The Understudy Curse — Page 2

"I saw Les Miz recently and thought the Valjean understudy (his name escapes me) BLEW away Alex's performance and he was forced to go on 2 days after opening with very little rehearsal."

His name is Victor W. Hawks.

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I've had pretty good luck; most of the time the leads are in when I go see a show. What's weird is that although the leads are in, there's usually always a member of the ensemble or out when I see it. DRS is the only show that I've seen in recent memory where the entire company was in.

Although I agree that understudies aren't bad, and sometimes they are actually better than the leads.

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Curse or blessing? Unless I'm going to a true star performance (like Ebersole in Grey Gardens), I never get upset over understudies. I do, however, like Forbidden Broadway's spoof, No Leading Lady Tonight (sung to the tune of Luck Be A Lady Tonight).

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Personally, unless I go to a show JUST to see a certain performer (like Hugh Jackman in Boy From Oz) I don't mind at all if an understudy goes on. In fact I think it's kind of exciting, because you never know who's going to be the next big star, and if they do become famous you get to say, "I saw so and so when he/she was just the understudy in..."

I've seen performances of Wicked, Rent, Drowsy Chaperone, and Hairspray ,to name a few, where the cast was primarily understudies...and had a blast! To me the "unknown" is always more interesting than "the star."

Linda Muggleston>? isn't that the actress donna murphy went on for a few times in Wonderful Town?

i've only seen understudies in 2 shows, and ironically the same understudy in both
emily rozek as millie in TMM
and as glinda in wicked(tour)
also at wicked i had victoria matlock as elphaba, nicolas dromard as fiyero, and chris russo as dillamond

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I thought that I would add that I have never been disapointed by an understudy, and I am always blown away by the performance. :)

I missed Raul Esparza in "The Rocky Horror Show" the three times that I saw it. Though, the third time I knew I wouldn't be seeing him because that's when Sebastian Bach took over.

I saw Rob Evan go on for Michael Crawford in "Dance of the Vampires" and was absolutely thrilled because I am not a fan of Mr. Crawford's. I thought Evan did a fantastic job in the role.

The second time I saw "The Drowsy Chaperone" I saw the first performance that Beth Leavel missed. Her understudy was not very good. The next time I went I saw an understudy again, this time a different one, and she was much better. But having seen all three performers I'd have to say that I definitely prefer Ms. Leavel's.

I saw Laura Marie Duncan go on for Sherie Rene Scott in "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" and enjoyed her performance more than Sherie Rene Scott's or Rachel York's.

Rachel DeBenedet (I think that's how you spell her last name) did a fabulous job with the role of Muriel in "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" as well.

When I saw DRS in July 05, Joe Cassidy was on for Norbert and I didn't feel like I was missing out. I hadn't seen Norbert so there was nothing to judge by, but Joe was fine.

Saw Stephen Buntrock go on as the Phantom, but I knew Hugh was on vacation that week so it was no big deal.

And, of course, Drew when on as Lestat during the final weekend when Hugh was out sick.

Other than that, it's only been minor characters or...way back...Bob Cuccioli goig on as Lancelot in the Camelot tour. It's never really been too big an issue with me.

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Hmm, what understudies have I seen recently...

- The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee: Todd Buonopane (u/s William Barfee), Maurice Murphy (u/s Mitch Mahoney).
- Avenue Q: Jennifer Barnhart (u/s Kate/Lucy/etc.), Minglie Chen (u/s Bad Idea Bear, etc.).
- Chicago: Bryn Dowling (u/s Roxie).
- Rent: Luther Creek (u/s Roger).
- The Color Purple: Angela Robinson (u/s Shug).
- Wicked (national tour): Jenna Leigh Green (u/s Elphaba), Maria Eberline (u/s Nessarose).

For some reason, I haven't seen any understudies in several years.

Both the shows I've recently seen on Broadway were missing 2 cast members, for Sweeney Todd, I saw the understudy Fogg and Judge, for RENT I saw understudy Mimi and Roger. I cared less about RENT since I'm not a big fan of the show, but I did think that it was a little dissapointing to have the two leading roles being understudied.

For Sweeney, I only really wanted to see Patti, though I would've been dissapointed had Michael, Mano, or Alex been out.

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I've gotten a few here and there.
Damn understudy in the Drowsy Chaperone for Beth, but atleast I got the good one...