Has Elaine May usually performed 8 times each week?

[Comden Green]

Posted: 11/29/18 at 7:09am

I will be in nyc in January and don’t want to see the show without her. I’ll be there midweek (T,W,Th). Strategizing rarely works for me but I feel the need to try. By the show description it sounds like a rather “draining” show for an actor. Is she “always” in or mostly? Does she miss a lot? Who, actually, is her replacement?

[carolinaguy]

Posted: 11/29/18 at 8:32am

Maureen Anderman is her understudy. I have not heard of May missing a performance. While most roles on Broadway are "draining" to some degree, there are a few scenes where the character is offstage and each act is under an hour, so it's not like it's some epic one-person show.

[LarryD2]

Posted: 11/29/18 at 9:01am

She is scheduled to do every performance and hasn't missed any shows yet. I highly doubt she will unless she's in a position where she absolutely cannot perform. She's very much the reason for this production. 

[Comden Green]

Posted: 11/29/18 at 9:24am

Thanks so much carolinaguy and larryd2. I really appreciate the information and your logical conclusions. Very much appreciated.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 11/29/18 at 10:00am

May comes from the old school of performance training. You work thru any illness as the show must go on. Countless stories from the Golden Age of Broadway where actors had incidents on stage during illness. They never missed a performance regardless how under the weather they were.

In about a year’s worth of performances, 70 plus year old Bette Midler only missed 1 matinee performance of HELLO, DOLLY!