Elphaba's role
Elphaba's role
#1Elphaba's role
Posted: 8/21/09 at 1:38pmThis is something I do not understand. Elphaba is in 50% of the songs in the show, Why doesn't she have an alternate, It is a bear of a role.Angela Lansbury had an alternate in Sweeney Todd she was in 32% of the songs. Patti LuPone had an alternate in Evita and she had an alternate and she was in 57% of the songs. Why doesn't Elphaba have an alternate?
#2re: Elphaba's role
Posted: 8/21/09 at 1:41pmJust because a role sings a lot doesn't mean that the songs are hard.
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#3re: Elphaba's role
Posted: 8/21/09 at 1:43pm
I did do the math Elphaba is in 11 of 22 songs
Mrs Lovett is in 17 of 30 songs
Evita is in 17 of 30 songs
millie_dillmount
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/22/04
#4re: Elphaba's role
Posted: 8/21/09 at 1:45pm
Aren't Sweeney Todd and Evita completely sung through?
Though Elphaba is a major role, I don't think it is one that requires an alternate. There are many major roles on Broadway that don't employ an alternate.
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Updated On: 8/21/09 at 01:45 PM
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#5re: Elphaba's role
Posted: 8/21/09 at 1:46pm
Are you counting "Something Bad" as a song Elphaba sings? Would you say that she exerts the same sort of energy it takes to sing "Rainbow High"?
#6re: Elphaba's role
Posted: 8/21/09 at 1:47pm
I'm sure "wonderful" was counted as well, since she has all of 2-3 lines to sing.
The role of Elphaba does not warrant an alternate.
"You drank a charm to kill John Proctor's wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!" - Betty Parris to Abigail Williams in Arthur Miller's The Crucible
Updated On: 8/21/09 at 01:47 PM
PiraguaGuy2
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/10/08
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#9re: Elphaba's role
Posted: 8/21/09 at 1:50pmI've never heard of Lansbury having an alternate during her run in Sweeney Todd
"You drank a charm to kill John Proctor's wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!" - Betty Parris to Abigail Williams in Arthur Miller's The Crucible
#10re: Elphaba's role
Posted: 8/21/09 at 1:51pm
Consider the age of the roles as well... Isn't Elphaba often played by performers about 15-30 years younger than those who play the others?
They can handle it.
Updated On: 8/21/09 at 01:51 PM
#11re: Elphaba's role
Posted: 8/21/09 at 1:51pm
To answer Phyllis' question: No, she did not. She had a standby who occasionally went on for her, but she was contracted for all eight shows a week and for the most part she did them with 100% commitment and energy.
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Updated On: 8/21/09 at 01:51 PM
#12re: Elphaba's role
Posted: 8/21/09 at 1:54pmI remember reading on the board she had an alternate. Hmm misinformation
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#13re: Elphaba's role
Posted: 8/21/09 at 1:56pmIf your numbers were really scientific, you'd note how much TIME each actress spends singing in the show. Perhaps you should come back after you've done that.
#14re: Elphaba's role
Posted: 8/21/09 at 2:08pm
Idina Menzel went 5 consecutive months without missing a performance as Elphaba.
There's no need for one, if you can get actresses that can handle it.
#15re: Elphaba's role
Posted: 8/21/09 at 2:13pm
If your numbers were really scientific, you'd note how much TIME each actress spends singing in the show.
this. I've never seen Evita, but I was pretty sure she is rarely not on stage. besides, the tradition of having an alternate started in London with Elaine Paige.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
#16re: Elphaba's role
Posted: 8/21/09 at 2:16pmOn his XM program the other day, Seth Rudetsky said that the alternate for Evita was done by the producers over LuPone's objections. In fact, she did cabaret/night club shows from time to time during her run, sometimes right after performing in Evita.
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PiraguaGuy2
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/10/08
#17re: Elphaba's role
Posted: 8/21/09 at 2:16pmOne person who actually did need a standby or alternate? Laura Bell Bundy. A couple months into her run she was a wreck.
