Michael Berry on for Dan in NtN tonight (6/16)- Page 3

[steven22]

Posted: 6/17/09 at 12:45pm

with all this talk about Jessica being "bad"...the creative team should start looking for a Diana replacement understudy!

[jordangirl]

Posted: 6/17/09 at 12:49pm

Oh how quickly we forget the discussions of people whose friends just get home from seeing something like Wicked and claim they saw the original cast.

Do ALL people lack common sense? No. But a lot of tourists I've encountered in shows don't get what the slips mean. AND I know from at least one person who was there that there were some playbills that got missed when being stuffed. She overheard someone saying they wished Alice was in and was very confused. The board is not exactly in a great spot in the lobby unless you know to turn around and look.

[alightinthedark23]

Posted: 6/17/09 at 12:55pm

You are looking so into the gray hair. It is really silly to fight about. I believed he looked to old for the part. That is just my opinion. Clearly other people who went agreed with me. You are perfectly entitled to your opinion as well.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 6/17/09 at 12:57pm

The bottom line is that Jessica Phillips never stood a chance.

Ripley (while incredibly talented) has devoted such a frightful following that many of the fans of the show who were in the house that night were never going to prescribe themselves to enjoy anything but what they're accustomed to.

While you're using it as a deterrent, the fact that a number of people who didn't see the show before enjoyed Phillips actually speaks for the strength of her performance. You don't have to be Alice Ripley to be strong in the role of Diana, and you trying to facilitate some comparative judgment is ridiculous.

A person should be judged on their performance alone, not how similar or different their choices are to someone else (even if they are their cover.) Just because someone enjoyed an understudy without having seen the principal performer in the role doesn't make their opinion any less valid.

Updated On: 6/17/09 at 12:57 PM

[jordangirl]

Posted: 6/17/09 at 1:05pm

I was merely stating my experience from what I had heard. And some of the people who were repeat viewers are not particularly huge fans of Alice but they did not care for Jessica. You obviously did, and that's fine. It's your prerogative.

That said, the fact remains that there well could have been a few people in the audience who did not realize they were seeing an understudy because the understudy board IS to your back as you go through the doors in the Booth lobby and playbills DO occasionally get missed. THAT was the primary point I was making.

[steven22]

Posted: 6/17/09 at 1:13pm

based on what I've been hearing..I don't know how the role of Diana or Dan for that matter..will be after Alice and J. Robert Spencer leave the show...

any chance on understudies on Friday?

[ljay889]

Posted: 6/17/09 at 1:18pm

If the show runs, they can get some amazing replacements.

[steven22]

Posted: 6/17/09 at 1:25pm

They should bring back Sherie!

[adamgreer]

Posted: 6/17/09 at 1:40pm

The night Alice was out, in addition to the understudy board, they had huge signs up at the entrance to the theater, and by the mezz stairs, stating, "At this performance the role of Diana usually played by Alice Ripley will be played by Jessica Phillips." So, while the regular understudy board is in a strange place, there was no missing this sign.

Ripley (while incredibly talented) has devoted such a frightful following that many of the fans of the show who were in the house that night were never going to prescribe themselves to enjoy anything but what they're accustomed to.

I'm not one of the huge Alice Ripley fans. Before this show, I did not follow her career particularly closely, nor would I have called myself a "fan." I enjoyed her on the Sideshow recording, and liked (but didn't love) her performance in Les Miserables. I'm hardly one to call an uberly devoted Alice Ripley fan, because I was not that familiar with her prior to this show.

A person should be judged on their performance alone

Agreed. And being judged solely on her own merits, Jessica Phillips was an awful Diana, in my opinion. I have nothing against understudies in general. In fact, if you bother to read some of my old posts about other shows I've seen, you'd see that I am very fond of some understudy performances I've seen (Julie Reiber in Wicked, Donna Marie Asbury in Chicago, Haven Burton in Legally Blonde all come immediately to mind).

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 6/17/09 at 1:47pm

Agreed.

Was I upset that I didn't get to see Ripley in the first post-Tonys performance? Of course. But it's not like I was hoping Phillips would fail. She was just not that great...I didn't despise her performance but it certainly wasn't great. The more I thought about it afterwards, the less I liked it. And I would think all of the rabid Ripley fans that are being referred to were the ones who returned or refunded their tickets and didn't even see Phillips' performance.

And I've seen PLENTY of understudies who turned in fantastic performances, as adamgreer mentioned he has. The fact that I didn't particularly enjoy Phillips' performance had nothing to do with the fact that there was an understudy on, it had everything to do with the fact that Phillips simply wasn't that good.

[steven22]

Posted: 6/17/09 at 1:55pm

So does anyone know why Mary Mossberg didn't continue with the show after Arena Stage?

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 6/17/09 at 1:57pm

adamgreer, I was not referring to you at all. I haven't even read your post on what you thought of Phillips, let alone be familiar with it enough to address it.

I was making a generalization on how many of the fans of the show had a vested inclination toward Ripley.

I meant to imply othing more and nothing less. If you disliked Phillips from an unbiased viewpoint, you are completely entitled to that belief. I applaud you for your impartiality.

Updated On: 6/17/09 at 01:57 PM

[Sondheim_Geek]

Posted: 6/17/09 at 2:20pm

steven22: Mary decided to join the cast of Paper Mill's terrific production of 1776 with James Barbour, Robert Cuccioli, and Lauren Kennedy instead of continuing.

[alightinthedark23]

Posted: 6/17/09 at 7:39pm

I have a question, I was at the show last night. Did Michael look at Gabe in 'I Am The One Reprise' before he was supposed to at the end. I could of SWORE he did. Was i just seeing things?

[heo1128]

Posted: 6/17/09 at 11:28pm

^Hmmm...I was close to the back of the orchestra so I didn't have the best view for small details, but I didn't notice anything.