Alternates and understudies who turn out to be great (Taylor Trensch)

I recently caught Curious Incident and Taylor Trensch was the lead. I keep reading that Sharp is amazing and has a great chance for some Tony love. But I was absolutely floored by Trensch's work. As I just wrote on another thread, I work every once in a while at a place that serves kids who are autistic, and Trensch reminded me a LOT of those kids. He nailed the role without overdoing mannerisms or relying on the cliches about how people feel autistic people behave. I haven't seen Sharp's work and I would love to.

This had me thinking about Jessica Phillips whom I saw in Next to Normal (I tried seeing Alice Ripley twice but she was out twice--Pearl Sun played the role the second time, on the tour) and Phillips was incredible in the lead role. She did a great job surprising you as Diana--she seems perfectly "normal" but then she startles you with her actions.

Have you had great experiences with alternates or understudies who turned out to be amazing? Thank you in advance for your answers.

I think people should not see it as a bother to see an understudy, but a treat. You are one of the few people that get to see that person in the role and I've never seen an understudy that was anything but fabulous except in high school productions.

I would say about 75% of the understudies I have seen were wonderful. Likely more. I've seldom been disappointed.


Same here. I often go with the purpose of seeing an understudy, but even disregarding that, I can't think of more than a small percentage who either weren't very good or just seemed like someone's dismissive stereotype of an understudy. Most of the time, I'm more than pleased.

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Saw Trensch on one of his nights and was floored as well. Would have live to see Jenn Collela in If/Then last week


Saw Adam Lambert as Fiyero in Wicked in LA and was really impressed (before he was on Idol). Mike Faist as Jack Kelly in Newsies was a great surprise. Agree with many. An understudy can be a great surprise and I am usually very impressed

Ariana DeBose danced, sang, and acted circles around Ciara Renee's Leading Player and should have been given the role full time.

UNINTENDED DUPLICATE

Updated On: 12/19/14 at 07:43 PM

No, I didn't intend to post that four times; it was a glitch.

Updated On: 12/19/14 at 07:43 PM

I can never say enough good things about Donna Vivino's Elphaba. If I'm not mistaken, she was the standby on broadway for 3 years and covered Teal Wicks, Jackie Burns, and Lindsay Mendez. A lot of people who have seen her agree (including some of the staff at the Gershwin) that she might be the strongest Elphaba the broadway production has had. She could sing and riff like nobody's business, her acting was beautiful, and she has some of the clearest diction I've ever heard on stage. I never understood why she never became principal Elphaba, but I heard it was her choice not to.

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This summer, Elizabeth Welch went on for Sierra Boggess as Christine when I went to see Phantom. I found Welch's voice a lot more pleasing than Boggess' anyways.

A few years ago, there was an understudy on for Fiyero who I thought was simply fantastic; I unfortunately can't remember his name.

Also this summer, I got to see Sam Lips as Prince Topher in Cinderella. Wonderful voice!

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Updated On: 12/19/14 at 08:33 PM

Vicki Noon on for Teal Wicks as Elphaba in Wicked (in SF) - she was phenomenal!

Gentleman's Guide fans should make a point to see what Greg Jackson does with the D'Ysquith Family. He's wonderful.

Does anyone have a playbill that lists the current cast list/understudies for the Chicago national tour?

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Looking back over lists of shows I've seen, I'm realizing that I've seen surprisingly few understudies and alternates. That, said here are some good ones:

Matthew James Thomas as Peter Parker/Spider-Man
Shawn Taylor-Corbett as Usnavi in In The Heights (on tour)
Catherine Walker as Phoebe in Gentleman's Guide
Samantha Shafer as Adrian in Rocky