A Medical Emergency Caused Chaos At A Performance Of “Hamilton” In San Francisco

According to CBS News, a medical emergency during a performance of uber-musical Hamilton last night in San Francisco resulted in sheer chaos and people getting hurt when it was thought to be due to a shooting. Fer chrissakes, people can’t even fall asleep at the theater anymore without a stampede and bloodshed.

An unlucky chain of events began when a woman in the audience had an unidentified medical emergency close to when fake gunshots were fired during the show. Because we live in a country where someone randomly shooting people in public has become what feels like a daily occurrence, the audience reacted badly and began to “self-evacuate.” That sounds like something toilet-y but no, it means when people get freaked out and begin hurtling to the exits.

During a medical event at the SHN Orpheum Theatre this evening an audience member activated the theater's fire pull station. The audience and cast followed the life/safety system's automatic announcement and exited the theater.

— SHN: Broadway in San Francisco (@shnsf) February 16, 2019

Apparently, it was a lot less tranquil of an exit as the Orpheum Theatre tweeted it out to be.

CBS Sacramento reporter Shirin Rajee was watching the show at the Orpheum Theatre when people ducked and ran out of the theater, with at least one person yelling “gun,” she reported.

It was so bad that the people outside were “jumping in police patrol cars, fearing an active shooter.” Can you blame them? There’s probably bulletproof glass, kevlar vests and a brave K9 unit to comfort you in there.

Three people suffered non-life threatening injuries during the incident. The woman with the medical emergency is in the hospital in critical condition.

Here’s the cast being allowed back into the theater.

Hamilton cast walking back to the theater after a medical emergency panicked our audience. #hamilton #shnsf #HamiltonSF pic.twitter.com/P1E7BH84hN

— Sam (@sam1sf) February 16, 2019

Multi-award winning and reportedly life-changing (I haven’t seen it – I’m poor) musical Hamilton is the same show that Captain Conversion Therapy (U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence) was booed at in NYC right after the 2016 election. So shit gets real at Hamilton. Maybe it’s time I took out some more student loans to afford a ticket because it sounds like a multi-media extravaganza of extreme theater that sometimes involves the audience and that means I won’t fall asleep during it.

Pic: YouTube