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Out, damn spotlight! Tech glitch zaps ‘Macbeth’

So this is what they mean by “double double toil and trouble.”

Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theatre canceled Wednesday night’s performance of “Macbeth” about 20 minutes into the 2-hour, 45-minute production when the lights suddenly came on and an announcer said there was a mechanical problem that would take a couple of minutes to fix.

A few minutes passed and the lights went out again.

But the show didn’t restart.

On came the lights again, with the announcer apologizing and explaining that the mechanical trees that are part of the plot and are supposed to move were stuck and that it would take a little while longer to get them unstuck.

Alas, it was not to be.

When workers couldn’t fix them after several more minutes, the announcer said they didn’t want to delay the audience any longer on Thanksgiving eve and the show was being canceled, with ushers handing out information for refunds and exchanges.

“You’re the first audience this has happened to,” said the announcer.

The audience groaned and started leaving. (The 1200-seat theater was about one-third empty.)

That’s when the show’s star, Ethan Hawke — who plays Macbeth — emerged in costume with a guitar for a goodbye apology.

But his mind was on Shakespeare, not popular tunes.

“I can’t think of any songs,” he said.

Someone from the audience shouted a suggestion, and Hawke started singing “You Belong to Me.”

He got out only a couple of lines before realizing he didn’t know the words and gave up.