Cafe Scene was originally an ad-lib that is now fairly common. (Notably this the only time Enjolras is directly called by his name throughout the entire musical due to pronunciation issues.)

** Yet another: In a Chicago show a short while after Rod Blagojevich had been impeached due on charges of trying to sell Obama's former Senate seat, one Knight conducted a one-man auction for the Senate seat in question and the French Taunter included the line "We impeach your crooked governors!"

* In one of the performances of the 2004 revival of StephenSondheim's ''[[Assassins]]'', the actor who played GeraldFord tripped while entering the stage and fell flat on his face. However, since Ford had a history of accidentally tripping and falling (most notoriously down the stairs of Air Force One), the cast ran with it and it became a fixture of the scene in question for most subsequent adaptations.

* The song "Before The Parade Passes By" in ''Theatre/HelloDolly'' was written in half an hour to replace a different song, "Penny in my Pocket", which wasn't doing well in rehearsals.

** The script book also mentions in a footnote that there is a section of time set aside somewhere in the middle of the play for Adam Long (or rather, his replacement as of 2003) to go off on an improvised rant about, to quote the book, "whatever bug he has up his butt at the time".

* This is the very nature of Improv acting. During a performance, all of the actors do this, taking whatever the others do and running with it, no matter what it is.

* The sex between Kate Monster and Princeton during "You Can Be As Loud As The Hell You Want (When You're Makin' Love)" in ''AvenueQ'' was originally supposed to be under a blanket, but apparently one day during rehearsal, John Tartaglia and Stephanie D'Abruzzo started playing around with the naked puppets to see what it would look like over the sheets. The choreographer liked it so much that AvenueQ is considered by many to be puppet porn even today.
* This is the very nature of Improv acting. During a performance, all of the actors do this, taking whatever the others do and running with it, no matter what it is.

* In one of the performances of the 2004 revival of StephenSondheim's ''[[Theatre/Assassins Assassins]]'', the actor who played GeraldFord tripped while entering the stage and fell flat on his face. However, since Ford had a history of accidentally tripping and falling (most notoriously down the stairs of Air Force One), the cast ran with it and it became a fixture of the scene in question for most subsequent adaptations.

* ''Theatre/Assassins'':
** In one of the performances of the 2004 revival, the actor who played GeraldFord tripped while entering the stage and fell flat on his face. However, since Ford had a history of accidentally tripping and falling (most notoriously down the stairs of Air Force One), the cast ran with it and it became a fixture of the scene in question for most subsequent adaptations.

* In one of the performances of the 2004 revival of StephenSondheim's ''Assassins'', the actor who played GeraldFord tripped while entering the stage and fell flat on his face. However, since Ford had a history of accidentally tripping and falling (most notoriously down the stairs of Air Force One), the cast ran with it and it became a fixture of the scene in question for most subsequent adaptations.

* In one of the performances of the 2004 revival of StephenSondheim's ''Theatre/Assassins'', the actor who played GeraldFord tripped while entering the stage and fell flat on his face. However, since Ford had a history of accidentally tripping and falling (most notoriously down the stairs of Air Force One), the cast ran with it and it became a fixture of the scene in question for most subsequent adaptations.

* In one of the performances of the 2004 revival of StephenSondheim's [[Assassins]], the actor who played GeraldFord tripped while entering the stage and fell flat on his face. However, since Ford had a history of accidentally tripping and falling (most notoriously down the stairs of Air Force One), the cast ran with it and it became a fixture of the scene in question for most subsequent adaptations.

** Given that not all recordings have it, it seems likely that Thenardier referring to Cosette as "Colette" in the "Waltz of Treachery" was thrown in at some point, and is fairly common in productions of the musical.

* The sex between Kate Monster and Princeton during "You Can Be As Loud As The Hell You Want (When You're Makin' Love)" in ''AvenueQ'' was originally supposed to be under a blanket, but apparently one day during rehearsal, John Tartaglia and Stephanie D'Abruzzo started playing around with the naked puppets to see what it would look like over the sheets. The choreographer liked it so much that AvenueQ is considered by many to be puppet porn even today.

*** Also, "I headbutt you!" after the infamous headbutting incident in the 2006 FIFA World Cup involving the French player, Zidane.

* On the opening night of the musical version of ''TheProducers'', Nathan Lane improvised the line "Who do you have to fuck to get a break in this town?" in the middle of the song "The King of Broadway." It's been that way ever since, including in the movie.

** Another example from ''TheProducers'' involving Nathan Lane, during the London production of the show, directly after the scene where Max and Leo have just taken Siegfried Oath and are trying to leave Franz's rooftop. Lane, playing Max, tried to open the door leading offstage, but a stagehand had mistakenly locked it before the scene began. When the door didn't open at first, Lane shouted "We're trapped! Trapped like rats with a crazy Nazi!" When another one of the stagehands rushed to unlock it, Lane calmed down and said, "Got it." You can still see part of this in the 2005 film version.

*** At another performance during [[TimCurry Tim Curry's]] run as King Arthur, the new name for the Knights Who Formerly Said Ni finished off with [[TheRockyHorrorPictureShow "Come on up to the lab and see what's on the slab."]] Curry apparently had a VERY hard time keeping his composure.

* MontyPython performed during ''The Secret Policeman's Ball'' variety concert, putting on (of course) the Dead Parrot sketch. Halfway through, though, Michael Palin began to break up, unable to control himself. Although the audience had cottoned onto the problem and was already chuckling, John Cleese covered magnificently and sent the audience into hysterics with one, ad-libbed, shouted line: "THIS IS NO LAUGHING MATTER!"

* When a prop from ''{{USLES}}'' 's production of ''{{Aladdin}}'' was missing from the final performance (the ring which housed the evil genie) a replacement had to be found at short notice. The villain ended up being the Genie of the Shoe, and Abanazer threatening characters with cries of "Shooooooooeeeee!" ended up being the show's funniest running gag. Children in the audience were even asking to smell the evil shoe.