Marin Mazzie as the Witch in INTO THE WOODS

[Littleshopofcarrie]

Posted: 6/17/14 at 1:36pm

This is a long shot but did anybody see her as the Witch in Into the Woods? She was the understudy in the original productions... Would have killed to see that performance!

[darreyl102]

Posted: 6/17/14 at 2:14pm

^ Same. I LOVE that I am only 22, but all the shows I missed being born to late do put a damper on it. LOL- Original productions of The Wiz, Dreamgirls, Cats, ITW, Sunset Boulevard, Evita ect.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 6/17/14 at 4:54pm

^No matter what age we are, we ALL have that same feeling of having missed the really great shows of the past.

You regret missing the OBC's of The Wiz, Dreamgirls, Cats, ITW, Sunset Boulevard, Evita, all of which I got to see. I've always regretted missing the original productions of MY FAIR LADY, CAMELOT, COMPANY and FOLLIES.

In 20 years, the kids on THAT version of BWW will envy YOU having seen SPRING AWAKENING, NEXT TO NORMAL and BOOK OF MORMON, right?

[theatregeek6]

Posted: 6/17/14 at 6:29pm

Old guy here. Saw the OBC of The Wiz (dee dee bridgewater. just OMG) Dreamgirls (Jennifer Holliday blew me out of the orchestra closing act 1) MAck and Mabel (Bernadette at her top), Follies (Alexis Smith and Yvonne DeCarlo
Owning a company which was exceptional).

We all get to be a part of Broadway history. That is the beauty of live theatre. You can replicate it. Someday I'll say I saw Audra in Lady Day, or maybe Andy Karl or Orfeh, Idina or maybe even Ryan Steele or Corey Cott. You Never know. Which is the magic of Broadway

[D2]

Posted: 6/17/14 at 7:03pm

I didn't see Marin Mazzie go on as The Witch, but I did see her go on as Little Red Riding Hood. She was terrific. Very, very funny.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 6/17/14 at 8:36pm

"I didn't see Marin Mazzie go on as The Witch, but I did see her go on as Little Red Riding Hood. She was terrific. Very, very funny."

Wow! that's crazy! I didn't even know she covered little red! I can't decide which I would have like to see her as more, the witch or little red...

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 6/17/14 at 10:54pm

How tall is she?

[darquegk]

Posted: 6/17/14 at 10:58pm

Mentioning Ryan Steele as the "maybe someday" candidate just made me think of the Original Toronto Cast of Godspell going unrecorded because they were a small-scale production with a bunch of nobodies... all of whom became incredibly famous and successful as the founders of the American and Canadian sketch comedy genre.

[Chowsie]

Posted: 6/17/14 at 11:49pm

I saw her go on as Cinderella. She was, of course, sublime. I had seen her in Big River on my first trip to New York. It would have been a hoot to see her as Little Red!

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/17/14 at 11:53pm

"I LOVE that I am only 22…"

It's always to have your priorities in order, kids.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 6/18/14 at 12:51am

D2, you definitely didn't see Mazzie go on as Little Red because she didn't cover that role. She was an understudy for The Witch, Rapunzel, Cinderella, Florinda, and Lucinda.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 6/18/14 at 12:54am

Mazzie PLAYED Rapunzel and covered the rest.

[brettarnett]

Posted: 6/18/14 at 1:26am

If my math is correct, than Mazzie would have been in her early to mid-twenties during the original production. Which would have been pretty young for an understudy. Have there been any other examples of young understudys? I remember hearing that the Roscoe understudy in the recent LA transfer of Follies was a young chorus boy, I am sure that there are other major roles where the understudy was more than a few years younger than the lead.

[IdinaBellFoster]

Posted: 6/18/14 at 1:31am

Bethany Moore (Pippin) was Donna Murphy's understudy for the Central Park INTO THE WOODS, she's also in her mid-twenties!

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/18/14 at 6:37am

Marin did go on several times as the Witch and Cinderella. A handful of our mutual friends from summer stock (these were all good, close friends) went to see her one night after they got the last-minute alert that she was going on as the Witch.

The show started, and our friends turned to each other, disappointed that she didn't go on after all. It was only halfway through the first act that they realized their good, close friend Marin was indeed playing the Witch. She had undergone a total transformation, not just from the makeup, but her voice, behavior, movement, etc., was so foreign to them that they didn't even recognize her.

To me, that's the highest compliment an actor could get---to disappear into a role enough to fool your own friends.

Yes, she was in her mid-20s. I heard she was a fantastic Witch and also a wonderful (and very funny) Cinderella.

D2, I had no idea she ever went on for Little Red, though! She also covered the stepsisters for a while, and she took over the role of Rapunzel permanently.

EDIT: For those of you doubting she may have gone on as Little Red, based on IBDb.com, you should know two things:

1) Sometimes actors go on for roles they aren't officially understudying. I've seen it happen myself on Broadway twice, usually because the understudy (or understudies) are also not available for a performance. It happens. This is live theatre.

2) IBDb.com is not always accurate. In fact, I find misinformation and missing information all the time there. They really should change their policy about updating info. I've tried, but it's worse than government red tape to update anything there. So don't trust everything you read on that site.

Updated On: 6/18/14 at 06:37 AM

[binau]

Posted: 6/18/14 at 6:57am

[devonian.t]

Posted: 6/18/14 at 7:31am

best12bars, wonderful story!

[D2]

Posted: 6/18/14 at 7:49am

Something Wicked, don't doubt me. Period. The End.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 6/18/14 at 7:57am

Missy B. (Benanti) was 19 when she was Rebecca Luker's (37) understudy in SOM.

[gleek4114]

Posted: 6/18/14 at 1:36pm

I wonder if there is any soundboard or audience audio of Marin going on as a principle character. I'm very interested to get the tiniest taste of her performance.

[Littleshopofcarrie]

Posted: 6/18/14 at 1:40pm

^I believe there is one of her as Rapunzel... Don't know about the rest.

[ChairinMain]

Posted: 6/18/14 at 3:53pm

Yeah, I have one of her as Rapunzel opposite Betsy Joslyn's Witch. She's very good...the sound is not.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 6/18/14 at 8:35pm

I'm not basing my saying Mazzie didn't cover Little Red on a listing from IBDB. I'm basing it on stories I've heard straight from her mouth.

She very well could have forgotten, and if that's the case, I stand corrected.

Updated On: 6/18/14 at 08:35 PM

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 6/19/14 at 12:56pm

"^No matter what age we are, we ALL have that same feeling of having missed the really great shows of the past. "

It's true! AfterEight bemoans the fact he missed The Black Crook just by a hair.