As Starry Crowd Watches, Machinal Stops and Starts Over Again on Opening Night

A mechanical failure turned the 95-minute intermissionless drama Machinal into a three-hour event on opening night. As celeb guests like Alec Baldwin, Alan Cumming and Susan Sarandon watched, the performance was stopped after 20 minutes, when Es Devlin’s complicated set failed to work. Amazingly, after the issue was fixed, the entire show was restarted again for the starry crowd.

The 7PM performance finally ended shortly after 10PM, at which point the cast, led by Golden Globe nominee Rebecca Hall, headed off to the party to celebrate. And, presumably, have some stiff drinks.