When things are working right, everyone experiences the electrifying sense that anything can happen.
Animals are a wild card, the joker in the theatrical deck.
Unshackled by stage fright, unfettered by fear of failure, an animal onstage is a potential loose cannon that can explode at any moment, an anarchist with a stink bomb always ready at hand. Spectators know this, which is why there is always a ripple of anticipation that flows through an audience the minute that an animal sets foot onstage. Because they know that at any moment, despite every precaution, with no provocation and little warning, an animal can suddenly do the unexpected. In fact, the unexpected has become so expected when animals are onstage that I know of at least one show that has built it into its script. In the touring production of Will Rogers Follies , there is a dog act at one point in the show, which is then followed by an actress standing in front of the curtain saying some lines.