Charlie Sheen tour continues after opening night debacle

Charlie Sheen was heckled, booed and eventually abandoned by the crowd at his inaugural stage show, with many of the audience members chanting "refund" and heading for the exits even before the show abruptly ended.

Winning? Not on opening night.

The first stop on Sheen's "My Violent Torpedo of Truth/Defeat is Not an Option" 20-city variety show tour started Saturday night in Detroit with thunderous applause but ended 70 minutes later. In between, Sheentried to appease his audience with rants, a rapper and a question and answer session, ultimately concluding the first show was "an experiment."

Now Chicago's audience is wondering what will come of his second show, set for Sunday evening at the historic 3,600-seat Chicago Theatre. The Chicago Theater box office says the show is sold out, though tickets are listed for sale elsewhere online.

The former "Two and a Half Men" star learned firsthand at Detroit's 5,100-seat Fox Theatre that show business still requires a show. The debacle called into question the fate of the nascent tour. Some fans already predicted a premature end for the month-long trek.

"No way" the show makes it through all the dates, said Bob Orlowski, a lawyer from Plymouth, Mich., who watched with six clients in a suite.

"He's not suited for this," said Orlowski, 46. "It wasn't funny."

Sheen's publicist, Larry Solters, declined to comment after the show. Sheen, 45, reappeared after the house lights went up to thank the hundreds who remained.

It wasn't clear when Sheen lost the audience, but there were many awkward moments.

Sheen, known for his wild partying and rampant drug use, said he thought Detroit would be a good place to tell some stories about crack cocaine. The remark prompted loud, immediate boos.

At another point, Sheen showed a short film he wrote, directed and produced years ago called "RPG." He sat in the front row to watch the flick, which starred a much younger Johnny Depp. Again, more boos.

But the show actually started off with a bang.

After a video montage of movie clips — Sheen in "Wall Street" and "Platoon" set to a guitar solo from Sheenfriend Rob Patterson — the star emerged to raucous applause and a standing ovation. The cheering increased as the women he calls his "goddesses" took the stage.

The two women, a former porn star and an actress who live with him, carried placards with the words "War" and "Lock," a reference to Sheen's recent description of himself.

1 | 2

Next