Bryce Ryness

I think a Star Is Born moment was lost on RENT last night. I saw Bryce in the ensemble and wonder what would have happened if they rehearsed him Sunday and put him in the lead Sunday night. I'm pretty sure he would have nailed it and that story would have gotten a lot of attention.

It would have been a blow to Brennin and his hard work, but Show Biz ain't always kind.

It's definitely not Easy, but it has been done many, many times in "live" Theatre.

There just wasn't time. Or someone to take Ryness' track. Had this happenws on Friday, I'm sure Ryness or someone else could have rehearsed on Saturday and did a "put in" early Sunday.

Apparently the injury happened that afternoon, about 5 hours before the start of the filming. It could have been even more dangerous for someone else to step in without proper rehearsals -- did you see that labyrinth of a set??

Now, if this had happened at 9am or sometime the day before? Completely different story.

While I agree with the arguments that an understudy should have been planned for, this was absolutely NOT a situation where you could just throw someone in last minute. It doesn't matter if they've played Roger on stage a thousand times and can do the role in their sleep. This required months of planning and rehearsal and choreography to deal with the scale of the set, the movement of the cameras, the movement of bodies, the audience, etc.

SomethingPeculiar said: Now, if this had happened at 9am or sometime the day before? Completely different story."

It did happen the day before. It happened at the Final Dress Rehearsal Saturday night.