Mid-show lead actor switch in "Jersey Boys"

I attended today's (Sunday Sept. 1st) matinee of "Jersey Boys". About 45 minutes into the 1st act the show stopped and an announcer said the part of Frankie Valli for the remainder of the show would be played by Joseph Leo BwarieThere was a pause of less than 10 minutes of a darkened stage, house lights down. Then the show continued with Bwarie ( an improvement I thought) An usher said the lead was ill. In all my 30 plus years of theatre going - this was a first. Any other theatre goers ever have this unusual experience?

It happens more often thank you think, I can think of dozens of shows where this has happened.

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Updated On: 9/1/13 at 10:13 PM

I saw the tour of a A Chorus Line a few years ago and during "At The Ballet..." while they were facing the mirror and Sheila's talking our Cassie just stepped closer to the mirror and and hairpin turned and walked off Stage Right. About 2 minutes later a new Cassie walked on and assumed her position.

That I remember, this has happened to me in Jekyll & Hyde, Chicago, ReNt, Wicked, Curtains, Aida - lots to mention. The process of dimming the lights as the understudy gets ready is similar and in some cases they just get ready between scenes.

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Blaxx - when they get ready between scenes - do they announce the change - or were you surprised to see a new actor appear? I am surprised that this is not unusual.

Updated On: 9/2/13 at 10:55 PM

When the change happened mid-performance there was no announcement until intermission.

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I know this has happened in wicked several times!

I have seen it quite often.
Usually, they will try to make the switch at intermission.
I've seen it happen in the middle of a show a bit - one actor exits and the other enters at the next scene.. no announcement made till intermission.
Stopping the show is a last resort.

One of the most PERFECT switches has happened during Hairspray, where a Tracy has taken ill during Act One and runs off at the end of the sock hop, with the 'new' Tracy running on for Tracy's debut on the Corny Collins show, with a new hairdo and the first line "And I'm Tracy!"

Thanks, Tag! Really interesting - even touching. The human frailty of working actors.

I've seen it a couple of times, but I think the last time was Cheyenne leaving part-way through act one of Xanadu, and after an announcement and a few minutes, Curtis Holbrook finished the show.

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I was at the matinee of Hair when Gavin Creel sprained his ankle (I think that's what happened). Apparently he sprained it during "I Got Life," but I didn't notice anything until later. During the Be-In, Gavin was not in the box when Claude's parents are yelling at him, but the spotlight was still lit on the box. Which my friend and I thought was weird. Still, he did "Where Do I Go?"

Toward the end of intermission, Gavin hobbled onstage, sans wig and heavily aided by someone, and announced to the audience that he had hurt his ankle, would be heading to the hospital, and Paris Remillard (his understudy) would be going on in his place. He apologized and assured us Paris was very good (which he was).

When Paris appeared as Claude at the top of Act 2, Will Swenson ad-libbed something along the lines of "Claude, you look so different!" and that got a laugh.

Lauren Elder in the ensemble also sprained her ankle during that performance and was replaced with a swing at some point.

When I saw Spiderman about two years ago, Reeve Carney looked sick for the first act and subbed out during intermission. I know that's not quite the same, but nonetheless.

Updated On: 9/2/13 at 05:04 PM

Isn't there an understudy or swing in addition to the alternate? Or does the alternate act as a standby as well? Does this impact the other performances the alternate should be performing at if they're contracted to do two shows a week?

It looks like Taylor Sternberg is the swing (it doesn't specify on the website, he just looks like a possible Frankie). Why didn't he go on?

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Updated On: 9/2/13 at 07:30 PM