Aaron Tveit is Link in HAIRSPRAY 4/1-5/4- Page 2

[NJgirl]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 12:06pm

Glad to hear he's back even if it's only for a month. I really grew to like his Link.

[Angelus16]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 1:22pm

"because one of the guys who usually understudies Link has left the show and the new kid isnt ready to go on yet so bringing someone else in for a short while who already knows the role made the most sense."

Beat me to it, Mistress. I was just about to post the same thing. Aaron's Link is solid, so it was definitely the best choice they could've made. Especially with APA being out for as long as he will be.

"I'm seeing it on the 13th, but I'm very disappointed that Mary Birdsong will no longer be there. Had I known she was there for such a short time, I would have seen Hairspray the last time I was in town."

DottieD'Luscia, it's definitely a shame you didn't get a chance to catch Mary, she's a great Velma. But you will be seeing Shannon's last performance, so it should be a good show nonetheless.

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 1:23pm

"so they had to make an announcement before curtain that the role of Link Larkin would be played by Aaron Tveit, to which there were audible boos."

People went to the show to see Ashley Parker Angel? Boy that show is filled with some of the worst stunt-casting ever. Ashley A.? George Wendt? Hayley Duff??!?

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 1:56pm

Angelus16, that's why I'm specifically seeing it on the 13th (to see Shannon's last show). If you can, please tell Mary Birdsong to leave a week later! LOL

By the way, who's presently playing Wilbur? I didn't see anyone listed on the website.

Updated On: 4/2/08 at 01:56 PM

[Fosse76]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 2:12pm

"ETA, any one know why they're having him fill in (besides his previous experience with the show)?"

It's the previous experience in the show and nothing more. Almost every Broadway show employs this tactic when the understudies aren't available. And they also do this when they don't have enough swings to cover a particular performance. Other than for serious illness/injury, I think musicals in general are TOO accomodating with actor absences. If you work at any show long enough, you'll see a pattern with performer absences (the same people always calling out).

[jordangirl]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 3:38pm

Anyone done lottery there lately? Is it still $25 or have they added on the restoration fee like Wicked and some others have done? I checked Talkin Broadway, but they haven't even updated the Wicked info yet, so I wasn't sure.

[thespian geek]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 3:47pm

I wish I could see his Link. I haven't seen Aaron on stage since the RENT tour back in... oh God, '04 I think? It was forever ago, anyway. But I do remember thinking "holy crap, that guy has a beautiful voice!"

[Kev]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 3:56pm

People went to the show to see Ashley Parker Angel? Boy that show is filled with some of the worst stunt-casting ever. Ashley A.? George Wendt? Hayley Duff??!?

BraveSirRobin2, I think many here would vouch that those casting choices were actually appropriate. APA is everything you'd want in a Link, Wendt has improved leaps and bounds from when he first started and is highly entertaining, and Duff was just fine as Amber. Not terrible choices, at all.

[alliez92092]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 4:26pm

I wish I could get the chance to see him. I saw him on tour and loved his Link. And I loved him in Next to Normal of course. He's a very talented guy and I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more from him.

[shesamarshmallow]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 5:59pm

BroadwayUnderstudies.com has been updated to say that Aaron will actually be Link until 5/4, so right up until Saved starts previews. BEAR IN MIND, though, that he might miss some matinees because of the Saved rehearsal schedule.

Funny, two words I would NOT use to describe his Link, unless he has drastically altered his performance. The handful of times I saw Tveit on tour and on Broadway, he was pretty bland; brought nothing new to the table with the character, and it looked like it was painful for him to smile. I had no clue what the girls of Baltimore saw in his Link.

Exactly what one of my best friends told me of his Broadway run (though she was always biased towards Andrew Rannells and bitter at Aaron for replacing him - you too, Kev? :) ), but what I saw on Tuesday was anything but. Maybe his Next to Normal and Catch Me if You Can experiences have changed him as a performer, or maybe he just gels better with this cast. Regardless, I think he's great.

