Broadway Understudies

[kyl3fong2]

Posted: 9/3/12 at 11:31pm

Is it common for Broadway understudies to sing songs in lower keys? I know Mike Faist sings in a lower key for "Santa Fe" than Jeremy/Corey do in Newsies. But what other understudies have you seen perform numbers in a different key?

[bwaylvsong]

Posted: 9/3/12 at 11:38pm

I've never heard of that ever happening.

[shrekster224]

Posted: 9/3/12 at 11:54pm

Um, Mike Faist sang all of the original keys. You can hear his version pretty easily.

I don't think someone would understudy a track if they couldn't perform it as written. I'm not saying that if they don't add fancy riffs they shouldn't be in the role.

This would be different though for swings, because if a swing was a baritone and all of his first cover tracks sang the lower vocal parts and he for some reason is the only option to go on for the highest tenor in the ensemble, adjustments would probably be made. This is just logic to why getting cast in shows is hard. You have to be right for everything besides having the talent.

[Quiche2]

Posted: 9/4/12 at 8:09am

I agree with Shrekster, if you can't do a song as written, you shouldn't be there. But understudies sometimes add there own little crap to make it sound cool, like Donna Vivino has a few. (At least she did when I saw her.) At the end of "The Wizard and I" she does a huge slur on the last "and IIIIiiiiiiiii" and also in "Defying Gravity" she did a big slur on the last note. But she sang everything in key.