PRIMA FACIE Free Understudy Performance 5/26

[slumdogdelaware]

Posted: 5/23/23 at 2:26pm

https://twitter.com/estreetprods/status/1661072929583398914

Pretty cool of them to do this. Tix are free. Show is Friday, 5/26 at 2pm.

[binau]

Posted: 5/23/23 at 2:30pm

Very interesting. Any ideas of why this is happening?

[Fordham2015]

Posted: 5/23/23 at 2:34pm

Love this idea! I saw Comer over the weekend, it's a meaty and powerful role in a terrific play.

[Wick3]

Posted: 5/23/23 at 2:52pm

binau said: "Very interesting. Any ideas of why this is happening?"

Word of mouth and gives the understudy more experience are my guesses.

I kind of wish other productions did this but I understand you still have to pay actors, backstage, front of house staff etc.

A lot of colleges/universities are done with the semester by then so lots of folks with free time to go there on Friday afternoon.

[quizking101]

Posted: 5/23/23 at 2:58pm

This is cool. I like this idea

[Dollypop]

Posted: 5/23/23 at 4:42pm

I really like this idea and I hope it catches on--if not for free performances but ones with sharply reduced prices.

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 5/23/23 at 8:57pm

I am betting it’s in Dani Arlington’s contract that she gets at least one performance during the run. She was the standby on the West End too, and has kids in London (according to her Twitter bio), and I’m sure is making a lot of sacrifices to be in NYC. It would be difficult - and more work - to find and prepare a new standby for such a uniquely demanding role, so this was a (well-deserved) deal sweetener I’m sure. I agree this sort of thing should happen more often, especially with small cast non-musicals that have a low weekly “nut.”

[Dollypop]

Posted: 5/23/23 at 11:23pm

When we saw Max Clayton in THE MUSIC MAN, prices were sharply reduced and people leaving the theater were heard saying, "Hugh Who?"

Having occasional understudy performances could be something to look forward to.

[Ensemble1684905689]

Posted: 5/24/23 at 8:13pm

slumdogdelaware said: "https://twitter.com/estreetprods/status/1661072929583398914 trap the cat

Pretty cool of them to do this. Tix are free. Show is Friday, 5/26 at 2pm."

Tomorrow is this Show and I'm really looking forward to it.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 5/24/23 at 11:43pm

I’m sure the woman needs a full run every now and again to keep the show in her muscle memory and to perform the lines. This doesn’t seem the type of show you can easily just jump into after string around for weeks. 
 

I imagine they would cancel the show if Comer is out. I can’t see many sticking around for a one woman show when the star is out. Refund alone would prob force cancellation. 

[Dollypop]

Posted: 5/25/23 at 12:04am

Bettyboy72 said: "I’m sure the woman needs a full run every now and again to keep the show in her muscle memory and to perform the lines. This doesn’t seem the type of show you can easily just jump into after string around for weeks.


I imagine they would cancel the show if Comer is out. I can’t see many sticking around for a one woman show when the star is out. Refund alone would prob force 

They run the show with understudies periodically. This may actually be one of those run-thrus

[ChiDoc]

Posted: 5/25/23 at 2:46pm

Has anybody heard back yet about tickets?

[quizking101]

Posted: 5/25/23 at 4:15pm

Still nothing

[ACL2006]

Posted: 5/25/23 at 4:49pm

Odd that nobody has heard anything back yet. I wonder if before the show tomorrow if tickets can be obtained directly at the box office?

[JSquared2]

Posted: 5/25/23 at 5:10pm

The winners have been notified.

 

[RunnyBabbit]

Posted: 5/25/23 at 6:12pm

Got the email saying I didn’t get a ticket:

On behalf of Empire Street Productions, we are very sad to say that you haven’t been successful in getting a ticket to attend the free performance of PRIMA FACIE starring Dani Arlington in the role of “Tessa Ensler”. The demand was overwhelming and the interest far exceeded the capacity of the house.
 

[steve.sometime]

Posted: 5/25/23 at 6:14pm

RunnyBabbit said: "Got the email saying I didn’t get a ticket:

On behalf of Empire Street Productions, we are very sad to say that you haven’t been successful in getting a ticket to attend the free performance of PRIMA FACIE starring Dani Arlington in the role of “Tessa Ensler”. The demand was overwhelming and the interest far exceeded the capacity of the house.
"

For what it's worth, I won but I won't be able to go. There could be a cancellation line.

[Jakeevan942]

Posted: 5/25/23 at 6:25pm

Not sure how they are doing the ticket distribution for this-if they're issuing e-tickets or working off of a list with hard tickets, and if it was 1 ticket or 2, but I lost the random draw, and am available. Feel free and message me if you have a spare ticket for the understudy run tomorrow.

[BETTY22]

Posted: 5/25/23 at 6:25pm

This is such a great idea.

Who is the producer? 

[Jonathan Cohen]

Posted: 5/25/23 at 6:26pm

steve.sometime said: "For what it's worth, I won but I won't be able to go. There could be a cancellation line."

I'm guessing there must be, I'm sure there are lots of people who won and can't make it. I'll be in the neighborhood tomorrow for the Ham4Ham performance. It seems worth at least going over before and asking.   

[ACL2006]

Posted: 5/25/23 at 6:42pm

JSquared2 said: "The winners have been notified.

"

I guess I lost, but now I'm debating walking up to the box office and seeing what they might have in terms of cancellations around noon tomorrow.

[TBone]

Posted: 5/25/23 at 8:49pm

Jakeevan942 said: "Not sure how they are doing the ticket distribution for this-if they're issuing e-tickets or working off of a list with hard tickets, and if it was 1 ticket or 2, but I lost the random draw, and am available. Feel free and message me if you have a spare ticket for the understudy run tomorrow."

I was fortunate enough to win one ticket for the performance tomorrow; we weren't given an option for 2 tickets. Our instructions are to pick up our tickets at the box office.

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 5/25/23 at 9:37pm

I’ll be there tomorrow! Definitely find it odd we weren’t given the option to choose 1 or 2 tickets (though I imagine it’s easier to book up the theater with just single seats), or even confirm we still wanted the seats. Especially since they notified winners with less than 24 hours notice.

Oddly announced and distributed, but nonetheless a great offer for a free ticket to a show I would otherwise have missed.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 5/25/23 at 10:28pm

It’s probably easier to get people into the theatre with single seats.  It’s probably best to only offer single seats. People are a PITA, especially with freebies. You already see people who entered saying they can’t go. If you offered pairs people would be even more problematic. No good deed goes unpunished. 

[quizking101]

Posted: 5/26/23 at 9:35am

I just got on line about 9:30 and the (very short - 20 person) line seems to be a nice mix of rush and U/S performance folk - so getting here early means you’ll probably get a great seat

Updated On: 5/26/23 at 09:35 AM