boeing boeing. There is no understudy for rylance. What happens?
boeing boeing. There is no understudy for rylance. What happens?
brucewayne
Swing Joined: 6/14/08
#1boeing boeing. There is no understudy for rylance. What happens?
Posted: 9/7/08 at 11:36amI am reviewing my playbill from Boeing Boeing and I see that there is no understudy for Mark Rylance. What happens if he is sick or cannot perform. Will the show be cancelled?
#2re: boeing boeing. There is no understudy for rylance. What happens?
Posted: 9/7/08 at 12:44pmHe has an understudy, but he is not listed in the playbill. I can't remember the actor's name, but it is listed on the cast board in the lobby.
#2re: boeing boeing. There is no understudy for rylance. What happens?
Posted: 9/7/08 at 12:52pm
He's a professional stage actor from England.
They never call off. Unless they're dead. So I guess they need an understudy in case that happens.
kmc
Jesus saves. I spend.
#3re: boeing boeing. There is no understudy for rylance. What happens?
Posted: 9/7/08 at 1:01pm
Mark Rylance is invincible. An understudy is unnecessary. :3
myManCape
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/26/05
#4re: boeing boeing. There is no understudy for rylance. What happens?
Posted: 9/7/08 at 1:01pm
They preform the show without anyone in the part. During his lines the rest of the cast looks awkwardly at the audience.
The show must go on.
"Have they come yet?"
#5re: boeing boeing. There is no understudy for rylance. What happens?
Posted: 9/7/08 at 1:30pmThe actor's name is Peter Benson. If he goes on, he gets a large insert in the program with his photo and bio.
#6re: boeing boeing. There is no understudy for rylance. What happens?
Posted: 9/7/08 at 1:31pmHas Mark Rylance ever missed a performance of Boeing, Boeing -- either here or in London?
bossbear062
Understudy Joined: 9/5/08
#8re: boeing boeing. There is no understudy for rylance. What happens?
Posted: 9/7/08 at 6:15pmi heard a rumor that Cheyenne Jackson is his understudy..you know the guy with the shorts
Dollypop
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#9re: boeing boeing. There is no understudy for rylance. What happens?
Posted: 9/7/08 at 9:38pmPeter Benson? The same actor who was in LITTLE ME and WONDERFUL TOWN? The same Peter Benson who is now in TO BE OR NOT TO BE? That is the question!
"Long live God!" (GODSPELL)
Dollypop
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#10re: boeing boeing. There is no understudy for rylance. What happens?
Posted: 9/7/08 at 9:38pmPeter Benson? The same actor who was in LITTLE ME and WONDERFUL TOWN? The same Peter Benson who is now in TO BE OR NOT TO BE? That is the question!
"Long live God!" (GODSPELL)
#11re: boeing boeing. There is no understudy for rylance. What happens?
Posted: 9/7/08 at 9:39pmHe has perhaps left the cast now, but his name was the one up on the cast list in the lobby when I was there in July, yes.
#12re: boeing boeing. There is no understudy for rylance. What happens?
Posted: 9/7/08 at 10:44pm
Yeah, Peter Benson was his understudy, but has now left to do TO BE OR NOT TO BE.
I guess they're looking for another. In the meantime, I imagine they're just praying Rylance won't fall ill. (Or else Ray Virta is learning both parts.)
ShbrtAlley44
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/1/03
#13re: boeing boeing. There is no understudy for rylance. What happens?
Posted: 9/7/08 at 10:46pmRylance would probably have to be on death's door to miss a show.
elphaba.scares.me
Broadway Star Joined: 10/23/04
#14re: boeing boeing. There is no understudy for rylance. What happens?
Posted: 9/7/08 at 10:51pm
You're not allowed to have a role on Broadway with no understudy. So someone knows the role.
#15re: boeing boeing. There is no understudy for rylance. What happens?
Posted: 9/8/08 at 2:00am
Not true--unless they've recently made that rule. Back when Brian Dennehy (sp?) was doing "Death of a Salesman" on Broadway, he was having some health issues and since he had no understudy, they had to cancel the show for several days in a row.
