Tuesday night on Broadway, appalled audience members watched the death of decorum.
At the play “Death of a Salesman” at the Hudson Theatre on 44th Street, an unruly ticket buyer’s shouts and erratic behavior interrupted the performance, forcing star Wendell Pierce of “The Wire” to try to reason with the heckler from the foot of the stage.
“He patiently & heroically pleaded with her to leave peacefully despite her insistence that she should be carried out forcefully (she was eventually escorted out by police),” said Instagram user Rubinbooty.
The producers said in a statement to The Post: “We’re grateful to the entire team at the Hudson Theatre for working together to resolve the situation and resume the performance as quickly as possible.”
Others in attendance said the woman, wearing a fur coat, was acting bizarrely and disruptively throughout Act 1 of the three-hour play, bothering those around her. They added it appeared as though she and her companion were headed for the door after intermission.
Instead, she decided attention must be paid — to her.
“A little while later she starts screaming at the top of her lungs that she wasn’t leaving 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 brought up and, in a video of the incident posted on Twitter, 59-year-old Pierce, who plays Willy Loman in Arthur Miller’s classic drama, can be seen speaking to the brazen woman who was standing in the middle of the front row.
Another ticket buyer claimed the unknown audience member started demanding her money back and that Pierce suggested that the ushers give her cash to calmly end the outburst.
When that didn’t work, cops arrived on the scene to enthusiastic applause, putting an end to the one-woman-show. Once the wannabe diva was removed from the theater, the unshaken Pierce began the Act 2 scene from the top.
“The true greats of the theater are prepared to handle any variable that comes their way during any given performance,” a source told The Post. “On Tuesday, Wendell Pierce certainly proved himself a great of the highest order.”
“Death of a Salesman,” also starring Sharon D. Clarke, runs at the Hudson through Jan. 15.
