Idina Menzel: Breaks her ribs because of the trapdoor during Wicked Margaret Hamilton (the first wicked witch from the 1939 movie): suffers serious burning to a trapdoor malfunction Wow it’s like the role of the witch is cursed
I had the opportunity to see Idina as Elphaba three times on B'way (AWESOME!) including her last show in which she suffered the injury. I was in the orchestra about 13 rows back and it was a bit of a surreal experience. You could hear Idina and then the stage hands yelling things like "is there blood?" and poor Jennifer Laura Thompson was stuck out on stage in front of the curtain for several minutes. Crazy. Thankfully, I got to see her about 15 months later in the West End (London) tour!
There was an actual video on RU-vid showing her walk back onstage in her track suit after her accident. The crowd went CRAZY!!! It was a wonderful thing to watch. I think RU-vid pulled it because I can no longer find it.
Read your Playbills. Understudy actors are usually in the show playing another lesser part. So they are there and ready to go on, not withstanding any makeup changes and costume. On days or weeks when in a long run they do the part until Lead returns from time off.
TheBlodgett3 STANDBYS* After That it’s Swings No understudies On broadway The Standbys DONT do anything until Act 2 then they can leave once they leave then it’s the Swings if the Standbys are not In radius
I wish this had captions, I feel like I missed a lot of cute little moments from the way she told the story. And the youtube automated captions are ridiculous!
Loved when she said that Taye said: 'what clothes? she came in a witch's costume?' roflmao. 14 people disliked this?! Did they not like the story? the pictures? or they meant they dislike that this happened to her?
IDK where the audio came from, but the show she's referring to where she got hurt was the matinee performance the day before her finale show. January 8th 2005, I believe :-)
I'm glad she was OK! Kind of ironic, because Margaret Hamilton, who played the original WW in the movie 'The Wizard of Oz', also suffered a very bad injury during filming because of a malfunctioning trapdoor. The first time she disappears in Munchkinland, with the fire and smoke, the lift went down too fast and she caught fire, badly burning her face and hand. She had copper makeup too - very scary!
When Elphaba "dies" at the end of Wicked, a trap door opens under the actress and they are lowered under the stage by a small elevator. This time the elevator was already lowered, and when the trap door opened, she fell all the way down. That's how she got injured.
The trap door is hydraulic, and when she steps on it and the SM calls that cue, the little hydraulic circle she's standing on moves down until she's completely under the stage. When she went to step on the trap door, it was completely gone (so there was a gaping hole in the stage), but she only stepped with her left foot, so she went down sideways, cracked her rib, and put her hands on the stage enough to pull herself up like she said.
I understand Idina's pain, having shattered my back in a bad parachute jump while I was in the Army in 1980. It is something that will plague her the rest of her life. She is 46 now, and I am sure her back is continuing to bother her, getting worse as time goes on.
@sportsgirl000 You lucky Booger!!!!!! The first time I saw wicked was when it came to my town during broadway across America, with Mamie Parris playing Elphaba. She was amazing, and I will always have a place in my heart for her, but I would have LOVED to see her live!!! LUCKY!!!!!!!!!
no she was gonna leave the show anyway but it was the night before her last performance that she got this injury and because of it she couldn't perform the next night but she did show up and sing her finale song, because she couldn't perform the night before cause of the accident, and she got a standing ovation.
I dedicated MY LIFE to that musical. (Not literally) But I love it. I have memorized every song, every dance, and every line. (I plan on playing Galinda when I'm 20 and have had my brodway debew-Lol. I wish I was kidding. I know it souunds arrogant. BUT I HAVE BEEN WORKING MY BUTTT OFF TO BE HER)
I wish you good luck. I have dedicated my life to musical theater, and I would love to be in Wicked but it may or may not happen. Hopefully it will. Im only 13 but ive already been on broadway. (Matilda). So i think im on the right track
Yes it was already down under the stage they have different buttons, for the lifts they have one for when people are getting on from under the stage and one for when they are getting off from the top of the stage, the sub pussed the wrong button so the lift went down faster then Idina had expected and she landed kinda half on the stage and her legs were in the hole.
Does anyone know what happened at the end of the show? Did they stop it or did her understudy go on? Cuz after elphaba dies she still has a small part at the end
A standby went on for her to complete it. They had a intermission type thing inbetween. I actually just read the article, it's right here! :) www.broadway.com/buzz/94044/onstage-injury-forces-early-exit-for-wicked-star-idina-menzel/
@Iloveorliandwicked There's an interview where she says that since she got to be such a big part in the construction of the character they reflected parts of her in Elphaba. I think that's true, they both seem to be strong, talented and intelligent women.
this kind of reminds me of kristin chenoweths last performance, an dhow she was high as a kite on vicaden and she literally came in on a bubble and was all whoo! and she couldnt get her first lines out it was all smooshed together and all kerfloopy and hilariouse. i would have killed to see that, not idina fall through a hole but kristin on meds. lol.
they did stop the show to take her to the er. but apparently everyone stayed for idina's stand in to get into make up and costume to perform the finale song of the show.
@angelannarocks she thought everyone had come to the hospital then she found out they finshed the rest of the show but there was only like 2 minutes left
I know. =] I was just wondering which of her summer gigs it was from! I have several versions of her telling the story, but I was just curious as to which one this was from.
