NEW YORK - Hugh Jackman knows how to stop the show. He did it recently when a cell phone call interrupted a preview performance of "A Steady Rain," the Broadway play that stars Jackman and Daniel Craig. The moment captured on an amateur video shown by the TMZ.com Web site appears to have been recorded by someone in the audience.
It shows Jackman breaking character to tell the owner of the ringing cell phone, "You want to get that?" as the audience erupts in cheers. As the ringing persists, Jackman pleads: "Come on, just turn it off." He then paces the stage of the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, waits about a minute for the ringing to stop and the play resumes.
Producers of "A Steady Rain" declined to comment.
The interruption occurred during an intense moment in the play, when Jackman's character, a Chicago policeman, reveals haunting memories. A customary loudspeaker announcement reminds theatergoers to turn off their phones. Since the incident, ushers who seat patrons and pass out playbills at Schoenfeld are also instructing patrons to silence their phones.
"A Steady Rain," a taut drama about the relationship between two policemen, opens Tuesday for a limited engagement through Dec. 6. The play by Keith Huff already has proven to be a potent box-office winner, playing to capacity audiences since it began previews on Sept. 10.
Jackman won a Tony Award in 2004 for his performance as Peter Allen in the musical "The Boy from Oz." Craig, filmdom's latest James Bond, is making his Broadway debut.
James Bond (played recently by Daniel Craig) and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) are tough guys, but apparently not intimidating enough to silence a
cell phone. In a recent production of
Hugh Jackman and
Daniel Craig's 'A Steady Rain' on Broadway, an audience member's phone began ringing, prompting Jackman (without missing a beat or dropping character), to ask the interrupter if they'd like to pick up (video embedded above). As it continued ringing, Jackman even invited the person on stage "if they want to get up and tell their story." Later, another call occurred, and this time Craig retorted.
Despite the rude interjection, it should be noted that both Craig and Jackman -- a Brit and an Aussie, respectively -- kept their accents, and tempers, in check. Also, word to the wise: for the price of a ticket to a sold-out, critically acclaimed show (like 'A Steady Rain'), it's not just the actors that will be annoyed by the cell phone faux pas, but the audience, as well. At least it wasn't a duck. [From:
Huffington Post and
TMZ]
Is there anything more annoying than a cell phone ringing in the middle of a movie theater? Yes, there is! A cell phone ringing in the middle of a live play! As you undoubtedly know,
Hugh Jackman and
Daniel Craig are currently treading the boards in
A Steady Rain, a gritty Chicago cop drama that just kicked off on Broadway. Now, when you decide to spend the money and see a once-in-a-lifetime performance, you can either give it your full intention and see how genius creates a legend, or you can leave your cell phone on so your friends can call you and find out if Craig's wearing his Bond swimtrunks.
Some jackass decided to do the latter. Perhaps he or she had a death wish to be ripped apart by the bulging muscles that make up Craig and Jackman, or maybe they thought no one would notice if it kept ringing, and ringing, and ringing. Luckily for the idiot, Jackman was a class act. Luckily for the audience, he didn't even break character and practically made it part of the performance. (I would have preferred seeing Craig and Jackman rip the person apart with their bare hands, but I like violence, and the possibility that one or both would have torn their shirt off in doing so.) Check out the video below the jump for a good laugh.
I'd kill to see this play (Gritty 1970s cop drama! Chicago! Hugh Jackman! It's all of my favorite things!) and the fact that some moron has the time, access, and money to just ruin it with a cell phone really irks me. I'm thinking it might be time to require phones be coat-checked before entering a theater, be it at your multiplex or on the Great White Way, because it seems few can be trusted to actually turn them off.
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In character, I've picked up a prop dropped accidentally by a fellow cast during a show.
In character, I've forced opened the set's jammed door - that was not supposed to be jammed - during a show.
But I've never tried - in character - to reprimand a senseless audience who allow his/her mobile to ring during a show.
I'm sure I'll have plenty of opportunity to try this out in future productions because there are just too many self-centred people living amongst us.
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