DETROIT - Charlie Sheen was heckled, booed and eventuallyabandoned by the crowd at his inaugural stage show, with many of theaudience members chanting "refund" and heading for the exits evenbefore the show abruptly ended.
Winning? Not on opening night.
The first stop on Sheen's "My Violent Torpedo of Truth/Defeat isNot an Option" 20-city variety show started Saturday night withthunderous applause but ended 70 minutes later. In between, Sheentried to appease his audience with rants, a rapper and a questionand answer session, ultimately concluding the first show was "anexperiment."
The former "Two and a Half Men" star learned firsthand atDetroit's 5,100-seat Fox Theatre that show business still requires ashow. The debacle called into question the fate of the nascent tour.Some fans already predicted a premature end for the monthlong trek,which was scheduled to resume Sunday in Chicago.
"No way" the show makes it through all the dates, said BobOrlowski, a lawyer from Plymouth, Mich.
"He's not suited for this," said Orlowski, 46. "It wasn't funny."
Sheen's publicist, Larry Solters, declined to comment after theshow. Sheen, 45, reappeared after the house lights went up to thankthe hundreds who remained.
It wasn't clear when Sheen lost the audience, but there were manyawkward moments.
Sheen, known for his wild partying and rampant drug use, said hethought Detroit would be a good place to tell some stories aboutcrack cocaine. The remark prompted loud, immediate boos.
At another point, Sheen showed a short film he wrote, directedand produced years ago called "RPG." He sat in the front row towatch the flick, which starred a much younger Johnny Depp. Again,more boos.
Fans who arrived at the theater - some flying in for the show -said they were hoping to see the increasingly eccentric actordeliver some of the colorful rants that have made him an Internetstar since his ugly falling out with CBS and the producers of "Twoand a Half Men."
They got the ranting. It just wasn't funny.
"Brutal. I expected him to at least entertain a little bit," saidRodney Gagnon, 34, of Windsor, Ontario.
Some saw something between victory and defeat.
Geoff Rezek, 69, a computer consultant from Darien, Conn., whomet Sheen after the concert and received a poster, said the showneeded work, but was salvageable. He believes Sheen is a consummateshowman who took a risk.
"I wouldn't miss the first show. Who knows if there's going to bea second show?" Rezek said, perhaps prophetically. He also bought aticket for Sheen's performance next week in Connecticut.
Sheen has made headlines in recent years as much for his druguse, failed marriages, custody disputes and run-ins with the police,as for his acting. Martin Sheen has compared his son's struggle withaddiction to a cancer patient's struggle for survival.
In August, the wayward star pleaded guilty in Aspen, Colo., tomisdemeanor third-degree assault after a Christmas Day altercationwith his third wife, Brooke Mueller. The couple have since finalizedtheir divorce.
Charlie Sheen's behavior, which included lashing out at "Two anda Half Men" producer Chuck Lorre, finally became too much for WarnerBros. Television, which fired him March 7.
Sheen fired back with a $100 million lawsuit and all-out mediaassault in which he informed the world about his standing as a "rockstar from Mars" with "Adonis DNA."
After one of the sustained booing moments, Sheen tried to calmthe crowd.
"Come on, guys. You paid to see me," he said. "... You gave meyour hard-earned money without knowing what this (expletive) showwas about. I'm here now ... and I'm willing to open up."
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