Last-minute replacement!!

[BroadwayNorth2]

Posted: 1/13/11 at 11:56pm

I attended the award-winning remount of Assassins in Toronto tonight (a timely show, with an all-star cast of Canada's best actors). The night became a magically unique theatre experience the moment the musical director announced to the audience that the actor playing the Proprietor (Martin Julien) had to leave for a family emergency, and the director Adam Brazier (whose acting credits include Broadway's The Woman In White and Into the Woods) was stepping in on short notice. For an independent professional production with no understudies (let alone stand-by's), they apparently had only a few hours to rehearse with Brazier. And although the Proprietor is not one of the meatier roles, Brazier's confident and seemingly polished performance was most impressive, none the less. The ensemble and Brazier received a lengthy curtain-call after the performance...

Which brings me to my question:

What is the most impressive and thrilling last-minute substitution you have witnessed (or been a part of) in the theatre?







Updated On: 1/14/11 at 11:56 PM

[theaterkid1015]

Posted: 1/14/11 at 12:01am

I once saw a conductor sing Radames for the last act of AIDA. That was pretty thrilling and strange.

[misto625]

Posted: 1/14/11 at 12:43am

^^I would love to hear the story behind that! Was this on Broadway or on tour?

[ACL2006]

Posted: 1/14/11 at 1:10am

During a production of "Joseph", an ex-cast member was pulled from the audience 15 minutes before curtain due to an actor running late. good thing he remembered the show.

[joeyvalcort]

Posted: 1/14/11 at 1:50am

In 1994 during a run of "Evita" at North Shore Music Theatre the actress playing Eva Peron (Kathleen Rowe McAllen) lost her voice between a matinee and evening performance. NSMT hadn't understudied the role, so a member of the ensemble who had previously played the role at a different theater sang the role from a stool in the pit while McAllen lip-sync'd the show on-stage. It was a strange and crazy show, actually, but also pretty amazing.

[Radioactiveduck]

Posted: 1/14/11 at 2:43am

Just two months ago or so...Sara Jean Ford took the night off from playing Christine in Phantom and stepped into A Little Night Music on about 5 hour's notice (2 of which were spent finishing her day on Jury Duty) to play Petra. She had understudied the part several months earlier, but never performed it.

[AC126748]

Posted: 1/14/11 at 9:17am

Two years ago, Katarina Dalayman was singing Isolde at the Met, when she took ill and cancelled a Friday evening performance. Peter Gelb proceeded to fly in Waltraud Meier--probably the premiere Isolde in the world--from Germany to sing the one performance. It is (to date) her only performance of the role at the Met (possibly her only performance of it in the US). An amazing night.

[singtopher]

Posted: 1/14/11 at 9:32am

I was lucky to witness the final performance of August: Osage County where Rondi Reed was called in to play Mattie Fae when Elizabeth Ashley had to call out due to illness.

Marin Mazzie was a replacement understudy in the original production of Into The Woods. As I remember it, only about a week after she signed her contract, she had to go on for The Witch. She had been through music rehearsals and some blocking rehearsals, but she had to go on. She said she felt like she had been "shot out of a cannon" after it.

I did a regional production of Les Miserables where our Valjean fell and broke his ankle BAD only about 10 min into the first show on a two show day. We had to cancel the show, and as soon as the paramedics put him in the ambulance we immediately started a put in rehearsal for the understudy who then played the role that night. I think we had an hour off for dinner after the rehearsal was finally over. I was sitting next to the understudy when Valjean went down, and frankly I just don't know how to describe the color he turned.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 1/14/11 at 10:00am

"I once saw a conductor sing Radames for the last act of AIDA. That was pretty thrilling and strange."

Pittsburgh Opera!

[broadway_show_fan]

Posted: 1/14/11 at 10:33am

I didn't see this one, but I had seen the show and had heard about this particular performance: apparently during the Broadway run of BROOKLYN THE MUSICAL (2004-2005, starring Eden Espinosa), the actress playing "Paradice" was sick (presumably Ramona Keller) on a 2-show day. Unfortunately, I believe her only understudy was also sick, so they canceled the matinee. They proceeded to bring a new person into the cast (Haneefah Wood) who had that afternoon to learn the role. I know many on this site didn't like the show (or didn't get to see it), so if you don't know, each person in the cast had several different small roles, at least one larger role, and handled tons of props, costumes and set pieces. She ended up being ON BOOK through the evening show with at least one standby (Julie Reiber) helping to move all the sets/props and things.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 1/14/11 at 11:00am

Let's not forget that during the first few previews of "Jekyll and Hyde," Linda Eder fell ill, so she played the performance with Emily Skinner singing for her offstage.

