Christina DeCicco seems a surprising choice as Eva's standby. After seeing her as Glinda in Wicked, I didn't realize she also had the belting chops for that caliber of role. Good for her! She's very talented.
I saw her in Marvelous Wonderettes and she belted her face off. When I heard that she had been in Wicked, I assumed it was as Elphaba. When I heard that she was Glinda, I had the same reaction that you are having now.
I'm betting: Andrews and Shew cover Peron Masfield and Patty cover Eva Dean covers Che Little and Dean cover Magaldi Patty, Ashley and Mansfield cover Mistress
Very happy to see Andrews there as well. If I'm not mistaken, he played Peron at the Westchester Broadway Theatre a million years ago. He's too old for it now though.
Wasn't Von Essen rumored to also be understudying Che?
Andrews is too old to understudy any of the principals now, but it's nice to see a range of ages in the ensemble. I'm glad they're not all twenty-somethings. That tends to come off as a college production at times.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
I was hoping DeCicco would originate the role of Sister Mary Robert in the national tour of 'Sister Act', but that's not likely to happen now. Maybe I can start hoping that Anneliese van der Pol can play that role again. I also think that she'd be good as Eva.
I think this is fantastic casting. I saw Christina DeCicco as Glinda in 2007, and although I was not overly impressed with her in that role, I have seen some great stuff of her in "Sister Act" (singing "The Life I Never Led"), and I wouldn't mind seeing her as Eva. Oh, and Anneliese van der Pol has played Eva before...at the Buena Park Civic Theatre in 1999. She is the youngest person to have played the role in a professional production.
Christina is one of my favorites - she's definitely got the chops for it. She's my favourite Belle and Eponine, as well as Sister Mary Robert. I think she's going to be a bigger star.. soon!
I also think Rachel Potter will be great as the Mistress. I am glad that Laurel Harris and Melanie Field are in the cast, too. This is Laurel's Broadway debut, but not Melanie's (she was in The Phantom of the Opera). Melanie was a standout in the ensemble every time I saw the Wicked 1st National Tour this year.