When a situation happens during a play....

Yup! Understudies/stand-bys can replace at anytime during the peformance.

I've seen it a few times. During Shogun when the set fell on top of the lead. During Spamalot when Patsy got sick. Other times too, but I can't recall. I'm sure others will chime in soon.

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Idina's fall, anybody?

Bernadette getting physically sick during "You Can't Get A Man With A Gun" in AGYG, walking offstage, coming back on trying again, walking off again, the curtain closing and Valerie Wright coming on 15 minutes later. She was apparently brilliant.

When we saw Beauty , the actor playing the Gaston was replaced in act 2 with his understudy . No explanation was given

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mr - I was there too. Although it looked to me like it was the understudy in Act One too, only Jen called out too late to put a slip in.

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During the early run of RENT on Broadway, Daphne lost her voice towards the end of "Out Tonight". She bravely continued the whole scene that followed it, which was painful to witness (you could FEEL her pain). When the next Mimi scene came on, her understudy took over. Since this switch was in mid-performance, the "for the remainder of the show, the role of Mimi will be performed by..." was done at the start of Act 2.

During the short Broadway run of BIG, the lead actor playing the kid was replaced by his understudy in Act 2 -- they gave the standard 'replacement' announcement at the start of Act 2. BUT the original actor came back to finish Act 2, which was a bit confusing. What was admirable was that for the curtain call, both actors shared their curtain call.

When I saw the national tour of "Hairspray" in March, Keala Settle performed the role of Tracy for Act 1. She was utterly fantastic, and I was very happy with her performance. Intermission went over by about ten minutes, so I had a feeling something was wrong.

Eventually, the conductor popped out of the orchestra pit and apologized for the delay. An announcement was made that for the remainder of the performance, the role of Tracy would be played be Christine Dannelson (Keala's standby,) and right away the music started and the show went on. Christine ended up being just as great as Keala, but it was deffinetly an experience to see one role played by two different actors over the course of the same show.

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Updated On: 9/3/06 at 08:30 PM

Let's see if I get this right - Illinois Shakespeare Festival - Juliet running backstage mid-show, trips over a pipe, breaks nose and u/s goes on with book. U/S played Juliet for the opening.

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yeah and actually the john lloyd young thing happened again last friday.

he no longer performs any matinee shows.

More in this thread

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What about in a situation if someone's wife/girlfriend is about to give birth, can their boyfriend/husband just leave the stage?

Updated On: 9/4/06 at 03:04 PM

I was there for the Daniel Davis incident and it's something I'll never forget. He stopped mid-"With You On My Arm." The audience had no idea it wasn't part of the show when he yelled for the orchestra to stop. John Hillner got his crash course in choreography while Harvey did a stand-up/Q&A session. When they returned to the stage, Gary Beach started off with "Ladies and Gentlemen, meet my new husband!"

Hillner was phenominal for having no rehearsal. He was visibly uncomfortable for Act One, but looked like he'd been doing it for years in Act Two. Gary made a very nice speech following the show.