Jessie Mueller and Matinees?

Jessie has a pretty good track record of being there..and if she does wind up taking a day off, it's not any regular pattern.

That said, her understudy Stephanie Torns is amazing..

As Kathy said, Jessie has a very good attendance record overall. I often avoid Saturday matinees in general if I want to see a specific performer, but you're looking at Sunday. For what it's worth, I was at the show this past Sunday and it certainly didn't feel like the last show of the week - the cast had tremendous energy and the crowd was great too.

@z5 said: "Why would a matinee mean a performer not go to work?? I don't get the logic behind this from a lot of people. "



People just assume sometimes for shows that are vocally demanding for a performer to take matinees off. Example, Alex Brightman having a 6 six show week instead of an 8 show week because of the intensity of the vocals.

@z5 said: "Why would a matinee mean a performer not go to work?? I don't get the logic behind this from a lot of people. "

Because they hear about Christine Daae and Frankie Valli doing this and assume everyone else does.

Mindfreak1400, Alex Brightman does five shows a week.

WTF? Isn't that like saying "One time I went to Starbucks on a Saturday and they were out of green tea lattes, so I don't go on Saturdays anymore"?

The point is your logic doesn't make sense.

Unless there is an alternate who performs matinees, there is no reason why you're "safer" to see a specific performer on a different time than a Saturday matinee. Vacations are often full weeks and illnesses obviously pop up whenever they do. If anything, assuming there's a Sunday performance, I am most familiar with actors taking off Sunday to have 2 days off if they're taking a vacation day, but even that isn't enough of a trend to justify avoiding Sundays.

I think this is may just a natural assumption that is made by people visiting from out of town. If one of the performers is going to take a show off, its going to be on a day when there are 2 shows.....and it will probably be the afternoon performance. I am guessing rightfully or wrongfully, people think this could possibly be the case. I have had the same thoughts as we will be visiting NY again in a few months and this trip we are planning to go to a matinee. Right away my first thought is....will the whole cast be there on a matinee? Again it sounds like that's completely the wrong thought process, but I do understand it. People who travel a long ways to visit broadway and love theater just hope they don't miss out on what they are hoping to see.

I think it's a natural worry to have, because occasionally performers (particularly ones in a very vocally/physically demanding role) do sit one performance a week, and it is oftentimes a matinee. That being said, there will usually be an alternate listed for the role at those specific performances (for example, Christopher in Curious Incident). However, more often than not, the performer will be on unless they're sick, have an emergency, or are on vacation.