re: Raul Esparaza Understudy?
re: Raul Esparaza Understudy?
#1Raul Esparaza Understudy?
Posted: 12/3/06 at 11:11pmDoes Raul have an understudy? Unless I'm totally missing something on the website, he doesn't have one listed and I find that impossible to believe. I thought he would HAVE to have a standby. Anyone know any details?
Some people paint, some people sew, I meddle.
#1re: Raul Esparaza Understudy?
Posted: 12/3/06 at 11:12pm
Fred Rose, who plays David, is listed in the Playbill as the stand-by for Bobby. Dunno why he's not listed on the website, but yes, Raúl does have to have one.
PS, it's Esparza. 
#2re: Raul Esparza Understudy?
Posted: 12/3/06 at 11:14pm
Thank you very much!
(For the life of me, I can never remember how to spell his name or how to pronounce it.)
Some people paint, some people sew, I meddle.
CurtainPullDowner
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/4/04
#3re: Raul Esparza Understudy?
Posted: 12/3/06 at 11:16pm
oh no
you're gonna start a phantom
When is Fred Rose going on Rant!
Updated On: 12/4/06 at 11:16 PM
#4re: Raul Esparza Understudy?
Posted: 12/3/06 at 11:17pm
Ra-UL (not like towel). Last name is exactly as it looks. Es-PAR-za.
There are no planned dates for Fred to go on anywhere in the near future. I wouldn't expect him to for quite a while.
snl89
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/4/05
#5re: Raul Esparza Understudy?
Posted: 12/3/06 at 11:19pm^tahaha, "not like towel", I love it :P
I don't need a life that's normal. That's way too far away. But something next to normal would be okay. Something next to normal is what I'd like to try. Close enough to normal to get by.
#6re: Raul Esparza Understudy?
Posted: 12/3/06 at 11:40pmYou know, "Raoul" --> sounds like "towel." Not the same as Raúl.
snl89
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/4/05
#7re: Raul Esparza Understudy?
Posted: 12/3/06 at 11:48pm
oooh, I actually totally forgot that Raoul IS a name! haha, that's true 
the towel thing though is clever hehe
I never really thought of the possibility that it could be pronounced like Raoul...cause thats a different name with a different spelling.. but then again I also could never see how anyone would thing "idina" would be pronounded like EYEdina. lol
I don't need a life that's normal. That's way too far away. But something next to normal would be okay. Something next to normal is what I'd like to try. Close enough to normal to get by.
#8re: Raul Esparza Understudy?
Posted: 12/3/06 at 11:50pmSuddenly turns out that if Fred ever play the role, it will be a very rare night and good for those who could watch it.
Somebody sit in my chair, and ruin my sleep, and make me aware of being alive!
CurtainPullDowner
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/4/04
#9re: Raul Esparza Understudy?
Posted: 12/3/06 at 11:52pm
Did Fred go on "out of town"?
He's Hot Lookin'
#10re: Raul Esparza Understudy?
Posted: 12/3/06 at 11:54pm
"Winning a Tony this year is like winning Best Attendance in third grade: no one will care but the winner and their mom."
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
#11re: Raul Esparza Understudy?
Posted: 12/3/06 at 11:56pm
I don't believe he did, CPD. He is adorable, though.
The character's name in POTO is Raoul.
LOL, Foster.
CurtainPullDowner
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/4/04
#12re: Raul Esparza Understudy?
Posted: 12/3/06 at 11:57pm
who ate Raul?
Loved that movie.
but the musical never went very far.
SDav 10495
Broadway Star Joined: 7/21/06
#13re: Raul Esparza Understudy?
Posted: 12/3/06 at 11:59pm
As funny as it is that this has become a thread on how to pronounce "Raúl", I am compelled to share my thoughts. I've always thought that "Raúl" and "Raoul" were pronounced pretty much the same say: Ra-UL (with "Raúl" perhaps having a bit more of a Latin kick). I figured (at the risk of sounding cutesy and rhyming) that Charles Hart was responsible for people thinking "Raoul" sounded like "towel" when he had to squeeze the name into one, yes, "vowel" (when writing the lyrics for Phantom). Then again, I could be wrong...I'm just wondering how many people here know the "towel-Raoul" pronunciation from Phantom.
