Profile for inthejungle

and just because I'm a dork and have to complicate things... I am still confused about the concept of a "swing". I recall, again back in the dark ages when I was a kid, that Aileen Quinn was a "swing" orphan before she was cast in the movie as the lead. Swing = she was trained to cover every orphan? The thing I find funny about all this is I recall reading an interview of Andrea McArdle from a few years ago and she was talking about how kids in shows don't just learn their own lines. They lea...

thank you Diva! That helps clear things up : ) So I'm guessing a standby has to rehearse with the rest of the cast (for their respective standby role) though they don't have another role in the show. I'm guessing Jaidyn is Lilla's standby(?) My niece is really excited about Lilla (the way I was about Andrea and Allison back in the 19th Century)... so I am just trying to figure out if there is a way to schedule tix knowing Lilla will perform. Sounds like it's a crapshoot and you get what you get.

because I'm not as well schooled in how professional theater works as many of you old pros are (I just know what I like)... but all the talk about Lilla's standby versus her understudy has me puzzled. So can anyone help me understand? What exactly is the difference between an understudy and a standby for a leading role? I think I recall (yes dating myself) way back in the day that Kristin Vigard was Andrea McArdle's understudy (after being demoted) and then I think Shelley Bruce became Andrea...

http://video.katiecouric.com/services/player/bcpid1778770226001?bckey=AQ~~,AAABWfWhrnk~,FtZztaNxIqTVkSb1ju2Ka7JVAY8r79nB&bctid=1938539050001

henrikegerman, it's so easy to be misunderstood on a message board. I don't think I ever said Jane isn't genuinely sexy. Indeed I think she is. Yowza! youtube vid of one of her songs in NINE. I agree with you that she can be genuinely sexy AND be great at lampooning the sexpot type. The two aren't mutually exclusive in my mind. Heck, wasn't Marilyn Monroe doing just that throughout most of her career (i.e. lampooning sexpot while also being truly sexy)? I'm only commenting on the type of char...

well GavestonPS, I suppose it really does come down to opinion. I've always liked Andrea but I wouldn't think she was funny just because I like her. I will say that it seems as though she had the audience (which was just a reading, with very little time to rehearse) cracking up through her bit. So I'm not alone in my assessment that she can indeed be funny (as you are not alone in yours).

bwayto, I didn't mean to imply that the "forced sexy" thing was Jane Krakowski as a person. I meant to imply that, as a performer, it seems a shtick that she has taken on. And I'm not just talking about 30ROCK. She played similar in Ally McBeal, does the same in those Orange Juice endorsement commercials she does on TV, and she did it (maybe not so famously but I remember it) years ago when she sang the national anthem for a pro baseball game using the same forced sex kitten characteristics, ...

BB you hit the nail on the head about the physicality of the two. What you described is definitely a factor in why I see a similarity. Not just back then but today still. Also (for everyone) keep in mind that Andrea is a good 5-6 years older than Jane, and for women, the 40s is a decade where a lot of changes tend to take place, in body and voice. So we'd have to fast-forward 5-6 years to have a valid comparison. I'm getting too technical but, oh well. By the way, I've never agreed that Andre...

No offense taken, lupone76, but I'm not sure I'd agree that Jane "exudes sex appeal." I see her as more of someone who is putting out a very forced and self-conscious, almost desperate and comical "I'm being sexy, aren't I?" vibe... which sometimes borders on silly, like she's the girl in high school who is trying too hard to get the boys to like her and would sleep with them to make them like her, and she has sort of turned that into a shtick which has been going on since Ally McBeal. It's a...

Am I the only crazy person who sees an intense similarity between these two ladies? Something about their appearances, their voices, their whole "vibe"... Not identical or anything, but very similar. To me it's like they could be sisters or something. They should have brought Andrea on to 30 Rock to play Jane's competitive sister or something. Anyone? (it could just be me)

Andrea wasn't too old/big for the role until the end of her run. She was very small and young looking for her age (still is). She looked about 11 or 12 until she turned 14, 2 months before her Broadway run ended. Then they brought her to London to premiere the west end production (for a month). she was starting to look a bit too old at that point but it didn't matter because by then she was a big star and London theatergoers wanted to see THE famous annie. I was disappointed like you that And...