On Broadway on Tuesday night, horrified viewers watched the death of decorum.
At the play “Death of a Salesman” at the Hudson Theater on 44th Street, the screams and erratic behavior of a recalcitrant ticket buyer interrupted the performance, forcing “The Wire” star Wendell Pierce to attempt to heckler from the foot of the theater reason to come stage.
“He patiently and heroically begged her to leave peacefully, despite her insistence that she should be violently executed (she ended up being escorted by the police),” Instagram user Rubinbooty said.
The producers said in a statement to The Post, “We are grateful to the entire Hudson Theater team for working together to resolve the situation and resume performance as quickly as possible.”
Others in attendance said the woman, who was wearing a fur coat, behaved bizarrely and disruptively throughout the first act of the three-hour play, harassing those around her. They added that it looked like she and her companion headed for the door after the break.
Instead, she decided that attention needs to be paid – to her.
Police arrived shortly after the woman began her tirade and the audience applauded. Twitter / @robertstein100
“A while later she starts screaming at the top of her lungs that she wasn’t going and if she couldn’t see the rest of the show, neither would anyone else,” said Reddit user Toss182.
The show was stopped, the house lights were turned up and, in a video of the incident posted on Twitter59-year-old Pierce, who plays Willy Loman in Arthur Miller’s classic drama, can be seen conversing with the brash woman who stood in the middle of the front row.
Another ticket buyer claimed the unidentified viewer began demanding her money back, and Pierce suggested the ushers give her cash to quietly end the outbreak.
When that didn’t work, police officers arrived to enthusiastic applause and ended the one-woman show. After the would-be scene thief was removed from the theater, the stalwart Pierce began the act 2 scene from above.
“The real greats of theater are willing to deal with any variable that comes their way during a given performance,” a source told The Post. “On Tuesday, Wendell Pierce certainly proved to be a major at the highest level.”
“Death of a Salesman,” starring Sharon D. Clarke, runs through January 15 at the Hudson.