Appreciation for Understudies Thread — Page 2

Jonathan Wagner as Dewey was the best understudy I've ever seen.

Also, he wasn't an "understudy" (an alternate, rather), but Michael Luwoye remains the greatest Alexander Hamilton I've seen (and I've seen four of them).

I saw Anthony Sagaria understudy as Fiyero on the WICKED tour in Boston recently. He was great. I've always considered Fiyero a hard part to nail emotionally -- there's a sort of vagueness written into him, between floppy/brainless and other things. Sagaria let Fiyero's unhappiness show, which made the character make more sense to me. It also meant that Elphaba's comment "...or you wouldn't be so unhappy" rang truer than I've seen it ring with other actors.

(Not that I've seen a million Fiyeros; he's the 4th I've seen.)

Updated On: 6/28/17 at 04:14 PM

Call_me_jorge, I have absolutely no idea whether Anthony and Jessica are dating. But, regardless, I give him credit for the acting choices he's making.

Cat Guy said: "Going back in time......

I walked out of the theatre more than happy with the evening, despite the absence of Ms. Wyler. I hope that young lady went on to have a brilliant career; she more than deserved it.



It's nice to see that happen when it does. I saw Rent in 1996 and was so disappointed to learn that a swing was going on for Adam Pascal when I opened my Playbill. I had listened to the OBCR multiple times prior to finally getting to NY to see the show, and am a massive fan to this day of Adam's voice (I love me a great rock tenor). However, that swing turned out to be a then-unknown Norbert Leo Butz. He was fantastic as Roger and immediately made me forget my disappointment - and I was thrilled to see him go on to have such a successful career.

rcwr said: "Nycat63, that is a wonderful Norbert Leo Butz story. And to link him with my previous comments on this thread, I will always wish I'd gotten to see him as Fiyero.



"I wish I hadn't lost the Playbill when I moved a year later! Would be great to have that and the little slip of paper now!

Pearl Sun for Alice Ripley as Diana in the "Next to Normal" tour. She was brilliant.

Jeremy Morse in Waitress. I saw him last night on for Ogie. Fantastic. Saw him back in Boston almost two years ago.

Shoba Narayan as Natasha in The Great Comet is an absolute joy! She lights up the whole stage. I saw her first performance back in March and I couldn't take my eyes off of her.

Updated On: 6/30/17 at 09:47 AM

I had the chance to see three understudies in three different shows this past weekend, and all were great. Josh Breckenridge in Come From Away was the standout. He was so effortless and amazing in that role that I thought I had read wrong and he couldn't be an understudy. His character ended up being my favorite in the show. I was most disappointed about missing Andy Karl in Groundhog Day, so poor Andrew Call unfairly had to do a lot to win me over. He did it though. I was impressed at how well he dealt with all the complicated staging and running around on stage pretty much the entire show, he was funny, he played off Barrett Doss well, and the show was still great fun without Andy Karl. I also saw the understudy for Marya in Great Comet (I'm pretty sure I saw Kennedy Caughell). I liked her equally as well as the original actress on the album, and she seemed quite at home in the role.

Updated On: 6/30/17 at 01:29 PM

Call_me_jorge said: "Aren't Anthony and Jessica dating? That might add to why he had a more unhappiness feel?"

They aren't dating they are just really good friends.

ACL2006 said: "The Come From Away standbys. Just amazed by them to be able to cover 5 roles in that show."

The Standby's at Mean Girls too they cover so many roles.