Who was the best understudy you have ever seen! — Page 3

Dany'elle Williamson as Felicia in Memphis

Tari Kelly as Reno in Anything Goes

Meghann Fahy as Natalie in Next to Normal before she took over

Eric Sciotto as Shakespeare in Something Rotten

The evening I saw Falsettos, close to the end of its run, Anthony Rosenthal (who played Jason) got sick halfway through and his standby, Peyton Lusk, came on just for act ii. Incredible kid, told us at stage door he'd never gone on before!

Heather Headley as Sarah in RAGTIME's Toronto premiere back in 1996, without question the best understudy performance I ever saw.

Becky Gulsvig in Legally Blonde.

Another nod to Tari Kelly from me, so much so that if I could go back again and choose, I’d take Tari over Sutton. She was phenomenal, the ideal Reno Sweeney.

EDIT: And an honorable mention to Lauren Klein, who went on for Stockard Channing in OTHER DESERT CITIES. We were so disappointed to discover Ms. Channing was out since she was a big factor in our interest in the production, but Ms. Klein evaporated that disappointment within minutes of her entrance.

Updated On: 3/18/17 at 09:10 AM

Another vote fo Laura Shoop as Amalia in Roundabouts' SHE LOVES ME. She was utterly glorious. I fell in love with her, and so did the rest of the audience. Her rapport with Zachary Levi was delightful, and I much prefer her singing of the score to Benanti.

Two of the best understudies I ever saw were both in Twyla Tharp productions. Makes sense.... understudies and swings in a Tharp show have to be ridiculous to handle multiple tracks. The first being John Selya's understudy in Movin' Out. I can't for the life of me remember his name, but he was a revelation. I don't think he was the alternate because I believe Rasta Thomas was at the time, but I could be wrong... The other, was Keith Richardson's understudy in Come Fly Away. I'm a huge fan of Keith's dancing and was extremely bummed he was out, but whoever his understudy was blew me away.



Also, I absolutely loved Lauren Patten when I saw her go on for Medium Alison. I think I even preferred her take on the role over Emily's. Both were brilliant though.

I also saw Gregory Treco as Burr and the riffs at the end of Wait For It were incredible.

Jevon Mcferrin as Hamilton was AMAZING

Elizabeth Judd as Angelica was absolutely perfect

I also loved Lili Cooper as Elphaba!

Anthony Sagaria as Fiyero on the Wicked Nat'l Tour! It was his debut, and he freaking amazing

Andrew Call in Groundhog Day

Matthew Dickens as Chris in Miss Saigon back in 1993.

OK, this is going way back, but it was an unforgettable night. The musical was Scarlett, the Harold Rome adaptation of Gone With the Wind starring Lesley Ann Warren. It was 1973, and I saw the show with Lesley first. The following week I was back at the Dorthy Chandler Pavillion in Los Angeles, this time in the rehearsal rooms for an audition. A friend of mine was stage manager on Scarlett, saw me in the hall and pulled me aside and told me they were in chaos. Warren was sick (the pressure on her must have been tremendous: everything on her shoulders, bad reviews, constant fixes going in, and I think she was just separating from Jon Peters at that time).

Anyway, her understudy started rehearsal to go on for her, but she got sick as well and couldn't do it. So they were currently rehearsing Udana Power, who played Melanie, as Scarlett, and putting Udana's understudy in as well. Needless to say, I wanted a ticket to see that.

I can definitely say that Ms. Power's performance was one of the most heroic I have ever seen. What had been dull a week before was now riveting just watching the cast and crew try not to kill each other with mansions and battlefields sailing across the stage. "As God is my witness" they all made it through and got what was maybe the only standing ovation of the LA run.

The show went to San Francisco after that, then Phoenix and I think some other cities, but they never brought it in to Broadway. (Good call, that.)