Honestly, Mark Rylance is the only reason that show made the transfer to Broadway, and the only real reason to see it. The rest of the cast is good, but the material is very weak, IMO. If he's out sick, they might as well just cancel the show and refund the audience their tickets.
In any case, I find it strange that Peter Benson was not listed in the Playbill. Was it some ego thing on Rylance's part because he didn't want an understudy? If I were Benson I would have been pissed that I wasn't in the program like everyone else.
Smaxie
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/26/05
#16re: boeing boeing. There is no understudy for rylance. What happens?
Posted: 9/8/08 at 2:09amSome actors serving as an understudy or standby choose not to be listed in the Playbill - and that happens quite often (an example that comes to mind: Lizbeth MacKay, who stood by as Sister Aloysius in Doubt, was not listed in the Playbill). If Peter Benson was not listed in the Boeing Boeing Playbill, it was surely by his choice, and had absolutely nothing to do with Mark Rylance.
Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.
#17re: boeing boeing. There is no understudy for rylance. What happens?
Posted: 9/8/08 at 2:38am
Interesting. I don't quite understand that mentality, but if he didn't want to be in the Playbill, then I guess it's okay.
I had noticed that Cherry Jones didn't have a standby listed either--guess that explains it. Even if you're dealing with an actor who has a great attendence record and is a real trooper, you gotta have all your bases covered. Things happen--traffic jams, medical emergencies, etc.
#18re: boeing boeing. There is no understudy for rylance. What happens?
Posted: 9/8/08 at 6:48am
I don't think Rylance is the reason the show transferred. Most people over here have no idea who he is.
Also, Dennehy had an understudy in Salesman, they just chose not to use him because they knew he was the star attraction. The same thing happened with Hugh Jackman in The Boy from Oz. When he couldn't perform, they canceled the performance, rather than use one of his two understudies.
DefyGravity777
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/28/08
#19re: boeing boeing. There is no understudy for rylance. What happens?
Posted: 9/8/08 at 9:13amLisa Brescia was never listed in the Playbill as standby Elphaba in Wicked either. That has nothing to do with what's begin discussed in here though so carry on....lol.
Don't believe everything that you hear! Only the peeps involved know the truth!
#20re: boeing boeing. There is no understudy for rylance. What happens?
Posted: 9/8/08 at 10:08amIt actually does, because when she went on, she got the large insert with her photo and bio on it, just like Benson and other uncredited understudies would.
#21re: boeing boeing. There is no understudy for rylance. What happens?
Posted: 9/8/08 at 12:52pmI still don't get why an actor would not want to be in the Playbill. Being a Broadway standby or understudy is an honor. Actors are so weird (me included).
DefyGravity777
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/28/08
#22re: boeing boeing. There is no understudy for rylance. What happens?
Posted: 9/8/08 at 2:56pmI agree with you(about the using the Playbill and not that actors are weird). From my experience in the theatre my Playbill never has the white papers(understudy/standby slips) so I'm always lost as to who is onstage epecially if it's a show I never saw and know nothing about. When I saw Les Mis for the first time I had about 10 understudies and never knew it until I found all those white slips of paper scattered around my feet during curtain call.
Don't believe everything that you hear! Only the peeps involved know the truth!
Ole Chum
Leading Actor Joined: 12/6/07
#23re: boeing boeing. There is no understudy for rylance. What happens?
Posted: 9/8/08 at 3:01pm
I'm pretty sure Vanessa Redgrave didnt have an understudy in the revival of Long Days Journey Into Night.
I think some u/s prefer NOT to be listed in the playbill so that they can get the special insert...
Cape Twirl of Doom
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/2/05
#24re: boeing boeing. There is no understudy for rylance. What happens?
Posted: 9/8/08 at 3:41pm
You're not allowed to have a role on Broadway with no understudy. So someone knows the role.
Not true. When Kevin Spacey performed the lead in THE ICEMAN COMETH in 1999, he had no understudy.
"It's Phantom meets Hamlet... Phamlet!"
#25re: boeing boeing. There is no understudy for rylance. What happens?
Posted: 9/8/08 at 3:45pmI don't remember whether or not Vanessa Redgrave technically had an understudy for Long Day's Journey Into Night, but Pamela Peyton-Wright played the role for a week when Redgrave was out due to her mother's death.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
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