[mikem]

Posted: 1/14/11 at 11:50am

I saw a performance of Dreamgirls in Philadelphia at the Prince Music Theatre at which both the actress playing Deena and the understudy were out, and the ensemble actress who played the role apparently started learning the part that day. She was incredible and I would never have known if I hadn't overheard some people talking about it afterwards.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 1/14/11 at 12:01pm

singtopher, you were there for Randal Keith's injury? Ouch. I heard about it from him later on. It sounded like it was awful.

[Kev]

Posted: 1/14/11 at 12:24pm

I didn't see this one, but I had seen the show and had heard about this particular performance: apparently during the Broadway run of BROOKLYN THE MUSICAL (2004-2005, starring Eden Espinosa), the actress playing "Paradice" was sick (presumably Ramona Keller) on a 2-show day. Unfortunately, I believe her only understudy was also sick, so they canceled the matinee. They proceeded to bring a new person into the cast (Haneefah Wood) who had that afternoon to learn the role.

Both Ramona Keller and understudy Haneefah Wood were sick. Romelda Benjamin (BARE) was brought in to perform as Paradice. Benjamin had been involved with the Denver production but did indeed have to go on with book-in-hand on Broadway. She later officially re-joined the show as a female cover for Keller and Olivo.

[broadway_show_fan]

Posted: 1/14/11 at 2:04pm

yes, yes! Thank you Kev. I'm at work without a stack of Playbills to refer to, and I guess I'm starting to age, because I can't remember these details and it was only 5 years ago. Oh geez.

[dragonlp86]

Posted: 1/14/11 at 2:08pm

Didn't 'Next to Normal' have to call in Asa Somers once when both Louis Hobson AND J.Robert Spencer called out on the same day? I forget whether he went on as Dan or the doctors (I thought I heard it was Dan, but I'm not sure).

[trentsketch]

Posted: 1/14/11 at 2:14pm

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels on Broadway. John Lithgow and Sherie Renee Scott were on, but Norbert Leo Butz was out for some reason. Not a big deal. However, about twenty five minutes into the show, Butz' understudy fell hard running down from the balcony and the show was stopped cold. John Lithgow stepped out of character to riff for five or so minutes about what was going on, including how they were trying to find a swing to hop into the role mid-show when a lot of other regulars were out. So, I had a John Lithgow show within a show before the swing ran out and Lithgow stepped right back into character.

And then there was that time I got pulled from the pit to dance The Jitterbug in a community theater production of The Wizard of Oz. Stupid choreography letting everyone know I work-shopped the dance with him before he taught the choreography. He only said it to avoid dancing the part himself. It was thrilling to run back into the pit and hop on my reed book after doing that number, let me tell you. It was also the last time I ever did a choreographer a favor on a show I wasn't acting in.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 1/14/11 at 3:06pm

I remember reading something about Sean Ghazi having to be flown in from Germany to fill in as Angel in the London production of Rent. He'd never performed it in English before.

[singtopher]

Posted: 1/14/11 at 3:58pm

Yes, Lizzie. It's become an infamous story in the theatre world. His foot was in bad shape.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 1/14/11 at 5:33pm

I was in a pretty dreadful production of IRMA LA DOUCE at the now defunct Airport Playhouse on Long Island when the actress playing Irma lost her singing voice. As there were no understudies, the female musical director sang the part while Irma mouthed the words.

It made a bad production even worse.

[uncageg]

Posted: 1/14/11 at 5:39pm

Not the theatre...but I attended an ABT performance and at the last minute Baryshnikov stepped in and danced La Sylphide. I was 10th row center.

[jeffmiele]

Posted: 1/14/11 at 6:24pm

this probably doesnt really count but I was at Butz's first performance of SPEED-THE-PLOW and he was on book the entire time.. pretty awful

[broadwaybabytn]

Posted: 1/14/11 at 6:27pm

was it in previews??

[misto625]

Posted: 1/14/11 at 6:36pm

Question about the Marin Mazzie/"Into the Woods" anecdote: Why wouldn't Joy Franz have performed the role? She was also an understudy for the Witch at the same time as Marin Mazzie, and certainly knew the role better.

My anecdote to add to this discussion is Merle Dandridge filling in for Aida on Broadway one weekend while either Maya Days or Heather Headley was sick and the standby and understudy were also sick or on vacation, and Merle Dandridge was understudying the role on tour at the time.

[BosBroad]

Posted: 1/14/11 at 9:34pm

Just a few days ago, the tenor playing Cavaradossi in the Met's Tosca pulled on the day of the opening-night performance. The understudy wasn't seen as adequate for the opening, apparently.

With just a few hours notice, Roberto Alagna stepped in. He was in town to sing Carmen, which had just opened two days before.

He knew the music but not the production, so spent every minute backstage during the show and between acts being coached on where to stand and walk.

His performance received rave reviews.