Hugh Jackman stops play for ringing phone

If only we all had this much courage. Taken from: http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/arts/2009/09/29/1253989898907.html Pity the theatregoer whose persistently ringing mobile phone caused Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig to stop their Broadway show and ask it be answered. The actors, two of Hollywood's biggest stars, were part-way through a preview performance of intense two-hander A Steady Rain in New York last Wednesday when a mobile phone's high-pitched trill became too much. A video of the performance surfaced overnight on celebrity gossip website TMZ.com. It shows Jackman, still in character as a Chicago cop pacing the stage and halfway through a monologue, address the audience member directly, saying: "You wanna get that?" "You wanna get it, grab it, I don't care, grab it, grab your phone, it doesn't matter." Co-star Craig, seated at the time, watched on as the phone kept ringing. Jackman, 40, eventually pleaded, to rousing applause: "Come on just turn it off ... it doesn't matter, unless you got a better story, you want to get up and tell your stories". As the phone kept ringing, 41-year-old Craig relieved his frustrated co-star, asking the audience member to answer their phone. "Can you get that, whoever that is, can you get it," he asked. "We can wait, just get the phone." The phone was eventually silenced. A relieved Craig said: "Denny [Jackman's character's name] took it hard." The audience inside the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre applauded again. Producers of A Steady Rain could not be reached for comment. The interruption occurred during an intense moment in the play, when Jackman's character, a Chicago policeman, reveals haunting memories. A customary loudspeaker announcement reminds theatregoers to turn off their phones. Since the incident, ushers who seat patrons and pass out playbills at Schoenfeld are also instructing patrons to silence their phones. A Steady Rain, a taut drama about the relationship between two policemen, opens on Tuesday for a 12-week run through to December 6. The play by Keith Huff already has proven to be a potent box-office winner, playing to capacity audiences since it began previews on September 10. Jackman won a Tony Award in 2004 for his performance as Peter Allen in the musical The Boy from Oz. Craig, filmdom's latest James Bond, is making his Broadway debut.