So . @ksabato and I just saw opening night of #AChristmasCarol at the . @GoodmanTheatre, starring the one, the only Larry Yando.

And in the scene transition from Ghost of Christmas Future to him waking up in the morning, one of his shoes fell off.

The set rolled forward ONTO THE SHOE, which got STUCK UNDER IT and BROKE the luan facing on the front!

So the whole scene there’s this big ass crack in the front of the set and this goddamn brown dress shoe center stage just. Chilling.

Yando sees it, but because it’s in a space that’s “outside” and his character is “inside” doesn’t do anything.

A group of musicians comes onstage and the horn player nobly tries to pick it up but it won’t budge.

The scene goes on.
They don’t call the cue for the railing that’s supposed to come up to indicate the balcony outside Scrooge’s bedroom (because the shoe is in the way).

The set rolls out on the next scene change. Yando looks at the shoe like “the fuck is this shoe doing in the middle of the road?” then TOSSES UPSTAGE IT OVER HIS SHOULDER to laughter and TUMULTUOUS applause.

And the drop for the next scene comes down

DIRECTLY
ONTO
THE SHOE

LATER ON A SCRIM CAME DOWN
ALSO ON THE SHOE

IT WAS THERE THROUGH CURTAIN CALL! THE CURTAIN CLOSED AND IT WAS STILL THERE.

ONE OF THE GREATEST ACTORS OF OUR TIME WAS UPSTAGED IN ONE OF HIS SIGNATURE LEADING ROLES
BY A GODDAMN SHOE.

IT WAS INCREDIBLE.

Honestly between my work in theatre and my work as a critic I have seen a lot of wild shit go wrong in live theatre and this is HANDS-DOWN THE BEST.

I nominate Larry Yando’s Shoe for a Special Jeff award. The comedy! The suspense! The metatheatrical commentary! One of the greatest performances of the season!

I WILL be mentioning #TheShoe in my review (although probably not nearly as extensively as I did here lol). God bless us, every shoe.