Harry Hadden-Paton's understudy

Michael Halling went on for the first time Friday night and I saw him make his second appearance this afternoon. Christopher Faison isn't listed as Harry's understudy in the Who's Who. I decided to trade off seeing the understudy for getting a 2nd row left center seat. I like being close up. There are some good to decent "regularly priced" orchestra seats for tomorrow, including one 2nd row dead center.

I suppose someone might want to know how I thought Michael did. My first thought was how much pressure he must be feeling to go for the first time in a big splashy production in front of a full house.

I don't have a lot of confidence in my ability to review stage actors. I happened to attend the first of Roundabout's Cabaret with Emma Stone in the lead. I thought that she had done pretty well and certainly hadn't embarrassed herself. The next day the rave reviews poured in from all over.

I've seen the show twice with Harry and I'd have to say that the presence of his understudy didn't diminish my enjoyment of the show. Michael flubbed a few lines in songs, but recovered so quickly that probably most didn't notice. His singing was probably at least the equal of Harry's. I think that he held back a bit on his insults of Eliza "heartless guttersnipe" and his post-ball confrontations with Eliza maybe not quite as effective as Harry. The end came out just about the same to me.

This is from someone, remember, who thought Emma Stone was just pretty good in Cabaret.

I still love the Ascot scene. The lighting, the costumes, the "Ascot Gavotte" and the reticent Eliza confining her speech to just two subjects.

^ Surprised to read this, I must admit. Sienna was so bland as Sally it was almost as though the show didn't have one. Her singing and dancing were passable, but nothing -- nothing -- made you look at her as opposed to the ensemble. I'm not suggesting she needed to be a great singer or dancer, because Sally obviously needn't be, but she needs to have a drive to command your attention, and she did not have (or earn) that for a second. Her book scenes were fine. No more, no less.

The video clips I've seen of Emma Stone all suggest a better performance.

But I saw both women interviewed together at one point, and they both said they got sick during the rushed rehearsal period and didn't feel on top of the role until they were ready to leave. I saw Sienna around two weeks into her run. A week or two later, I might have seen a very different performance.

Michael Halling is an excellent actor/singer. I would love to have seen him as Higgins, but, dear God, yes, that first performance must have been one hell of a pressure situation. He's up to it, though. He's been great in everything I have seen him in.