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fgreene1938
Leading Actor Joined: 10/25/06
#18re: Elphaba's role
Posted: 8/21/09 at 2:31pm
Angela Lansbury did, in fact, have an alternate in Sweeney Todd. I saw the original production in September 1979 and in the lobby of the then-named Uris Theater was a poster with a picture of alternate Marge Redmond (she played one of the nuns in the old Flying Nun series) with a reprint of a rave review of her performance. It was also noted in the lobby and at the boxoffice window that Redmond played all Wednesday and Saturday matinee performances and to purchase tickets with that understanding. This was not unprecedented. In 1963, Elaine Stritch understudied Uta Hagen in Virginia Woolf and played all the matinees. As Stritch once said, "In dramatic acting you can't do Virginia Woolf every night rippin' and roarin' so why should it be any different in musical theater?"
Sweeney Todd is almost completely sung through and often operatic in range (i.e., chest voice, mid-range, head voice and back again in one song) and Lansbury spent the evening running all over the stage. I also recall it was noted in a Lansbury biography that her "Sweeney" costars lost their voices on BW and the national tour while she never did. Evita is also a sung-through musical, though more in the Wicked vein than Sweeney. "Wicked" is not quite as taxing a musical for a trained singer and BW singers are much more heavily miked now than they ever were then (BELIEVE ME). I'm not criticising anyone who plays Elphaba or who likes Wicked. I'm just saying...
Updated On: 8/21/09 at 02:31 PM
winston89
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/18/06
#19re: Elphaba's role
Posted: 8/21/09 at 3:12pmAlso, if you want to look at roles that have an alternate that don't need one. Christine Daae in Phantom. I remember Willis telling me that while the show does have an alternate she could all 8 shows a week without a problem. I do doubt that over the long run of the show that she was the only actress who played that role that felt the same way. Keep in mind that the hardest thing for the character to sing in the entire show is the last note in the title song, and that is pre recorded.
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snowskittle
Leading Actor Joined: 1/10/09
#20re: Elphaba's role
Posted: 8/21/09 at 3:31pm
Judging from the number of actresses who have suffered vocal problems in this role, I'd think an alternate would be a good thing. There's no way to tell beforehand how whether anyone will be troubled by vocal difficulty, but a large number of them have had trouble after assuming the role.
And I don't think it depends on the number or percentage of songs. It's just that several of them are difficult on the voice apparently.
I think an alternate is a good idea. Or, they could let the standby go on a couple of times a week on a regular basis maybe for the matinees, thus having the principal do only six and never having to do double show days.
dg22894
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/22/08
#21re: Elphaba's role
Posted: 8/21/09 at 3:33pmI am pretty sure that standby for elphaba gets to go on a fair amount. Another alternate that was not needed was the Cassie Alternate in the recent chorus line revival Cassie has one big song and dance combination and other than that she stands there and talks here and there but nothing compared to most leading roles on Broadway.
#22re: Elphaba's role
Posted: 8/21/09 at 3:35pm
On his XM program the other day, Seth Rudetsky said that the alternate for Evita was done by the producers over LuPone's objections. In fact, she did cabaret/night club shows from time to time during her run, sometimes right after performing in Evita.
but from what I've read, she sure needed that alternate during out-of-town tryouts. I also read some not nice things about the company tearing down LuPone's reviews backstage and replacing them with reviews of Klausner's performance.
there was an alternate for Kim in Miss Saigon, too. is this done in all major productions of Miss Saigon?
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
Updated On: 8/21/09 at 03:35 PM
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#23re: Elphaba's role
Posted: 8/21/09 at 3:38pmWell, according to imdb Marge Redmond was a standby. This is the first I have ever heard of an alternate for Mrs. Lovett.
#24re: Elphaba's role
Posted: 8/21/09 at 3:51pm
"there was an alternate for Kim in Miss Saigon, too. is this done in all major productions?"
Well, Les Mis, one of the most frickin' huge musicals of all time, doesn't have any alternates.
It just depends on how strenuous the role is.
I think there should have been an Elle alternate in Legally Blonde, for instance. LBB's voice was mangled when she left. That's a really difficult role to do 8 times a week.
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