And EugLoven, I think you went a bit overboard with your assessment of his voice. His falsetto was rather pitchy when N2N called for it in "I'm Alive," and his skills as a tenor are easily a dime a dozen in this city.

Buuutttt... agreed on all points here.

[Kev]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 7:52pm

Exactly what one of my best friends told me of his Broadway run (though she was always biased towards Andrew Rannells and bitter at Aaron for replacing him - you too, Kev? :) )

Not bitter, as I think Aaron is infinitely more suited to the role of Link than Rannells The latter just had more personality. That said, Tveit's performance in N2N was a refreshing change from his Link.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 4/3/08 at 12:01am

To answer my own question, lottrery's still $25. :) "Won" it tonight. (It's in quotes because there were 22 available seats and only 19 were needed, so he drew the name for first in line and then just told us to line up behind her.)

I was very impressed with everyone ~ had no clue Carla Duren is Inez for a couple of months. A great show to see and relax to after a few rough days at work.

[Angelus16]

Posted: 4/3/08 at 3:50am

DottieD'Luscia, I thought you might be going specifically for Shannon's last show, I'll be there as well. Wilbur is currently being played by Ken Marks. I've seen better, I've seen worse. He's pretty quirky and adds some practical jokes to the role which is refreshing and new, so that's a plus. I'm just a little indifferent with him.

Carla's Inez is great, and even though I like Naturi a lot, I'm enjoying the change for now.

Back to Aaron though, he's a great Link and it was no surprise to me that they brought him back while APA is out. He's fallen back into the role quite seamlessly, almost as if he never left. I also love his chemistry with Shannon, they're great together.

[snl89]

Posted: 4/3/08 at 11:41am

Ok, so this is a threadjack because it has nothing to do with Aaron, but I thought it would be silly to start a whole new Hairspray thread about it:


So I was just looking through the cast list on the official Hairspray site, and I am SO thrilled to see that Marissa Perry is the Tracy understudy! She played Tracy in the Hairspray production I saw in Weston, Vermont and she is fabulous. So, so good, and a total sweetheart too That was over the summer that Hairspray was at Weston, and at that point she'd been saying that "there [was] talk" of her going to Broadway, so it makes me really happy to see that she's part of the cast now! So yeah, if you get a slip saying Marissa Perry is on as Tracy- be enthused, because she is amazing :)


aaand thanks to a certain *cough* an awesome person may or may not have passed on to me, I can now say that Aaron makes an awesome Link! I wish I could see him live, but I doubt I'll get a chance.. *sigh*

[shesamarshmallow]

Posted: 4/3/08 at 11:45am

And Marissa actually takes over as Tracy full time on 4/15!

[snl89]

Posted: 4/3/08 at 11:47am

omg she does!? That's so exciting! yay her!!

ok now I really need to ask my mom if it's possible for us to get to NYC in the next month (or rather, between the 14th and the 5th haha). Aaron AND Marissa? <3

Updated On: 4/3/08 at 11:47 AM

[SNLMedia]

Posted: 4/3/08 at 12:45pm

I read this news yesterday and I couldn't be more excited. I loved his Link more and more each time I saw it last year, and being at his last performance in January was even more bittersweet. I cannot wait to see him again!

[Dolly_Levi]

Posted: 4/3/08 at 2:43pm

Apparently, Ken Marks is playing Wilbur. He was last in Rock 'n' Roll.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 4/3/08 at 3:15pm

Did anyone see him in RENT as Roger? I Just don't see him as a Roger at all.

[Mrs.LinkLarkin2]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 2:09am

Even though I personally know Ashley, Aaron will always be my fave Link. He's what got me into Hairspray. haha. I will definitely be seeing him this month! Jacqui's gonna be Penny? They're dating in real life.

