So with BroadwayGirlNYC latest story I started thinking about understudies that had a chance to play the role full time and the ones who did not... The first that come to mind Meghan Fay and Alexandra Socha
Jessica Phillips and Michael Berry are leaps and bounds better than Marin Mazzie and Jason Danieley, and in a perfect world, would have taken over.
I agree with ljay regarding Jayne Paterson- she was fine, but nothing worth headlining the first Broadway. Ditto Karen Murphy when I saw her as Madame Armfeldt.
I agree about Jessica Phillips, I really wish she had taken over. I would agree about Michael but I also liked him as the doctors, so I'd rather him understudy both than only stick to one.
Meghann Fahy does not fall into the category because she does in fact play the role full-time now.
And Bernadette Peters never understudied the role, so that's not a good answer either. Bernadette has probably never understudied anything in her life. Haha
Jenny DiNoia needs to become a full time Elphaba somewhere. And I actually think Brian Crum is better as Henry, even though he's great at both. If he took over for Gabe though, KDM should be Fiyero in Wicked.
Other than those two shows, the understudies for the leads in Memphis are actually amazing, so maybe them.
Booth Theatre, (5/18/1967 - 5/20/1967) Preview: May 17, 1967 Total Previews: 2 Opening: May 18, 1967 Closing: May 20, 1967 Total Performances: 4
Category: Play, Comedy, Original, Broadway
Opening Night Cast
Susan Brown Barbara Leonard Bruce Hyde Peter Wellman Marjorie Lord Paula Maugham Heather North Leslie Maugham Russell Nype Dr. Alec Rice Alan Young Dr. Dewey Maugham
Standbys: Bernadette Peters (Leslie Maugham), Peter Turgeon (Dr. Alec Rice, Dr. Dewey Maugham), Julie Wilson (Barbara Leonard, Paula Maugham).
And Bernadette Peters never understudied the role, so that's not a good answer either. Bernadette has probably never understudied anything in her life. Haha
Actually, she was the understudy for June in the Gypsy national tour when she was 13. Her mother changed her bio to say that she played June full-time.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
Please don't jump on me because I can't remember the actor's full name & I don't want to take a stab at it for fear I'll really butcher it. About a year or 2 before "Miss Saigon" closed, there was an understudy named Paul Something. He was infinitely better than the regular Engineer. The regular actor was not at all without talent, but he was from China & his accent was so strong it was very difficult for an American audience to follow. I saw both of them do the role dozens of times & Paul was much more engaging, revolting, scary, etc.
I will strongly disagree with adamgreer who said that Michael Berry ought to be playing Dan. I've seen him once, Bobby twice, Brian three times, and now, Jason once. I loved every single one of them except Michael. He was so emotionally out-of-touch with the show that it took me out of it too. His voice was nice, but I needed something more from his Dan, acting-wise. I thought Jason was wonderful and am glad that he and Marin have taken over.
I do, however, love Jessica Phillips and was always half-hoping she'd be on instead of Alice just for a different experience.
This was when Wicked was back on their 3rd round of replacement leads and I saw Katie Adams go on as Glinda who was easily good enough to have played the role full time after Kate Reinders left.