Gender-blind understudying?
Gender-blind understudying?
#1Gender-blind understudying?
Posted: 10/16/15 at 5:30pm
Trying to find examples where a male actor understudied a female actor, or vise-versa. Apart from children's roles in shows like Matilda and Fun Home, the only examples I can currently think of is that Betsy Hogg covered Mrs. Bumbrake and Teddy as well as Molly in Peter and the Starcatcher .
#2Gender-blind understudying?
Posted: 10/16/15 at 5:35pm
Andre Ward understudied Mary Testa and Jackie Hoffman in Xanadu.
#3Gender-blind understudying?
Posted: 10/16/15 at 5:41pm
JoAnn M. Hunter understudied Francis Jue as Bun Foo in Thoroughly Modern Millie.
A1st
Featured Actor Joined: 5/5/14
#4Gender-blind understudying?
Posted: 10/16/15 at 5:49pm
Marisha Wallace, when she was in Aladdin, understudied Babkak.
#5Gender-blind understudying?
Posted: 10/16/15 at 6:23pm
During the run of JEROME ROBBINS' BROADWAY Jack Noseworthy was understudy for Charlotte d'Amboise in the role of Peter Pan. of course that's different because the role is actually male.
On the other hand, IBDB lists him also as the Grandma Tzeitl understudy...
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Updated On: 10/16/15 at 06:23 PM
candydog2
Featured Actor Joined: 8/11/07
#6Gender-blind understudying?
Posted: 10/16/15 at 7:49pm
Every now and then male swings fill in for female ensemble members if there aren't enough female swings and vice versa. It's not uncommon. Sometimes the ensemble member's "track" has to be split between more than one swing though in order for it to work.
AEA AGMA SM
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/13/09
#7Gender-blind understudying?
Posted: 10/16/15 at 8:31pm
That happened a lot on the Legally Blonde tour. A friend of mine was on it and I recall hearing about one weekend (I think it may have been in DC) where there were two guys in wigs filling in during "So Much Better" so they could actually spell out "Elle Woods" at the end of the number because of a mix of planned absences and unplanned injuries decimating the ensemble (the show was already short for that number since they cut an ensemble track when sending it out and had the "S" on a handbag that the final person in the line-up held up).
#8Gender-blind understudying?
Posted: 10/16/15 at 10:34pm
Nathan Lane's original stand-by in ...FORUM, Bob Amaral, stayed on as stand-by when Whoopi Goldberg took over the role. However whenever he went on, the show reverted back to the character being a male instead of the new female incarnation that Whoopi played. Talk about confusing for the rest of the cast! LOL!
<-- Tevye, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, March 2018
#9Gender-blind understudying?
Posted: 10/16/15 at 10:39pm
AEA AGMA SM said: "That happened a lot on the Legally Blonde tour. A friend of mine was on it and I recall hearing about one weekend (I think it may have been in DC) where there were two guys in wigs filling in during "So Much Better" so they could actually spell out "Elle Woods" at the end of the number because of a mix of planned absences and unplanned injuries decimating the ensemble (the show was already short for that number since they cut an ensemble track when sending it out and had the "S" on a handbag that the final person in the line-up held up)."
It's been a while since I've watched the MTV recording of the show, but isn't the "S" always on a handbag?
"Was uns befreit, das muss stärker sein als wir es sind." -Tanz der Vampire
Updated On: 10/16/15 at 10:39 PM
#10Gender-blind understudying?
Posted: 10/16/15 at 10:55pm
It's been a while since I've watched the MTV recording of the show, but isn't the "S" always on a handbag?
No. On Broadway, it was an ensemble member wearing one of the hoodies pictured above.
I know infamously Legally Blonde and Hairspray both had incidents with female swings covering male roles and vice versa. Many a time there was a "Tommy" instead of a Tammy in Hairspray or a female covering one of the Harvard admission gentlemen in Legally Blonde.
"Anybody that goes to the theater, I think we’re all misfits, so we ended up on stage or in the audience.” --- Patti LuPone.
Updated On: 10/17/15 at 10:55 PM
#11Gender-blind understudying?
Posted: 10/16/15 at 11:22pm
Shoshana bean understudied Edna in hairspray
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#12Gender-blind understudying?
Posted: 10/17/15 at 4:21am
Not according to IBDB, who list her as having understudied Tracy and Velma.
#13Gender-blind understudying?
Posted: 10/17/15 at 4:36am
You are correct, Shoshana never understudied Edna.
Fyi Shosana's Tracy was fantastic.
on topic I've seen women fill in for male ensemble roles in "Chicago" when a lot of people have been out. I've also seen guys and gals filling in for ensemble tracks of the opposite gender when a bunch of people were out in "Rent"
ChairinMain said: "Not according to IBDB, who list her as having understudied Tracy and Velma.
"
StephenDeA
Swing Joined: 10/1/06
#14Gender-blind understudying?
Posted: 10/17/15 at 8:30am
While Mykal Kilgore was not a cover for the role of Dionne in the revival of Hair, he was a cover to sing her part in "Aquarius"..
mailhandler777
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/15/15
#15Gender-blind understudying?
Posted: 10/17/15 at 11:10am
Both Tiffany Engen and Kate Rockwell went on as Lowell in Legally Blonde more than once on Broadway.
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