Male roles with alternates

[Theatrefanboy1]

Just wondering if there have been male roles with alternates that covered the role once or twice a week like in the case as dolly Levi or Christine daae or Tina.

[JuneJune]

I believe School of Rock eventually had the role of Dewey Finn have an alternate go on for matinees(?). Though they didn't start out with one at the beginning of the run.

[Mike Barrett]

Yes, Dewey got an alternate after they realized screaming for 2 hours and jumping off tables/chairs was too much for 1 person to do 8x a week. The only other one I can think of right now is Frankie Valli where the lead does 6 shows and the alternate does 2. How they divided those up were different for each Frankie.

[The Other One]

The original production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? had an alternate matinee cast for George (and all other roles).  The first Broadway revival of Man of La Mancha had a matinee alternate for Don Quixote.

 

[carolinaguy]

Evan Hansen

[ZacharyC2]

Alexander Hamilton also has an alternate

[helvizz]

The role of Tony in the last West Side Story revival (2009) also had an alternate,  I remember Matthew Singledecker replaced Jeremy Jordan as the alternate Tony.

Rob Evan was also the alternate for the title roles in Jekyll and Hyde.

I think a few Phantom productions have had an alternate Phantom, but that's probably due to prior commitment of the actor (or the fact he probably does not want to do 8 performances a week), because I can't imagine that role being very exhausting.

[helvizz]

Also, didn't the male protagonist in Band's Visit have an alternate (at least for a few months, circa April 2018 )? I think it was due to prior commitment of Tony Shaloub, but still.

In the Hedwig tour, for the first months, Lena Hall, a female performer, played the title role (a character whose gender isn't simple at all) in the Sunday (night?) performance, while the role was regularly played by Darren Criss, so you could count that as well.

If memory serves, Max Von Essen was the alternate Che in the 2012 Evita revival. He was definitely the u/s, and I think towards the end of the run he became the alternate, with one performance per week.

Peter Parker in Spiderman, Frankie Valli in Jersey Boys and the protagonist in Curious Incident of the Dog In the Nightime also had an alternate.

[Heather4]

As others have said, when Alex was on as Dewey Finn they had an alternate for several performances a week as the singing wasn't sustainable.  I think (and please correct me if I'm wrong) the alternate started right around when Alex had his vocal injury in School of Rock.  It's also why he worked to make sure his current Beetlejuice voice is sustainable for him and his understudies have their own version of the voice that works for them.

[Emmaloucbway]

About a year into the run, the LCT My Fair Lady revival added a Henry Higgins alternate on Wednesday nights. 

[AEA AGMA SM]

helvizz said: "Also, didn't the male protagonist in Band's Visit have an alternate (at least for a few months, circa April 2018 )? I think it was due to prior commitment of Tony Shaloub, but still."

Tony Shalhoub left the show entirely at the end of February that year and Dariush Kashani was the full-time Tewfiq. Tony was brought back in for a handful of performances in May that were all the performances that any remaining Tony voters were invited to, but he was essentially done with the show by then and there was no plan for him to return to the role full time at any point.

[SouthernCakes]

Why would Tony in WSS need an alternate?

[Call_me_jorge]

Surprised this hasn’t been said... Billy Elliot
Also, I believe when Chazz Palminteri joined A Bronx Tale Nick Cordero stayed on as his alternate.

[GreatWhiteGay]

Taylor Trensch was Alex Sharp's alternate in Curious Incident

[JSquared2]

Call_me_jorge said: "Surprised this hasn’t been said... Billy Elliot
Also, I believe when Chazz Palminteri joined A Bronx Tale Nick Cordero stayed on as his alternate."

The Billy Elliot boys weren't considered alternates.  The role was triple cast -- and all 3 were nominated for (and won) the Tony.  

[brettarnett]

The Other One said: "The original production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? had an alternate matinee cast for George (and all other roles). The first Broadway revival of Man of La Mancha had a matinee alternate for Don Quixote.

"

Was there a specific reason why Woolf had an alternative cast? 

[GavestonPS]

After the first year of its run, I DO! I DO! alternated Carol Lawrence and Gordon MacRae in matinees (for Mary Martin and Robert Preston). The alternates took over the roles full time when the original stars left.

[jo]

GavestonPS said: "After the first year of its run, I DO! I DO! alternated Carol Lawrence and Gordon MacRae in matinees (for Mary Martin and Robert Preston). The alternates took over the roles full time when the original stars left."

 

I was lucky to have seen Mary Martin and Robert Preston performing as leads!

 

[The Distinctive Baritone]

brettarnett said: "The Other One said: "The original production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? had an alternate matinee cast for George (and all other roles). The first Broadway revival of Man of La Mancha had a matinee alternate for Don Quixote.

"

Was there a specific reason why Woolf had an alternative cast?"


The play is three hours long and very emotionally draining on the four actors. However, that is the only time to my knowledge but there have been alternates for a non-musical on Broadway. The subsequent revivals have not done this, and I think the reason for it at the time was the fact that having only four people do this kind of play was a relatively new thing. Now it is more common place. Straight plays used to have larger casts back then in general. 

Also, I believe that actor playing the title role in The Phantom of the Opera is only contractually obligated to do seven performances a week, and the two understudies are somewhat unofficial alternates. The same with Jean Valjean in the original run of Les Miserables.

[mailhandler777]

Sven in Frozen.

[ClumsyDude15]

I don't know if it's official but most Valjeans in Les Mis have an alternate that does one or two shows a week due to the strain of the role. 

[GavestonPS]

jo said: "GavestonPS said: "After the first year of its run, I DO! I DO! alternated Carol Lawrence and Gordon MacRae in matinees (for Mary Martin and Robert Preston). The alternates took over the roles full time when the original stars left."



I was lucky to have seen Mary Martin and Robert Preston performing as leads!

"

That WAS lucky! I never saw either except via film or TV.

[LizzieCurry]

Most Valjeans take one show off a week, but the guy who goes on once is billed as the understudy. I think it's officially (but unofficially) been like this for years.

Frankie Valli has almost always had an alternate, though John Lloyd Young didn't the first time he returned to Broadway. Partway through the run of the sit-down in Las Vegas, they split the role 4 and 4 as opposed to 6 and 2. But I think that's the only production that did that.

[ljay889]

SouthernCakes said: "Why would Tony in WSS need an alternate? "

Maria, Tony, and Anita all eventually had alternates in 2009 revival. 

[The Other One]

The Distinctive Baritone said: "brettarnett said: "The Other One said: "The original production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? had an alternate matinee cast for George (and all other roles). The first Broadway revival of Man of La Mancha had a matinee alternate for Don Quixote.

"

Was there a specific reason why Woolf had an alternative cast?"


The play is three hours long and very emotionally draining on the four actors. However, that is the only time to my knowledge but there have been alternates for a non-musical on Broadway. The subsequent revivals have not done this, and I think the reason for it at the time was the fact that having only four people do this kind of play was a relatively new thing. Now it is more common place. Straight playsused to have larger casts back then in general.

Also, I believe that actor playing the title role in ThePhantom of the Operais only contractually obligated to do seven performances a week,and the two understudies are somewhat unofficial alternates. The same withJean Valjeanin the original run of Les Miserables."

 

Also, I am not sure if this had anything to do with them having alternates, but no other production of the play has run for a year and a half.  It's possible that doing 8 performances a week for that long proved impossible for the cast and the quality of the work suffered.  The fine actors who substituted on matinees (Elaine Stritch and Sheppard Strudwick among them) may have guaranteed a better performance.