"If there is going to be a restoration fee, there should also be a Renaissance fee, a Middle Ages fee and a Dark Ages fee. Someone must have men in the back room making up names, euphemisms for profit."
(Emanuel Azenberg)
#14re: Raul Esparza Understudy?
Posted: 12/4/06 at 12:05amIt seems like the "Raoul" version can go either way, but the "Raúl" spelling only has one correct pronounciation? I mean, Emmy Rossum spends the entire Phantom movie calling him Raoul-like-towel (or owl). It sounds like she's growling at him! But I've heard it in other places, too. I was under the impression it depended on language the name was derived from. The accent in the Latin version makes it so that any other way would be incorrect.
Auggie27
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/13/03
#15re: Raul Esparza Understudy?
Posted: 12/4/06 at 8:42am
I saw this show from the third row, and thought Fred looked startlingly like a younger ex Gov. James McGreevey (well, okay, on a good day--after two rest stop visits). He sings nicely, clearly.
And he's cute, but he's more in the boyish mold of previous Roberts. There's something about Esparza's intensity and brooding core -- and much noted vulnerability -- that defines this entre production, more than the instrument toting Doyle conceit. I think if he's out, audiences will truly see a different show.
"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling
#16re: Raul Esparza Understudy?
Posted: 12/4/06 at 10:27am
He sort of reminds me of Orlando Bloom. A little. I might be crazy.
I'd see the show without Esparza for the sake of sheer curiousity, but I have trouble imagining it without him.
Perfectly Marvelous
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/16/06
#17re: Raul Esparza Understudy?
Posted: 12/4/06 at 10:36am
I'm glad Raul isn't going anywhere too soon. :)
My family and I may go to New York after Christmas. My mom wanted to know what show I wanted to see and I said, "The revival of Company." Mainly because of Raul, who I think has wonderful voice, so I'd love to see him live.
My dad may not be interested, but he can stay in the hotel room for all I care.
"I am and always will be the optimist. The hoper of far-flung hopes and dreamer of improbable dreams." - Doctor Who
"Yes, the brutalities of progress are called revolutions. When they are over, men recognize that the human race has been harshly treated but it has moved forward." - Les Miserables
IssaMe
Broadway Star Joined: 5/15/03
#19re: Raul Esparza Understudy?
Posted: 12/4/06 at 1:03pmTechnically a stand-by; someone who will exclusively cover Bobby, and not create that ripple effect that putting Fred on would cause. For that reason, I don't fully understand why Fred is listed as the "stand-by" and not the "understudy."
#20re: Raul Esparza Understudy?
Posted: 12/4/06 at 4:55pmI think is because understudies are for ensembles. Since there's no ensemble, a cast who could replace another cast will be called stand-by. This is my logic, may be it's not true, i don't know.
Somebody sit in my chair, and ruin my sleep, and make me aware of being alive!
#21re: Raul Esparza Understudy?
Posted: 12/4/06 at 4:56pmThat sounds feasible. Every time I think I understand the distinction, there's another technicality.
#22re: Raul Esparza Understudy?
Posted: 12/4/06 at 5:32pmStandbys are understudies; they're cast solely to cover the lead role, but unlike understudies, they usually aren't playing another role in the show. Don't kill me for the comparison but it's like, Eden Espinosa was the original standby for Idina Menzel, but Kristy Cates was the understudy. Krisy, however, had a role in the ensemble, but Eden didn't.
Like a firework unexploded
Wanting life but never knowing how
Wanting life but never knowing how
#23re: Raul Esparza Understudy?
Posted: 12/4/06 at 6:18pm
Who's on first?
Em, I agree about the likeness to Orlando Bloom.
"We don't value the lily less for not being made of flint and built to last. Life's bounty is in it's flow, later is too late. Where is the song when it's been sung, the dance when it's been danced? It's only we humans who want to own the future too."
- Tom Stoppard, Shipwreck
#24re: Raul Esparza Understudy?
Posted: 12/4/06 at 6:21pmEm, you're not crazy. Fred reminds me of Orlando Bloom, too.
The choice may have been mistaken, The choosing was not... "Every day has the potential to be the greatest day of your life." - Lin-Manuel Miranda
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