Their tweets are: "We will not have confirmation about Mr. Cumming being in the show until after 6 pm." and "We're still waiting to hear. We'll announce it as soon as we know."
I don't see how that reads as they expect him to be in the show tonight, more like they have no idea.
If I asked Roundabout whether I would be able to see Alan if I came on May 7, then it would make sense to say they expect him to be playing the role that day. But not in the middle of a flu where they are deciding one performance at a time whether he can do it.
"I don't really know what people don't understand about this, understudies not being rehearsed before previews begin is a pretty common occurrence. As someone else said, all of the rehearsal time allotted is being devoted to rehearsing the actors who will be playing the roles on a regular basis and there isn't time/money/personnel to separately rehearse the understudies in the tracks they are covering. This is a pretty unusual circumstance, and I'm sure Cumming is pretty ill to not go on, especially in the first week of previews."
I think we understand but my feelings are that it would probably have been cheaper in the end to find time and invest in rehearsing an understudy beforehand, instead of cancelling a performance. I don't buy that they couldn't have done this if they planned it in advance. They chose to take a risk because, as you mentioned, it is probably unusual for a star to be out in the first week. But that risk didn't pay off in this instance.
I suppose if it is so unusual though then over the long-term they would save money not rehearsing vs rehearsing across all their shows. But still. I don't believe they couldn't plan to do this. They just chose not to. It didn't seem to take long to rehearse the understudy in the end :P.
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
In this case it is not so much an expense issue as a time issue. No matter how willing you are to spend extra money, you can't manufacture time where it does not exist. And it is also well to remember that it is not just a matter of rehearsing the emcee understudy-those covering his multiple regular tracks also have to be put in. So they got it done for this afternoon but not last night. Sounds pretty heroic. I guess if it was stupid we will hear in due course.
I saw the matinee today and I was really impressed with Leeds. I would have loved to see Alan in the role, but I also was excited to see someone else in the role. At first you could tell he was a little tense, but he really got into it as the show went on and impressed me! He only had one little slip-up with the words during "Money, Money" but for someone who had one rehearsal, and filling in for Alan, he did a wonderful job