Understudying - 2007/10/30 15:47Has anyone here ever been an understudy? Share your stories!!
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lls888
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Re:Understudying - 2007/11/30 12:14well, i'm kind of a self appointed understudy for Ophelia in our production of Hamlet. our theatre is too small for real understudies but the thing is it basically came down to me or my friend for the part, but she is taller then me, older then me and had worked with the director before, so 3 strikes i'm out sort of thing. but i know in the past some shows have had to be canceled because for some reason or another one of the leads had to drop out at the last minute, so theres always hope. the worst thing that can happen is nothing, so why not?
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Annie
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Re:Understudying - 2007/11/30 12:49I've only been in one show where we had an understudy and she was my understudy. It was a weird experience. I was doing Fiddler with a dinner theatre and I couldn't do a weekday matinee so the director asked someone he'd worked with before to do it. She wasn't in the show at all, other than to play Tzeitel for the one performance and she had to call them to find out when they were going to rehearse her because both the director and the MD kind of forgot about her. So three days before she had to go on we did this jumpled quick rehearsal between shows and she could only stay an hour.
Well, I guess during the show she messed up Match Maker, and some of the cast members told me how glad they were when I was back because she played the role completely differently than I did. I felt badly for her because it wasn't all her fault that she hadn't been rehearsed properly.~Annie Recently: Pick-A-Little-Lady (The Music Man), Miss Thorn (Ruthless! the Musical), Emma Carew (Jekyll & Hyde)
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Starlet_Actress21
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Re:Understudying - 2007/11/30 16:00I've been an unofficial understudy and had an understudy.
Last year for my dance recital, our Triple Threats class sang Lady's Maid. I ws Kate Murphy and my friend was Kate McGowan. Though she could make both performances, she missed a lot of rehearsals (due to being in the school musical) and she also missed the first run during dress rehearsal. So I became unofficial understudy (unofficial here meaning, they never said "understudy", but whenever she wasn't there, they asked me to sing her part in addition to mine.) It was kind of weird for me just because it was my first time doing anything like thatm and I felt kind of guilty because I loved singing her part and then I was disappointed when she was there to sing it. But it was really fun to do.
I was understudied two yers ago for the Haunted Lantern Tour i do every yer. My part wasn't big, but it was kind of integral to moving along both the plot and the audience. So my second year in the show, I had to miss one of four nights for my school play and the other maid had to miss one for Homecoming (this annoyed me little- I hate when people miss performances for dances... it's not a good enough excuse in my opinion). So we both had understudies following us around. I quite liked my understudy, but she was a bit flighty and I think she saw the part as insignificant and so didn't work very hard at it. When I got back, I heard she didn't do it very well. The other maid's understudy, though, was terrible. She had such an attitude and was talking back to everyone. We were all so relieved when the regular girl came back.Auditioning for: Brigadoon, theatre season, American Music Theatre, Into the Woods, Sound of Music, and AMDA.
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Tay
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Re:Understudying - 2007/12/04 18:50I'm mainly a dancer, and our class did a lecture demo for the school recently. I was understudying for a girl named Emily who is always in class, rehearsals, and shows, so I had an easy job. However, the week before the lec. dem., another girl [and a lead dancer] was sick with stomach lurgy. My best friend was her understudy but couldn't make it to dress or the actual lec dem so I ended up filling in. It's very demanding to be an understudy because you don't get to rehearse as much and have to jump in at the last minute. However, being an understudy trains one to learn more quickly, so I love it. [=
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cythriplethreat
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Re:Understudying - 2007/12/05 18:23Last fall I was inn my first hour class when the director of the fall play came into the class and asked if she could talk to me. She took me outside and told me that one of the leads for the fall play dropped out because she was moving. She asked me to come and learn a Molire play, not an easy task. in one week. I had 5 rehearsals to learn the part, my saving grace was my apron had a pocket in it so I would have my scene in it and look at it offstage. It was a crazy experience to say the least.Melissa
Currently: Stage Manager ~ Suessical
Upcoming Auditions: Princess Cruise Line Damn Yankees High School Musical
Recently: Dancer/Kid in St. Clair Christmas Little Red Riding Hood in Into the Woods Aunt Eller in OKLAHOMA! Narrator in Joseph
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Ross00018
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Re:Understudying - 2008/01/02 21:55I understudies for a singing storyteller in Once On This Island. I never got to perform the role. Thank god(I cou.dn't hit most of the notes properly). I did do some rehearsals though...
