We're roughly 200 performances into Dear Evan Hansen's Broadway run, but I haven't heard any reports of any understudies going on for a night. Has the entire OBC truly gone on for every single performance so far?
Ben Platt, Rachel Bay Jones, Will Roland, Michael Park, and Kristolyn Lloyd have all missed at least one performance. Not sure about Laura Dreyfuss, Jennifer Laura Thompson, or Mike Faist.
"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
Ben Platt, Rachel Bay Jones, Will Roland, Michael Park, and Kristolyn Lloyd have all missed at least one performance. Not sure about Laura Dreyfuss, Jennifer Laura Thompson, or Mike Faist.
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So that means all 5 understudies have been on at some point, yes? Or did Colton Ryan go on for both Ben and Will?
"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
ClumsyDude15 said: "Laura and Mike have both missed performances, but I am not sure about Jennifer Laura Thompson.
Edit: Colton has gone for Ben while Michael has been on for both Connor and Jared. "
Proof that Ben IS Evan.
I always find it interesting when people use actor's names versus character's names. When an actor is so closely connected to a character, I think we default (generally) to the actor's name. I often found that people would often talk about "Leslie" in Hamilton threads, rather than "Burr" but the same didn't go for all cast members.
I know for sure Ben has missed one performance and Laura, Kristolyn and Rachel have all missed a few each. But I do say that cast has a sparkling attendance record, the understudies rarely go on.
I caught the understudies for Michael Park and Laura on the same day. Didn't realise it was as unusual as it seems.
Asa being back made the show feel more like n2n than it already does given he played Dan on the tour :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
MyLife - I totally didn't even realize I had said it that way, but I guess like you said subconsciously sometimes we just connect certain actors with the roles they have played. Not to say anyone couldn't play the role and has obviously since Colton has gone on, but it is hard to separate Ben from the role.
"Anybody that goes to the theater, I think we’re all misfits, so we ended up on stage or in the audience.” --- Patti LuPone.
Bumping this up to ask: how has attendance been as of late? I feel like I've been seeing a lot about the swings/standbys going on! Also: how are the standbys in various roles? I've heard a lot of great things about MLB and Colton Ryan as Evan but not much about the others and would love to hear how they are :) I'm going to see the show at the end of the month and am trying to prepare for not getting to see any part of the original cast.
There has been a lot of swing action post-Tonys. Mike Faist missed his first show (actually two) ever last week/this week, so now they've all been out at one point or another.
Kristolyn Lloyd and Will Roland have already taken full one week vacations, and Jennifer Laura Thompson seems to be out this week. Barring illness, I would assume you'd probably be safe to see those. Ben obviously has been on vacation and then is off again next week, too.
I've only seen Colton Ryan as Evan and Olivia Puckett as Zoe. Both were amazing and very, very different from Ben and Laura. Colton doesn't cry as much as Ben does, but he played up the anxiety a lot more physically when I saw it (lots of shaking, hair tugging, etc- his Waving Through a Window looks like the visual representation of a panic attack). Olivia plays much younger than Laura does, which made her seem more annoying little sister than combative opponent in the one scene she and Connor actually share. In the other scenes with her parents, she didn't raise her voice or snap at them nearly as much as Laura does- she played it a lot more passive aggressive with a lot of bitterness and mumbling/grumbling. Her singing voice also has an almost country-sounding edge to it sometimes, too, which was really interesting/beautiful in Requiem.
From what I hear, you'll be good to go with any of the swings. I haven't heard negative things about any of them.