"UnderSundays"

[Dollypop]

Posted: 1/9/22 at 12:15am

A great idea from Todd Cerveris:

 

It’s time for a new tradition in the American theater. One that would be not only professionally valuable and profoundly inspiring, but also a financially profitable, very shrewd business move for producers:

The UnderSunday Performance (#UnderSunday)

Charlotte St. Martin notwithstanding, these past few weeks have proven what anyone who actually works in the trenches of our industry has long known:

Understudies are the first responders - the life support system of the American theater. That includes standbys, swings, and onstage covers.

These are unusual times, surely, in which an understudy is any long-running show is virtually guaranteed a chance to go on. It’s a harried, manic, and almost always wildly successful performance which is fueled by adrenaline, sweat, and the sheer talent of an army of performers who are already working bloody, bloody hard, juggling scripts with a rainbow of highlighted lines and scribbled marginalia of IF/THEN statements regarding blocking or quick changes.

Non-COVID times also provide such experiences, if at lower rates. But often understudies begin their performance with an audience groan during the announcement of their substitution. Often they toil and train for weeks and months with no chance to show the skill and talent that earned them the job. 

And always, always, whenever they have any advance notice of an opportunity to perform, they draw dozens of friends and family members who all rush down to support them, filling the coffers of producers and theatre owners. 

SO IMAGINE ONE PERFORMANCE A MONTH, OR EVEN JUST A COUPLE THROUGHOUT THE YEAR, WHICH HIGHLIGHTS THE UNDERSTUDIES.

PRODUCERS: Plan it in advance (maybe even make it a write-off benefit performance for the Actors Fund), and you will PACK the house. Family, friends, theater lovers who always appreciate the chance to support the art form, while also possibly catching a rising star at the start of their career. Your understudies will have a live performance under their belt (invaluable onstage experience for future last-minute placements). And think of the goodwill marketing opportunities for you.

COLLECTORS: Think of the value of a ticket stub or playbill from when Sutton Foster went on for Erin Dilly in THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE in La Jolla, CA. Or when Anthony Hopkins went on for Laurence Olivier in THE DANCE OF DEATH.

UNIONS: You’ve done a good job getting compensation for understudies if and when they go on, but think of the prize you will have won for your members if you fight for a chance at a guaranteed performance for them.

AUDIENCES: Shirley MacLaine, Sutton Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Bernadette Peters, Matthew Morrison, Taye Diggs, Cheyenne Jackson, the list goes on and on … all started as understudies. Imagine a chance to find a yet-to-be-discovered star.

STARS: You get a paid day off. ‘Nuff said. Come back to work on Tuesday.

There’s a lot of lip service paid to the notion that we in the theater are “one, big family.” It’s usually just a line for promotional copy or contract negotiations. But here’s a chance to live up to the ideal.

It’s a win-win-win-win-win. 
FOR EVERYONE.

Repost, rewrite, retweet. 
(Anybody know Hugh Jackman?)

Make some noise. 
#UnderSunday

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 1/9/22 at 12:18am

Yes to all of this! I would buy affordable tickets to many of these performances in an instant. 

 

[BroadwayRox3588]

Posted: 1/9/22 at 12:21am

If this became a thing, Sunday trips to the theatre would become a weekly tradition, for me.

[LarryD2]

Posted: 1/9/22 at 10:08am

I'm not sure if this is common practice anymore, but the Old Vic in London used to have a tradition of reserving one performance of a run where the understudy would go on in the leading role, while the star would appear in a smaller ensemble role. Something like that might be fun -- consider, for example, a performance of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD where the actor playing Atticus Finch appeared as a member of the jury while the understudy played the lead.

[adotburr]

Posted: 1/9/22 at 10:11am

I plan most of the shows I see around when understudies are on so I would love this!! 

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 1/9/22 at 11:27am

What an awesome idea, thanks for sharing Dolly. 

[Tag]

Posted: 1/9/22 at 11:50am

Dollypop, that sound you hear is Carol Channing rolling in her grave.

Why should the "stars" or principals get a paid day off?  That makes zero sense.  If they are doing 7 shows a week, they should get paid accordingly.  Would they agree to that?  Would AEA?  The league would never agree to pay a principal salary AND the understudy bump-up.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 1/9/22 at 12:05pm

This would have to be a term of AEA negotiation, but similarly I would like to see more transparency about the cast for any given performance. Most times I avoid understudies if I'm seeing a show for the first time, but in some cases where I dislike the principal performer I would seek out a performance when they're out –– whether the absence is known a week in advance, the morning of the show, or two hours before the show. Having this greater transparency would also make Dolly's suggestion irrelevant.

As always, any scheme that encourages ticket sales at face-value premium prices should be considered. This feels like something that only benefits discount-hunters.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 1/9/22 at 5:20pm

I have to agree.....selling this to as a paid day off will never fly. Actors already have paid time off....and you're suggesting (possibly) another 12?  And what happens when you put all the understudies in, and there are people that need to call out? And who pays for this? We do. The customer ALWAYS pays.

 

Dont get me wrong, I enjoy understudies - I've seldom been disappointed - but I think there are far fewer people that would PLAN for this excursion than your plan would need.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 1/9/22 at 9:53pm

This is not my idea. I was passing along something Todd Cerveris had pisted.