Winkies in the Pit.. and other embarrassing moments...:)

[mrdreamjeans]

Until the holidays of 2002, the most embarrassing moment in my life occurred during college at Texas A&M. It was my freshman year and I was a “Buffo” in the Singing Cadets. A Buffo is a first year member and subject to certain rites of initiation, but my first semester in the group transcended even the norm. I became a legend for a mistake made during a concert trip to Wharton.

Wharton, Texas was an oil company town. The homes, built in the 1940s, share a distinct architecture and layout. Singing Cadets on their tours often stay with families who sponsor the group’s concerts in their communities. I met with my host family briefly, then it was show time. We had a sellout concert that evening in 1972 and it was followed by a wonderful party. I returned to my host’s home after midnight; the front door was unlocked for me as pre-arranged; the furniture configuration as I remembered; I walked into the bedroom I was assigned and began to undress and get into bed. The only problem - there were people in the bed and I was in the wrong house! I was one block off...

The startled homeowners started to holler and I said in a very loud and scared voice, “My name is Neil and I’m in the Singing Cadets and I’m in the wrong house. Please don’t shoot!”. After a pause that seemed to take forever, I heard laughter and the homeowners turned on the lights and said,” Don’t leave. We want to see which one you are. We were at the concert tonight.” To this day, Buffos in the Singing Cadets are warned to get the house right when they’re touring... and it’s been 32 years since the incident.

As of two years ago, I had a new most embarrassing moment. The Singing Cadet incident happened in front of just one family; the accident on December 5, 2002 happened in front of 2500 people at the new Hobby Center for the Performing Arts in Houston. Theatre Under the Stars was presenting “The Wizard of Oz” during the holiday period and I was part of a very large and diverse cast of 65. December 5 was our first public performance and we were still working a few kinks out before the official opening two days later.

In the second act, the Wicked Witch melts and the Winkies (Yo He Ho) are freed. During the celebratory dancing, another actor and myself were hog-tied and thrown sideways into the orchestra pit by an errant cable during “Ding, Dong the Witch is Dead”. One moment my friend Gary and I were skipping around the passarel in our 40 lb Winkie (Yo He Ho) costumes; the next second, we were being lifted out of the pit with butts to audience by the other actors in the scene. (However, we jumped up in time to sing the last note...:)

I hurt my wrist (and pride), but it could have been worse. The day before, they had put a safety net under the blacks covering the orchestra, so when we fell, we didn’t land on anyone in the orchestra. (Gary and I didn’t know this, however, until after the fall, which made for a few scary moments.) The effect was more like landing in a hammock, rather than taking out the trombone section.

Once I was found to be intact, it’s become a funny story, an indelible memory, a serious test of how much weight the net could hold and a tribute to my non-litigious bent. I could easily have sued. I have to admit though...I thought briefly of just laying there face down for the remainder of the show, praying that no one would notice the Winkie in the pit.

Comments

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing your embarassing moments. I have to admit, I skipped past the rest of where you discovered you were in the wrong house, while undressing.

But the story of the winkies heading into the orchestra pit by an errant cable was funny. I needed a good chuckle.

[furfairy.livejournal.com]

What wonderful stories! They beat my embarrassing moment.

When I was a cellist in highschool my youth orchestra gave a concert at the now defunct Oakland Cathedral, being broadcast a few hours later on the classical radio station. The chairs' seats were too deap and concave and my legs fell asleep while I was playing. I did not know to what extent they were gone until I tried to stand up during the applause. My legs spasmd, kicking me back several feet, crashing to the ground. My stand partner caught my cello and bow. The conductor flew off the podium to my side and the whole audience gasped. On the broadcast you could hear the thud and gasp.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

We'll do anything to be the center of attention:) Thanks for sharing, Will! It's nice to know that there other people out there who've also had such embarrassing moments. Hehehe!

[abearius.livejournal.com]

Neil, I am glad they did not shoot you. That would have been very bad.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Yes...Very Bad! And also a real possibility.... after all, it is Texas....

[nlotic.livejournal.com]

Thank goodness you didn't take out the trombone section! I know the kind of black net you are refering too. I'm hoping during this years Nutcraker, the Rat King doesn't stumble and take me out.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

I don't like to land on trombone players unless I introduce myself first:)

[bruinwi.livejournal.com]

During my first year of Nutcracker, I had a recurring waking dream of stumbling and falling into the pit. My only hope was that the bass player would be burly, bearded and...friendly.

I have yet to fall into the pit, and so far, no member of the orchestra has been cute enough to make it worth my while.

[nlotic.livejournal.com]

Actually, one of our base players happens to be burly, bearded and friendly. He's a strait bear and you'd have to fall all the way to the neighboring state.

Sometime in December, I'll have to do my tech rehearsal horror stories post.

Good luck as Drosselmeyer, by the way.

[nlotic.livejournal.com]

bass player...typo

[trulygrateful.livejournal.com]

Neil, your story reminds me of every time I went to see "Miss Saigon." The stage was at a very high degree of rake and, during the dance sequence in "The Morning of the Dragon" (where there are a couple male dancers doing backward full-body flips - don't know the 'technical term' - from up- to downstage centre) where I could have sworn that one or both of them were going to wind up in the orchestra pit. My partner, Chip, got to play on that show (on tour and for a little here in NYC) and he said that they were EXCEPTIONALLY TRAINED for that particular sequence.

I do wonder, however, if in the beginning of their career, if they ever undressed in the wrong house... LOL

Hugs!

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

John! I'm beginning to think we have a six degrees of separation moment developing. One of my closest friends in Seattle, my actor friend who hosted me in my recent visit, keeps talking about his friend Chip in NYC. He says we should meet, as we have a similar outlook on life and careers. Does Chip's last name match that of a famous producer/director's? Do you or both of you know David Earl Hart in Seattle? Or Howard Kaye, another friend of mine? I'll be in NYC on Sunday, preparing for "Evita" National Tour rehearsals which begin a week from today.