Joshua Henry, the star of The Wrong Man musical currently showing in New York, reportedly ripped a phone out of an audience member’s hand, while continuing to sing and “without slipping out of character”.
The Tony-nominated actor saw someone in the front row using their phone and “snatched it right out of the fan’s hands, mid-song, without slipping out of character or missing a beat, to wild applause from the rest of the audience,” a source told Page Six.
A Broadway insider who happened to be watching the show at the MCC Theatre added: “It looked like it was perfectly choreographed… He’s like an athletic Patti LuPone.”
Legendary musical actor LuPone famously grabbed a phone from a fan’s hands and walked offstage with it when she saw them texting during Shows for Days in 2015.
In this case, according to Page Six, Henry returned the confiscated phone to its rightful owner after the performance.
New York Times theatre writer Michael Paulson, who was in the crowd, tweeted of the incident: “A patron was using a phone in the front row — texting? taping? — and Henry seized the phone (while singing) and tossed it under the risers without missing a beat. The crowd applauded.”
The Wrong Man, directed by Hamilton Tony winner Thomas Kail, is set in Reno, Nevada, and follows a man who is framed for murder after being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
