The Show Must Go On!

Some have attributed the origin of the phrase to Shakespeare’s play Henry V, with his line in Part 1, “Play Out The Play.”  In Disney’s Finding Nemo Jr, the amazing production put on by BDACT’s own Tell-A-Tale Theater youth just a few weeks ago, Dory reacts to unexpected difficulties with the phrase, “Just keep swimming.”  That is simply a rewrite of “The Show Must Go On!”

However, this expression was first coined in circuses in the mid-late 1800s.  The Ringmaster would use this phrase to calm the audience when something went wrong, such as a performer being injured or an animal getting loose. 

That phrase became popular in theater by the end of the 19th century and eventually became a common American expression.  It’s rarely used outside the theater these days, but in the theater it’s a motivating truth, whether or not it’s spoken out loud.  (Believe me, in live theater if it CAN happen, it probably HAS, or WILL, happen at some point.)

Everyone who has spent any time at all in live theater will tell you a story about a time when a show almost didn’t happen.  Let me share with you just one of my own such experiences.

I was stage managing at the Lancaster Performing Arts Center in Lancaster, CA.  A local community theater group was putting on a larger-than-life production of Cats.  The run had gone very well with large enthusiastic audiences.  Then came the Sunday matinée final performance.  Minutes before the curtain was set to go up, a thunderstorm tore through the area and knocked out a power transformer several blocks away.  The theater went dark.

With a huge cast backstage in costume and makeup and over 500 purchased tickets for the performance, we suddenly had no lights, no microphones, no box office computer, and no way to amplify the musicians.  

The building’s emergency generator was producing enough power to dimly light the aisles in the auditorium so people could see to get in and out of their seats.  The storm had passed and there was enough light to create visibility in the windowed lobby, and if we kept the overhead door open backstage light spilled in back there.  I grabbed a few footlights and set them up down stage center.  When I plugged them into the outlet, there wasn’t enough power to light them up. I began to unplug them, one by one. 

Suddenly, with only ONE instrument, we had light downstage!  But not enough to light the many stairways and platforms on the set.  The director told the cast to stay OFF the set (because it wasn’t safe) and simply to sit on the stage.  When it was their turn to dance or sing, get down there in front of that “headlight” and PROJECT your voice into the audience. (Remember, no mics.)

We rolled a piano up close to the stage and used our cellphones to light up the music for the pianist.  The rest of the musicians couldn’t be heard, so we didn’t use them.  The director went out onstage and shouted to the audience that we were going to start the show this way, and hopefully at some point the power would come back on.  He told them that the theater would refund any tickets for those who felt they didn’t get what they paid for.

We performed about 40 minutes of the show in this manner.  Then suddenly, and with lots of electronics popping through the speaker system, the power came back on.  The audience cheered!  The director walked out onstage, this time WITH a mic, and told the audience we needed a few minutes to reset, and then the show would continue.  The rest of the show went off as rehearsed, without a hitch.  The result was a standing ovation from the crowd.

Here’s the kicker: NOT ONE PERSON EVER ASKED FOR THEIR MONEY BACK. People found this performance fascinating and expressed gratitude to the cast and crew for doing the best they could under such dire circumstances.  After the show, the director assembled the large cast, mostly children, telling them THIS is what is meant by, “The Show Must Go On!”

No one can see the future, but we know things may not always go as planned.  Actors are replaced within days of opening night.  A prop or set piece is cobbled together with wire and tape to make it work.  Mics are shared between performers and lights are adjusted when electronic equipment decides it doesn’t want to work the way it was rehearsed.

What a marvelous lesson for us all.  In life, just as in the theater, the unexpected happens.  None of us will have a completely smooth road.  But when things get rocky, we need to roll up our sleeves and implement Plan B. Or Plan C. Or D, E, F, or G. When we do that, we find that some wonderful things can happen for us, and for others. The Show Must Go On…