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jameala
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Re:Understudying - 2008/01/03 20:25I have only done 3 shows, but astounds me that EVERY show doesn't have understudies. When I did "The Wizard of Oz", I told the one girl in the chorus that she should tell the costume maven to make her a blue gingham dress, because she would stand in for Dorothy when Dorothy had conflicts. She didn't, but thank God we never needed it. If Dorothy got the flu, we would have to cancel the show.
I think it would make sense to tell the person who ONLY wants to play the lead, but didn't quite cut it, that they should let that person be the understudy, and promise them one show where they could play the lead for one show. After all, "the show must go on!"
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Curly Blonde Hair
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Re:Understudying - 2008/01/05 03:23I just recently finished playing Fruma Sarah while being Chava's understudy. I was already the Chava dancer for "Little Chavaleh", so I got to rehearse that a lot. It is hard to be an understudy, especially if you're not another part in the show, because you rehearse with the cast so much less. Being in the cast, I could still watch and see what they had the daughters doing (Chava specifically, of course) and learn it for myself. The thought of actually having to perform it with so little practice would be hard.
I think it's the hardest for kids who are understudies. Our school just recently cast 'Seussical', and I feel so bad for the little boy who was cast as JoJo's understudy. He has to go and learn all the lines and everything, which is hard for little kids, yet he probably won't get to perform the role. But that's how these things go sometimes...This isn't a golf tournament, being loud is more than acceptable!
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TinyDancer2oo8
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Re:Understudying - 2008/01/12 12:02I am (i cannot find an expressive enough word) mad at my high school director for not casting an understudy cast for our spring musical. Traditionally, there has been a main cast and an understudy cast, and the understudy cast did the Wednesday “senior citizen performance” before the weekend the show opened. In a nutshell, his reasoning is that it would be unfair to the main cast to take one performance away from them, and I can see how he makes that deduction even if I don’t agree with it. BUT this year he chose to cast EVERY SINGLE PART with underclassmen. NO SENIORS ARE LEADS. Now many of you who are younger may think this is a great breakthrough in high school fairness, but think about those seniors who have done everything asked of them for three and a half years, organize everything for the director and this is their LAST chance. Everyone in the main cast has at least one more year in this theater, so why would it be so unfair to “deprive” them of one performance when the audience turns off their hearing aids once they sit down?
Btw I am a senior (dance captain 2 years and thespian society president) and when I asked him if he would consider an understudy cast, he assured me that I would have a lead in that cast, but he would not have one.
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broadway4LIFE
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Re:Understudying - 2008/02/05 14:54my friend is the understudy for Audrey in Little Shop, and this is her DREAM ROLE. The thing is, though, the person playing Audrey is never ever going to be sick, so she won't be able to perform her dream role....~ Kaitlin ~ Always Rockin The Boat ~
Favorite Shows: Young Frankenstein, Curtains, Little Shop of Horrors, The Producers Dream Roles that I have NO CHANCE of Getting Because of Something i Have no control over: Ulla from the Producers or Inga from Young Frankenstein (neither tall nor blonde - such a shame too, because this is one of my favorite "character roles" to play), Igor from Young Frankenstein (i'm no man, no matter how many times i play one), Gary Coleman from Avenue Q (skin color) SEEING ON MARCH 29TH ON BROADWAY - YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN ^^ AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
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