[Update Below] We didn't think bad theater behavior could get much worse than having a cellphone go off in the middle of a play but clearly we weren't thinking, or drinking, hard enough. Because last night a theatergoer vomited over the balcony and into the orchestra section during a performance of the new Paul Rudd play Grace. Still, the show must go on!

Theatergoer Lori Schwab, who was in the audience last night, sent us this account of the incident (the producers won't comment on it, but we have independently confirmed it happened):

Last night I was at the Cort Theater seeing the play Grace. In the middle of the show there was quite the ruckus. After hearing a loud gasp several people got up and left the theater, followed by several more. During all of this the actors carried on as best they could. At the end of the show, the cast came out for curtain calls, and just before making their call for $$ for Actors Equity fights Aids fund, Paul Rudd told us that someone in the balcony had vomited onto those in the orchestra.

What we want to know is how Rudd and co-stars Michael Shannon, Kate Arrington and Ed Asner decided who got to make that amazing announcement. Rock, scissors, paper? Regarding the reason for the vom, we hear the ralpher was inebriated (as opposed to not responding well to the show's use of flashing lights). Must have been some pre-show drink.

Meanwhile, we never want to hear another word from people complaining about Spider-Man jizzing on webbing audiences in his Broadway show.

Update: Daily Intel also had a tipster in the audience who reports the vomiting man appeared to have been elderly, not drunk, and may have passed out before throwing up. Apparently he "fell forward so that he was leaning/hanging over the balcony. Then as people were trying to get him back up and into his seat, he threw up all over the people below him in the orchestra and then collapsed on the floor of the balcony." Further, "The stench of the vomit was a little overwhelming, and many people were noticeably uncomfortable, and of course everyone who was vomited on left." Still, their tipster also confirms that:

The actors kept it together, but Paul Rudd was trying to see what was going on during it all, and Michael Shannon was noticeably agitated by what was happening and started speaking much louder than before while staring at the huge group in the balcony. At the end of the show, they all made jokes about it, Paul Rudd saying how as an actor being able to move people to tears or to laughter is amazing but moving them to puking is a whole different league. Then after the show, at the stage door, the actors said how they almost stopped the show because they didn't know the severity of the situation.

Update 2: And here is another report from the theatrical frontlines.