In the moment, it seemed like a spectacular piece of realism on the part of the stage crew behind Rent, the Pulitzer- and Tony-winning musical about life in New York’s bohemian East Village during the HIV/AIDS crisis. On a Thursday evening, more than halfway through its two-week run, Missoula Community Theater’s production of the beloved show was approaching the thunderous end of its first act.
Police were cracking down on a homeless encampment. The entire cast and chorus swirled in waves across the stage, singing “La Vie Boheme,” verses stacked on top of each other, broken by bursts of unified choruses. The stage smoke—present throughout the act—grew thicker. And right then, just when Mark, one of the principal characters, delivered the familiar line, “The riot continues. The Christmas tree goes up in flames…” the emergency lights of the MCT Performing Arts Center’s fire alarm began strobing and a recorded voice repeated the message: There was a fire in the building, and it was time to head for the nearest exit. The crowd was rapt, waiting for the characters to evacuate their imaginary building to escape the imaginary fire.
And then a production member stepped to the front of the stage to announce that it was actually us, the audience, who had to evacuate. The alarm was not part of the show. The fire department was on its way. Even then it was easy to believe this was just a clever segue into intermission. In fact, some of us didn’t believe it was real until we were outside in the parking lot and the fire trucks showed up with firefighters and gear that were disappointingly not actors and props.
It turns out there never was a fire, just too much of the water-based vapor used to simulate smoke from what was supposed to be an illegal woodstove inside the fictional building, which triggered the nonfictional theater’s alarm sensors, according to Carlyn Schulzke, MCT’s Development Director and Rent chorus member. Of the second act, which was performed about an hour behind schedule to roughly two-thirds of the original, sold-out crowd, Schulzke indicated the performance was quite strong and spirited in appreciation of those who stuck out the wait.
“That’s live theater,” she said. “We go with it.”
