Theatre Superstitions

[HighWattageKid92]

I said to an actor I know "good luck" and some other actor comes up to me and goes "you *****hole" you dont say good luck to an actor you have to say break a leg. As a techie i say to all the techies in my school good luck and never once thought it would be that big of a deal. Is there a very special "code" of the actors i should know about or does it not matter if a techie says good luck instead of Break a leg?

[elite1trek]

Actors are weird like that. I assume you are familiar with the M****** word.

[icewolf08]

The answer is best stated as follows (from The Producers):

ROGER:
Ah, it's Bialystock and Bloom. Well, gentlemen ... merde!

CARMEN:
Toi, toi, toi

FRANZ:
Hals und Beinbruch!

LEO:
And I just want to wish everybody ... good luck!

CARMEN:
Ahhhhh!

ROGER:
Mr. Bloom, hasn't anyone ever told you...
It's bad luck to say "good luck" on opening night
If you do, I tell you
It is certain by the curtain
You are through!

MAX:
Good luck!

CARMEN:
It's bad luck to say "good luck" on opening night
Once it's said, you are dead
You will get the worst reviews
You've ever read!

MAX:
Good luck!

ROGER:
Even at the Comedie-Francaise,
On the opening night they are scared
"Bon chance, mes amis", no one says
The only word you ever hear is...

ROGER, CARMEN & FRANZ:
Merde!

MAX:
Good luck, good luck, good luck

FRANZ:
It's verboten, vishing "luck" on opening night
Take advice, don't think twice
Or your show will surely end
Up in the Scheiss!

MAX:
Guten lucken.

CARMEN:
At the famous La Scala in Milan On opening night it's a rule
"In boccu lupa" they say with elan
And just for luck they all shout...

ROGER, CARMEN & FRANZ:
"Bah fongool!"

LEO:
I got it!
Now I'll never say "good luck" on opening night
That's the rule, I'm no fool!
What do I say, I beg?

ROGER, CARMEN & FRANZ:
What you say is "break a leg"!

LEO:
Break a leg?

ROGER, CARMEN & FRANZ:
Yes, break a leg!

LEO, ROGER, CARMEN & FRANZ:
If you're clever...

MAX:
Good luck!

LEO, ROGER, CARMEN & FRANZ:
You'll endeavour
To never, never, never, never
Ever, ever, ever say...
...on opening night!

It is kinda like saying "Macbeth" in front of actors. In general most crews are not superstitious, though many believe in ghosts, so crews won't mind, but actors are just plain strange.

[waynehoskins]

That's just standard superstition.

Though really, I don't recall hearing "break a leg" recently (which could be good, since those hard legs are bothersome to repair time and time again), nor do I recall "good luck" either. I think it becomes understood between everyone that we all wish everyone the best, and we just do our jobs. And then make our way after performance to the cast party, where the celebration happens.

But yeah, "good luck" to an actor = bad, as is the M word.

[philhaney]

Originally Posted by HighWattageKid92

I said to an actor I know "good luck" and some other actor comes up to me and goes "you *****hole" you dont say good luck to an actor you have to say break a leg. As a techie i say to all the techies in my school good luck and never once thought it would be that big of a deal. Is there a very special "code" of the actors i should know about or does it not matter if a techie says good luck instead of Break a leg?

Originally Posted by elite1trek

Actors are weird like that. I assume you are familiar with the M****** word.

To some people it does not matter. However, I have found that most if not all of the time actors will get rather angry with you if you do not follow theatre tradition (or superstition). Crew members as well.

Among them are:

- Never say "good luck" instead always say "break a leg." I used to know the origin of this but have forgotten.

- Never say "Macbeth." Always refer to it as "that Scottish play." Actors are very superstitious over this one. I was running sound for a production of "Lion in Winter." Before we opened the house one evening, an actor was rehearsing his lines on stage. He stepped up on a platform, held out a dagger in front of himself, and said "Macbeth." All eight or nine people (techies, actors, etc.) in the house turned in unison said, "What?" Well, that night, the lead went up skipping two pages in act one, a major prop broke, we had a lamp burn out in act two, etc.

- Never whistle on stage unless it is part of the play. The reason for this is that most theatres were in sea ports. They were hemp houses, and they employed sailors ashore to run the rigging. The sailors would whistle commands to each other. So, whistling on stage was an open invitation to have a batten or sandbag fall on your head.

However, as I am the flyman at my venue and I was in the Navy, I whistle on stage from time to time (except when I'm within ear shot of certain crew members as they really don't like it. I figure I can be a self-centered jerk or I can be polite. I choose polite).

- Always leave one lamp on stage on at all times. This is the ghost light.

- Don't break the fourth wall. This means never go from the stage to the house, or vice versa, by going through the invisible wall that would be there if the curtain was solid and the stage was a separate room from the house. Always go through a door backstage that leads into the house or a hallway that goes to the house. At one venue where I work, this means going out the back (stage) door and around to the front of the theatre (and yes, I do it, every time ).

[Pip]

Haha what a great thread! Philhaney - fantastic post!

We had something similar happen to us last year where an actor freaked out when one of us wished a fellow tech good luck on his show... So we started to saying "break a line set" as a tongue-in-cheek way to wish each other good luck/ make fun of the actors at the same time :P

[NickJones]

Hehe, yeah, the main thing to remember about all actors is they are all idiots.

[Sony]

Why this is posted in Lighting and not General Advice is beyond me...

It's just superstition, tell them to get the hell over it...

[Pip]

Originally Posted by Sony

Why this is posted in Lighting and not General Advice is beyond me...

It's just superstition, tell them to get the hell over it...

Haha I wondered that too lol

And yes.

Woah! It was moved *right* as I posted this! xD

[waynehoskins]

Originally Posted by philhaney

- Never say "good luck" instead always say "break a leg." I used to know the origin of this but have forgotten.

I hear it comes from the olden days (vaudeville maybe?) where the theatres had hard legs rather than velour, and in curtain call the flymen would bang the hard legs against the deck to add to the energy of the appaluding crowd. If you did really well, they broke some of the hard legs.

I suppose you could translate it to modern lighting-speak as "blow a lamp" (or "blow an ACL"), for those Bump Button Bonus cues and curtain calls where you fire off stuff.

Or I could have heard completely wrong, though I do believe it was at college I heard that from a reputable source.