So I had something weird happen last night. It's Last Night of Ballyhoo, an esnemble cast. I couldn't figure out the logical order to bring people out and they all wind up around a table with candles at the end anyway. So we just go to dark for five seconds or so, start the music, bring up the light and everyone holds hands and takes two bows together, they acknowledge the board operators and take one more bow if everyone is still clapping, then get off the stage.

Last night all that happened, they went back to the dressing room and the audience kept clapping and yelling and after a while started getting louder like at a rock concert. It wasn't a standing ovation but it just kept going on.

Finally, I went backstage and told them they needed to come back out but they were already starting to get undressed. I had the one cast member who was still dressed go out--he thanked the audience and explained that we really apprecated it but people had started to change out of costumes already.

I don't have the widest experience but I've never seen that before. I'm wondering if I should restructure the bows to bring people forward one, two, three at a time, whatever to let people applaud longer. Or maybe that was just a one night thing.

In my thinking, the 'rag calls' are controled by your SM, who gages the need for the amount of 'Rag Calls', after the rehearsed bows. The cast should not evaporate, untill the SM clears them to do so.

Originally posted by tristanrobin   the sound of crickets.

That can make for a rather sticky wicket chaps.