How did Cynthia Nixon do Hurlyburly and The Real Thing at the same time?

She was in Act 1 of one show and Act 2 of the other. The theatres were two blocks apart. I'm pretty sure she missed the curtain call in one of them, but that's it.

Both shows were directed by Mike Nichols.

EDIT: As far as I know, this has never happened before or since, with a performer in two Broadway shows simultaneously. (Broadway and cabaret, yes ... Broadway and Off-Broadway, yes ... but not two shows running on Broadway.)

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Updated On: 1/5/12 at 06:21 AM

In HURLYBURLY, the character of Donna is in the very beginning of the first act, then doesn't reappear until the final scene. Since the play is close to 3.5 hours, Nixon could have pretty much gone and done an entire two-act play in her down time.

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As AC pointed out, because HURLYBURY was so long, Nixon was able to do the curtain call for THE REAL THING without a problem.

Interestingly, Nixon talks in her Downstage Center podcast about how there was a scene they cut from HURLYBURLY out of town which, had it been kept for New York, would have prevented her from being able to do both plays simultaneously, since it brought back her character sooner in the storyline. It was reinstated for the recent Off-Broadway revival.

best12bars, Nixon said in the same interview that Equity has since come out and made a rule forbidding anyone from being able to do what she did. In order to appease those who felt Nixon may be taking work from another actor, THE REAL THING had to hire a second offstage female cover for her role, since this all happened when Nixon went back into the show after initially leaving to do HURLYBURLY and being replaced by her understudy, Yeardley Smith (the voice of Lisa on The Simpsons.) I believe the rule only applies to playing two principal roles concurrently, since Charlotte d'Amboise was playing Roxie Hart in CHICAGO and standing by for Charity in the SWEET CHARITY revival simultaneously a few seasons ago.

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Updated On: 1/5/12 at 10:28 AM

Wasn't she like 16 at the time?

18.

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Updated On: 1/5/12 at 02:10 PM

In Spring of 1962, a very fine actress named Madeleine Sherwood, was playing Morgan Le fey in Camelot, while understudying Bette Davis (later Shelley Winters) in the role of Maxine in Night of the Iguana. The Royale, where Iguana played was right behind the Majestic, where Camelot was running. My understanding was that she played both roles several times; Maxine is a big role but has a long break offstage in Act II; it was possible for Sherwood to cross to the Majestic, play the short scene as Le Fey, and then return to the Royale for Maxine's final entrance.

Understudying or standing by is not the same thing as doing eight shows a week of two Broadway productions simultaneously.

Still, it's fascinating info.

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I've heard some nights she stopped for a bowl of matzoh ball soup at the Polish Tea Room.

Sorry to bring up an old thread but this one is fascinating! Has anyone else done this in recent times? Or at least star in a Broadway show and understudy in another?

Don't know if this has been mentioned before and I don't think the play has played Broadway yet but the Alan Ayckbourn play(s) "House and Garden" are two plays which play in two different theatres at the same time with the cast appearing in both. One play is set in the House and the other play in the Garden. It was performed at the National theatre in the Westend - the Olivier Theatre and Lyttelton Theatre.

So obviously depending on what play you go and see, you see a play set in either House or Garden and the cast have to run between theatres to appear in both productions.

I know it's not the same as appearing in two different plays as two different characters but it's a fun idea so thought i'd share.

Thank you AC126748, I didn't realise it had played New York

Actually on the DVD of the McKellen/Dench Macbeth, Ian McKellen tells the story of how the fella who played King Duncan in his production of Macbeth was also in the first and last scene of Comedy of Errors at another theater so once he got killed in Macbeth (spoiler), he would bicycle over to…I want to say, do the last scene of Comedy of Errors.

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Thanks again AC126748, I will have a search online later.

Enjoy your meeting

Mattbrain - Thanks also, I would have loved to have seen the McKellen/Dench Macbeth.