Understudies are gods

Me and my understudy for Motel from a few summers ago when I was in a large-scale outdoor production of Fiddler on the Roof became instant friends, and everytime we left the theatre after the show the stage door groupies would ask us if we were twins or brothers. On my nights off I would try and catch him in the role and he was AMAZING, I was always so proud and releived to know the show was in very capable hands.

Understudies have it tough, and they need to be shown lots of love.

Akiva

Lisa Brescia is divine as the Marian Halcombe understudy in the Broadway production of The Woman in White.

i'm sad I can't think of any amazing understudy stories, but they are indeed gods. Swings are also among the most amazing people. ever. learn all ensemble and even some principal tracks. amahzing.

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"The only way I would have known she was an understudy was that she went slightly flat in the opening opera-ish notes."

interesting. You do know that leads often go flat as well during songs? Not often, as in all the time, but often as in it happens. I've just never heard that reasoning before. Usually the only way I can tell are from the little white slips in my playbill and more often than not, understudies are completely up to par with the actual leads.

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"I adore Joe Cassidy and Laura Marie Duncan, understudies in DRS. They're both wonderful, talented, and I've chatted w/ them quite a bit and they're two of the sweetest people in theatre."

Joe Cassidy is who I saw when I went in July. He was wonderful! In fact I liked his voice better than the OCR.
Stephen Buntrock & Tim Martin-Gleason are excellent when they understudy the role of the Phantom.

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Wickedrentq--I haven't heard Joe Cassidy, but I wouldn't be surprised if you were right. (ducking) I absolutely adore Norbert Leo Butz. I think he's an amazing actor, and, while I think he's a very good singer, his actual tone isn't really that great. The thing that makes it ok is that he has such an amazing presence on stage! It even comes through in recordings! When it comes down to it, a lot of big names don't have "perfect" voices, but they have so much more that more than makes up for it.

As for understudy stories--I saw the tour of Wicked fairly early on in the tour, and saw Emily Rozen (sp?) as Glinda. She was fabulous!!! I had seen Wicked with the original cast very shortly after it opened in New York, and in some ways I liked Emily's interpretation even better. I felt especially lucky since, at that point, Kendra was getting shakey reviews.

I saw David Michael Felty go on as Valjean, and he didn't find out until 10 minutes before curtain. By then he had also shaved off most of his beard (they were about to go on hiatus again), so he had to wear a partial makeup beard. :)

I've seen Felty several times, and he's fantastic, but that was certainly one of his more memorable performances...

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i've always appreciated the idea of understudies being on for some reason. hell when i went to see millie before it closed i was genuinely happy to see an understudy (emily rozek, now the tour glinda u/s) playing the title role

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Linda Mugleston is AMAHZING!

Not sure if I have a story, though......

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Not only do they have to learn all of the lines and blocking, but they have to be able to go in front of an audience full of people who potentially hate you for the sheer fact that the usual actor isn't there. For example, Brad Oscar going on for Nathan during The Producers.

I don't know how they do it but they have my upmost respect and admiration.

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I love understudies sometimes--other times, not.

But, the way I see it...sometimes they're so underappreciated, and the audience tends to be not so happy with them!

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Curiously, when I've gone to see National Tours that have come to my town, I've usually seen understudies for the main role, and loved them.

For example:
Didn't see Carly Jibson in Hairspray, saw Keala Settle instead. JOY!

The first time I saw Mamma Mia! I saw Tony Clements as Sam (he was the understudy at the time). Loved his performance! (And then, to sweeten the deal, two years later, I saw him again HEADLINING the role, and got to talk to him at stage door, which was amazing.) But I digress.

Yes, understudies, even if they're a notch below the lead performer (and usually they aren't) they definitely deserve love

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