The secret that few theatregoers know is that understudies, with few exceptions, aren't rehearsed until after the opening night.

That understudies aren't rehearsed is certainly not true; they may be under-rehearsed.

I can think of quite a few recent examples (Gypsy, Little Women, La Cage, Spamalot, DRS) where an understudy went on during previews for a bit while an actor recovered from illness.

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Resourceful understudies have been known to rehearse themselves, buttonholing musical directors during lunch breaks to run songs, grabbing an idle dance captain to check choreography. But the production team is usually intent on getting the principals ready for opening night, so scheduled understudy calls don't begin in earnest until the show is up and running.

I can think of a number of cases I know of where the understudy for a role wasn't rehearsed until months after he began. Not necessarily in the case of a new musical, but Colin Hanlon didn't fully know Roger, a role he was the second understudy for, until almost a year after took over the ensemble part that generally covers the role. He didn't go in the part for quite some time either, and since then, he's become the likely person to go on if the lead playing Roger is out. I tend to doubt this is the only situation like this one.

Unless I'm mistaken, didn't Daniel Torres complete learning the role of Mark in Altar Boyz on the night that he went on?

It's only in the fairly recent past that this has been a problem. The time was, unless a near-disaster took place (I.e., Maureen McGovern actually bursting a vocal blood vessel during previews of THREEPENNY), cast members were never out during preview periods. "The show must go on", which nowadays is a bit of a joke for the most part, used to actually mean something. It was not necessary to rehearse understudies until the show had opened, leaving the preview period free to rehearse changes for the show.

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I read that article last night. It was a very interesting read.

Why do you think they had to fly Kristy Cates in to do Elphaba, because the understudies had NO rehearsals yet.

It's just not rare... anymore.

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