Comments on: Bret Michaels’ Tony Awards mishap: A crash course in live theater

By: scott

scott — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 08:14:46 +0000

Everyone else seemed to make it off stage safely. Bret – too old, too slow, too long ago.

By: Havendelli

Havendelli — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 05:53:16 +0000

WATCHING THAT SCENERY FALL ON BRETT WAS LIKE EATING CHRISTMAS COOKIES, BEING ON CLOUD NINE, OPENING A BIRTHDAY PRESENT TEN DAYS EARLY, AND DRINKING MILK STRAIGHT FROM THE CARTON!!! it was beautiful.
the theatre gods were telling him to get off the stage

By: LD

LD — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 05:41:34 +0000

(continued)
ALL preformers (that includeds Bret) HAVE to watch the stage. This should not have happened, but people are human. Also rigging equipment can fail– were a cable or rope to break scenery could fall much harder and faster than that.
Also everyone should realize that this could have been much worse. So next time you are on stage LISTEN to the technicians (I don’t know how many times I’ve told people to stay slear of something only to have them ignore me!) and watch. If you see something strange tell the crew. If you walk in while they are working make sure they know you are there. And realize that because you see a tech somewhere does not make it okay for you to be there. Stage technicians are trained to deal with this equipment safely, if you are not listen and stay out of the way.

By: LD

LD — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 05:34:48 +0000

Okay to start with NO rigger, stage manager, flyman, or other production pro would EVER try to hit somebody with scenery because they didn’t like their music.
In a situation that complacted there are hundreds of technicians and many failsafes to keep something like this from happening. There should have been at least one spotter who’s job at that time was to make sure nobody was in the way, but anything could have happened– for all we know that person tripped and fell. So yes, the techs had a problem, but this is live theatre. Flown scenery IS DANGEROUS.
Assuming that this was counterweight rigging as was previously stated, one person was moving that scenery by themselves (basically there is a rope that goes from the scenery over a pulley to steel or lead weights that weigh the same as the scenery). Were that tech to have tried to dead stop that he would have flown several feet in the air, tore the skin off his hands, or worse.
(more to come)

By: RiggingGrip

RiggingGrip — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 23:11:57 +0000

The person running that scenery should not get blamed, but I am wondering why he/she was not on walkie and why someone was not watching the situation from the front…able to slow that cue down so Michaels did not get hurt. Unbelievable.That could have been avoided and should have…..no if’s ands or buts.
Performers do spontaneous stuff….. they should have had a plan in place to avoid that…it either did not work for some reason or there was none.
Bottom line you do not drop scenery or props on actors/performers/musicians etc…
I am certain the operator feels really bad about that. Theater riggers are a really knowledgeable crowd, often with years of experience. They take safety very seriously. Maybe someone higher up is more responsible for this poorly planned cue.
Dunno. Good thing he walked away from it at least.

By: big Red

big Red — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 04:12:04 +0000

I heard he has that wig because he was born with the top of his skull missing.

By: big Red

big Red — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 04:09:11 +0000

u guys r a bunch of FAGS!

By: localone

localone — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 22:24:15 +0000

I work at radio city as a stagehand full time. I set up the tonys. This is in no way the flyman’s fault. The fly floor is 100 feet away and the ropes are in the opposite direction. When you are bringing in a counterweighted peice built out of wood and aluminum (atleast a thousand pounds of momentum), you’re not looking over your shoulder to see if bret michaels made his cue, we are concerned about doing our job and bringing the peice in as we did durring the rehersal (which bret wasn’t at). That’s what stage managers are for. regardless of the fact theres no liability on our part, its still great that the next morning durring the loadout that his bandanna was pinned to the board with the caption “the only thing on bret michaels head that wasnt destroyed”

By: Jaz

Jaz — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 19:34:18 +0000

I don’t have a problem with Bret. There was a time and a place for his music, and I suppose when there’s a show about his time and place, he can pop up again. But really, people. Lighten up. When I walk into things at work I get laughed at and mocked constantly. The stagehands are to blame, his hat is to blame (that thing was big enough for him to see coming if it weren’t for that giant hat). Everyone’s okay except for some bruised ego’s. Let people laugh.

By: Ezeliel

Ezeliel — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 04:50:04 +0000

Of course it’s funny. We don’t get to see a complete stage fall over a lip sync singer LOL