Understudy-Palooza Weekend — Page 2

haterobics said: "ActorGuyIL said: "Note to self: dont plan NYC trips on holiday weekends."

You'll never find a formula to guarantee seeing all of the main cast members and no understudies.

I think Charlie Stemp is on vacation, though, and not out sick."

I saw Dolly’s Wednesday matinee, and Charlie was in, as was the rest of the company. I was lucky to have full companies on for all eight shows I saw this week, except for the male ballet soloist in Carousel. Great luck after I missed Danny Burstein in Fiddler and Nathan Lane in The Front Page on my last visit!

jbird5 said: "I was actually happy to see that Brandon Kalm was going on as Dr P in Waitress. He’s a bit young for the role but otherwise he kills it. Nurse Norma had funny ad lib that “He’ Just a junior doctor” and he changed the number of babies he delivered to 22."

Brandon as Pomatter is fun. Yeah, it's a bit young but he's lanky like Drew so it works. I saw him opposite of Stephanie when he first went on and he was awesome. He's also an understudy for Earl and Ogie; I would love to see him go on as the latter because physically he's just so different that it would just be a hoot & a holler.

I like seeing understudies. I understand the need/want to see the main people in their roles, but there's a thrill about having someone else step into the spotlight.

kade.ivy said: "Which performance of MFL did you see? Donica was in Saturday night when I saw it."

Sunday matinee.

It can be very frustrating to see understudies in key roles if there are specific performers you really want to see. When I saw Movin' Out, four of the five main performers were out. When I saw A Chorus Line, the actors playing Cassie, Sheila, and Paul were all out.

Given that it's Tony season, your performers probably weren't on vacation. It used to be pretty safe that the full cast would be in during previews and during Tony season, but that isn't really true anymore.

The big time to avoid is the actual Tony weekend for musicals. If people aren't feeling that great, some will skip performances to conserve their energy for TV, particularly for shows that need a good TV performance to stay open.

In many years of seeing understudies go on in plays and musicals, I can't think of any who I thought were terrific. Most did little more than avoid embarrassing themselves.

mikem said: "It can be very frustrating to see understudies in key roles if there are specific performers you really want to see. When I saw Movin' Out, four of the five main performers were out. When I saw A Chorus Line, the actors playing Cassie, Sheila, and Paul were all out.

Given that it's Tony season, your performers probably weren't on vacation. It used to be pretty safe that the full cast would be in during previews and during Tony season, but that isn't really true anymore.

The big time to avoid is the actual Tony weekend for musicals. If people aren't feeling that great, some will skip performances to conserve their energy forTV, particularly for shows that need a good TV performance to stay open."

And yet, there are seldom absences that weekend.

I don't mind understudies, because I know how much work they put into the show, and when they are understudying the lead of the show, they have talent that is incredible to be able to cover the lead. As someone who grew up on matinees, we would always get understudies, so I grew up with it.

The only time I get frustrated with them is when there is a star I am wanting to see. The understudy usually makes me forget who is suppose to play the role. The only 2 actors that I would have been extremely upset to have understudies for would be Chita Rivera in Drood, and Angela Lansbury in Blithe Spirit.

the only time I've been extremely disappointed was missing Tony Yazbeck in Prince of Broadway. With it being a limited run and me being in from out of town, I was not able to see it again with him in it. Plus, it would have been tough to sit through all that again anyway. I struggled through most of it, and kept thinking that at least getting to see his "The Right Girl" would have made it worth it.

Danielle49 said: "Have there been any understudies on for The Band’s Visit at all since they’ve been at the Barrymore? I haven’t heard about anyone being out? That is, aside from the scheduled absences. The first time I saw it, Etai Benson was on an extended vacation and Daniel David Stewart took over for a bit. He originated the role off-Broadway so it was like no one was out at all."

John Cariani was out when I saw it at the end of March - Pomme Koch was on for Itzik. And of course Tony Shalhoub... though I wish I would've known about his leave when I bought tickets in the fall!

(I loved the show, but will sheepishly admit that I looked up a bootleg after the fact to see what I missed in both of their performances. I thought Dariush Kashani gave a very similar performance to Shalhoub and enjoyed them both, but Koch played it totally differently than Cariani. Koch was perfectly fine in the role and I wouldn't have known if I was missing anything, but I understood why people had been mentioning Cariani's name for a Tony nom. He made Itzik very memorable.)

I don't get why they don't just start double casting Anna and Elsa. It's going to be a constant slew of people calling out. That's a tough role to sing if you aren't "feeling it" that day.