What, what, what?!?! A Dame Edna UNDERSTUDY!?!??!

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 2/17/10 at 3:43pm

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Riedel_Musto_DiLella_Name_Scott_Mason_Dame_Edna_Understudy_for_ALL_ABOUT_ME_20100217

That's like having a Pee Wee Herman understudy!

[ifuweregay93]

Posted: 2/17/10 at 3:47pm

This isn't the first time it's happened, I don't think.

Maybe I'm wrong, though.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 2/17/10 at 3:50pm

"honorary": (adj) given as an honor without the normal duties

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 2/17/10 at 3:58pm

A Dame Edna Replacement????? NEVER, NEVER, NEVER!!!!! Should the Dame be indisposed (highly unlikely, given her pedigree and her loyalty to her millions of subjects), the performance should be cancelled -- just like Hugh Jackman was indispensable to Boy From Oz, so is the Glorious Dame indispensable to anything in which she appears. Think of the OUTRAGE if her fans went to the theatre in the hopes of catching even a glimpse of their Queen, only to be told she would not appear. The theatre would be in RUINS and it would take Broadway years -- no, decades -- to recover!!!

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 2/17/10 at 4:01pm

Guys, this is what was known on I LOVE LUCY as "one of Jerry's crazy publicity stunts."

As Joe points out, "honorary" means it ain't gonna happen.

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 2/17/10 at 4:23pm

The original casting notice, posted on Playbill February 8:

http://www.playbill.com/jobs/find/job_detail/28851.html

Again: Honorary. Not paid.

[Patash]

Posted: 2/17/10 at 11:01pm

Can you imagine going to All About Me and hearing, "Tonight the role of Dame Edna will be played by _____ and the role of Michael Feinstein will be played by ____________"?

[dramamama611]

Posted: 2/17/10 at 11:06pm

Question: aren't they REQUIRED by Equity to officially have understudies?

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 2/17/10 at 11:07pm

Not in a special event like this, I don't think. Liza didn't have an understudy for LIZA'S AT THE PALACE.

[morosco]

Posted: 2/17/10 at 11:11pm

Lily Tomlin listed Zinka Milanov as her standby in the "Appearing Nitely" playbill.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 2/17/10 at 11:18pm

Good Point, Yero...and thank you.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 2/17/10 at 11:55pm

In plays and musicals an understudy is required. Not for concerts/special events. So yes, an understudy is required as this is a play.

A friend of mine understudied a big film/tv star. She had to learn the lines, learn the role, and learn the track, even though she was told up front that if the star was out, the performance would be cancelled. Sure enough, the star was out and the matinee was cancelled. My friend was backstage and ready to go on, but it wasn't her decision. Plus, the star was a larger size than she and a second costume was never to fit her.

She said it was the easiest money she ever made. Show up to the theatre, hang out for a bit, leave 30 mins into the show. Never needed to get into hair or makeup.

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 2/17/10 at 11:59pm

Humphries used the name Marge Allsop as the Standby for Dame Edna's previous Broadway shows.

[alterego]

Posted: 2/18/10 at 12:51am

I think it could be fellow Melbournian Zoe Caldwell.

[mshetina]

Posted: 2/18/10 at 1:42am

The actress who played "Madge Allsop" on Dame Edna's TV specials died last year, so I'd assume that's why they're not using the name this time.

EDIT: Sorry, Emily Perry died in 2008. Updated On: 2/18/10 at 01:42 AM

[Patash]

Posted: 2/18/10 at 7:59am

Actually MADGE Alsop was an actual character in some of the Dame Edna stage productions as well as on the TV specials. Surely if that name was used for an understudy, it was just a sort of "in" joke.

I miss Madge, she was the perfect foil to the Dame, and took tons of abuse.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 2/18/10 at 9:55am

I think my favorite Dame Edna joke ever was at poor Madge's expense. Edna was interviewing Lauren Bacall, and she asked if, as she grew older, Bacall ever thought of "doing something desperate."

Edna confessed that she herself had; that she often imagined going out onto the balcony and pushing Madge off it. "I could just hear the wind whistling through her knickers. . . . Of course, you can hear that now, if you listen."