Understudy-Palooza Weekend- Page 2

[RippedMan]

Posted: 5/28/18 at 9:02pm

Seeing understudies does make you appreciate what a true “star” can bring to a role. I saw “Something Rotten” for Will Chase, but he was out, and his understudy was fine, but having seen Borle, can appreciate all the little things he brought to the role.

Also, something of a speculation, by I feel like shows nowadays are more difficult than they were. Vocally a lot of these shows are taxing and exhausting. Just listening to Mean Girls, I can’t imagine how Barrett W gets through that 8x a week.

[kade.ivy]

Posted: 5/28/18 at 9:20pm

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!

[kade.ivy]

Posted: 5/28/18 at 9:22pm

ActorGuyIL said: "On our trip this weekend, hubby and I got LOTS of understudies: Carrie in Carousel, Barnabyand Ernestina in Dolly, Spongebob in Spongebob, Freddy in MFL. All of the understudies were great (especially Scarlett Walker as Carrie), but it’sstill a dissapointment. Note to self: dont plan NYC trips on holiday weekends."

Which performance of MFL did you see? Donica was in Saturday night when I saw it. 

[sorano916]

Posted: 5/29/18 at 12:19am

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.

[Scarlet Leigh]

Posted: 5/29/18 at 1:52am

Everyone has to start somewhere and I have past playbill slips to prove it. They are understudies now but in a few years, you can look back and realize you saw a Tony nominee or even winner before they got their break. Looking back at old playbills, and the understudy slips, while I think both eventually took over the roles full time, they were still understudies when I saw Christopher Jackson play Simba in Lion King and my Link at Hairspray was Andrew Randells.

[ActorGuyIL]

Posted: 5/29/18 at 9:36am

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

Sunday matinee. 

[singer234]

Posted: 5/29/18 at 9:52am

I saw a young Leslie Kritzer go on as Tracy in Hairspray about 13 years ago. What a crazy surprise.

[mikem]

Posted: 5/29/18 at 10:04am

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.

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 5/29/18 at 10:20am

I think people lamenting the days when performers supposedly never called out may not be taking into account things like the equity rules about announcing understudies, particularly chorus and ensemble understudies, to an audience have changed significantly in the past decades.

I’m sure people called out regularly then too, but producers weren’t necessarily obligated to make that information public to an audience in the ways they must now do. And of course it goes without saying that the shows today are arguably more taxing in the sense that in the 50s and 60s you had a separate singing and dancing ensemble, and now it is a performer is expected to do both (on things like heavily raked stages) which also weren’t so much a thing back in the day.

So well yes I think it is true the general work ethic of all people today isn’t what it was 50 years ago, I certainly recognize what a physically grueling job is doing a Broadway show eight times a week and have never been disappointed in any understudy I have seen go on.

[Nycat63]

Posted: 5/29/18 at 10:50am

The only time I got to see Rent (other than the first couple of tours) Norbert Leo Butz was Adam Pascal’s understudy. In fact, I believe he was a swing. While there’s almost nothing that comes close to Adam’s rock tenor for me, Norbert was spectacular and made me forget that I wasn’t seeing Adam. And look at him now.

However, as someone who has to travels to NYC for Broadway fixes and can usually only see each show once as a result, I do understand that feeling of seeing a slip in the playbill and praying it’s not for a principal cast member or someone you have your heart set on seeing - even though you understand it’s always possible.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 5/29/18 at 11:52am

Has it always been 8 shows a week? 

Also, taking into account a 5 show weekend is ROUGH as a performer. Double days back to back is just grueling. 

[newintown]

Posted: 5/29/18 at 12:41pm

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.

[Nycat63]

Posted: 5/29/18 at 2:20pm

newintown said: "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."

While I can’t agree with that as a general rule, I will admit to being one of those people who is super disappointed when I get an understudy in a significant role (first thing I do is look for the “dreaded slip” and hold my breath until I see if it’s for a major role or not).  It’s not a lack of respect for the talent or hard work of the understudy - on the contrary my hat is off to them - it’s just tough to have one shot to see a show and not see the original cast as it was intended to be and as I had hoped.  But I can’t say there haven’t been understudies who truly impressed me.  

 

Updated On: 5/29/18 at 02:20 PM

[dramamama611]

Posted: 5/29/18 at 2:32pm

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.

[10086sunset]

Posted: 5/29/18 at 2:33pm

Carol Channing wouldn't have called out.

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 5/29/18 at 2:35pm

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.

[Jay Williams]

Posted: 5/29/18 at 3:01pm

MERMAN.............almost never missed  (will someone get her at least an alley sign that says Ethel Merman Way or Ethel Merman was heard here, etc.).   Harvey Fierstein was not amused when so many kids would call out during Hairspray.............and he was right.   8 a week:  not easy especially on weekends when there can be five in a row.  But this is Bway and people know what they are in for when they sign on and as many leading men and women point out,  you have to be almost a nun or whatever in the downtime. We are responsible to the audience............     People do get a reputation:  and if they abuse the way things are done,  it will haunt them.   

 

Ru

[Eliza2]

Posted: 5/29/18 at 3:07pm

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.

[broadway86]

Posted: 5/29/18 at 3:09pm

Saw SpongeBob last week and the only understudy was Matt Wood for Mr. Krabs. He was absolutely perfect in the role, as small as it is, to the point where I couldn't imagine Brian Norris delivering it any better.

[JudyDenmark]

Posted: 5/29/18 at 9:12pm

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.)

[RicardoMagon]

Posted: 5/29/18 at 9:55pm

Scarlet Leigh said: "Everyone has to start somewhere and I have past playbill slips to prove it. They are understudies now but in a few years, you can look back and realize you saw a Tony nominee or even winner before they got their break. Looking back at old playbills, and the understudy slips, while I think both eventually took over the roles full time, theywere still understudies when I saw Christopher Jackson play Simba in Lion King and my Link at Hairspray was Andrew Randells."

Please go into detail on how Christopher Jackson was as Simba. I've always wanted to see his performance as Simba. I knew he understudied the role but wasn't sure if he ever went on. You were so lucky to get to see him.

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 5/29/18 at 10:23pm

Understudies for both Anna and Elsa were on tonight

[theaterdude2]

Posted: 5/29/18 at 10:25pm

when I was young, my mom took me to see BENT with RIchard Gere. We had no idea what the play was about, only that we wanted to see Richard Gere who was a BIG movie star at the time. When we got to the theater, they told everyone that he wouldn't be performing that night so we went to the box office to get refunded. The guy in the BO said "Oh, but don't you want to see David Duke? He's wonderful!" Not knowing any better and seeing how late it was, we stayed. It turned out to be one of the most uncomfortable evenings in the theatre I've ever had, but not because of the understudy. I'm still sorry we decided to stay. 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 5/29/18 at 10:49pm

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. 

[mikem]

Posted: 5/29/18 at 11:01pm

"And yet, there are seldom absences that weekend."

Last year, Josh Groban was out for the Saturday matinee before the Tonys, and Ben Platt also missed shows that weekend.  Both performed on the Tonys.  There are similar stories in previous years.   I don't blame people for calling out.  The voting is over, and it's important to have a good performance on camera.