So, it’s the final number of "The Full Monty".  The six guys are onstage in their security guard uniforms.  The rest of the cast (myself included) is peppered throughout the audience.  Everyone is whooping and hollering.  It’s the big moment of the show.

As choreographed, Ethan (played with a charming denseness by Scott Terrill) drops his security guard hat, and Harold (Scott Stevens) kicks it across the stage.  Ethan, as he does every night, chases it.

Except — the hat sails in to the orchestra pit.  And the orchestra is playing away.  They probably don’t know it fell in there.

Not a big deal, until you realize that the security guard "hat" is the last piece of clothing that the guys remove.  It’s strategically placed in front of the, um, "monty", until the final note of the final number (see picture — not from our production — above).  And now, Scott Terrill has no hat!

The look on Scott’s face as he watched the hat sail over the lip of the stage was priceless.  We all knew, in three minutes, he would either have to be extremely clever, or extremely exposed.

I darted from the audience and ran backstage, intending to recover the hat from the orchestra pit and somehow get it to Scott.  Emily did the same.

Fortunately, some quick-thinking backstage person (who deserves to have his/her name mentioned, but whose identity remains unknown to me) grabbed my policeman’s hat from the dressing room (I play a policeman at one point in the show), and surruptitiously got it to Scott onstage.

The number goes off without a hitch.  The audience goes nuts, probably not even aware that there was a problem.

I love live theatre.