A closer look
If you think modern technical glitches are bad, wait until you hear about the 1930 premiere of The New Babylon. Dmitri Shostakovich wrote a brilliantly complex, rapid-fire score to sync perfectly with the silent film's editing. The problem? The theater hired a bargain-bin orchestra that decided to simply sight-read it live. The musicians instantly got hopelessly lost, resulting in two hours of absolute, uncoordinated shrieking brass that drowned out the movie and profoundly enraged the audience.