[snl89]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 1:23pm

Sooo I actually got to see Aaron!Link-ness courtesy of nifty $20 standing room tickets (which are very good view, for the record)!

and um. Holycrap Aaron officially pwns Zac Efron and.. pretty much everyone else as Link in my book (and I was a big fan of Zac!Link). He's SO DAMN GOOD! I kinda ended up missing a lot of the rest of the show when he was on stage because I was too busy watching him dance! The boy can dance his *very cute* butt off. Aaand he is hysterical and I love his voice <3


He's also a sweetheart- I was really happy because I hadn't gotten to meet him at Next to Normal, so it was lovely to chat with him at the stagedoor I said how amazing the show was and then I went directly into how much I love Next to Normal. And, when I said it was one of my favorite shows, he said it was one of his too. And I wanted so badly to be like "pleeeease say you're still gonna be involved with it! pleeease!!" but I didn't because then I would have felt bad if he's not still involved.

(it kind of worries me though because he was talking about the fact that there'll be a production at Arena Stages and stuff, and just the way he talked about it gave me the impression that he's been following what's going on but isn't really still involved. But.. who knows, maybe they just havn't gotten to casting yet and he'll be contacted and say yes!)


ANYWAY, enough of my Next to Normal threadjacking haha


basically, Aaron!Link is friggin AMAZING and I love him so much. And have I mentioned he's a mad sexy dancer? I mean, I knew he would be because hello, he moves like a friggin gazelle, but still. SO GOOD!

One last thing about him at the stagedoor that I forgot: these girls behind me were all "hey can you sing for us, please!?" and they kept insisting (which I thought was kinda rude to put him on the spot like that) and he totally did it! He sang a little tiny part of a song he was learning and it was SO pretty to hear him just sing like that right in front of me with no mic or anything. I kinda went a little weak in the knees hehe



Aaand once again, Marissa Perry is friggin AMAZING as well and everyone should go see her!



The audience was STELLAR, for the record. Probably because it was Marissa's opening night as Tracy so I bet a lot of her friends and family were there, but it was just.. .such an amazing, ridiculously fun experience. I'd never seen Hairspray on Broadway before, so yeah. Love. It





OH, sorry, one more little anecdote that probably no one else cares about but I thought it was so cool/funny. So my mom and I are doing standing room, and I look over and the young guy standing next to us looks really familiar. Finally, I'm like "... that looks so much like the guy who played Link in Weston!" (which is where I saw the show over the summer). But I figured it probably wasn't because what would be the chances that he'd be standing right next to us? Then intermission goes by and I forget to mention it to my mom that I think it could be him. So my mom is talking to him and she's like "So you seem like you know Marissa" and he goes "yeah, I played Link with her over the summer" and I was like "I KNEW it!!" ahaha. So basically he had recognized us (we'd chatted with him a bit after the show in Weston) and we'd recognized him and didn't even really realize it until just before act 2 started! So yeah, we were rockin' out with him in the back all of act 2. His name is Jay and he's a sweetheart :)


Ok /humungo post now, I promise! lol







and RentBoy, I kind of agree about him in RENT. I can definitely see how his voice would be awesome for Roger's part (his one song glory must be soo pretty), but he just seems a bit too... wholesome and innocent for Roger. Plus when he did it he much have been, what, 20 or 21? And that's really young, especially since he looks very young. I could see him making a really good Mark though :) He definitely has the great rock voice, it's just he's not grungy enough for Roger.

Updated On: 4/17/08 at 01:23 PM

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 3:33pm

Yeah, his voice is pretty, but a little too Disney for RENT - at least for Roger.

[aliciag]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 5:28pm

snl, it was great to read your review and I'm glad you loved Aaron as Link. (I saw him twice and thought he was great.) And I loved you little anecdotes too... it's funny how you can think you recognize someone but be too afraid to say anything and then it actually ends up being them.

Glad you had a great time!

[BrianS]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 6:21pm

I saw Aaron a while back as Link and then saw him in N2N. He's definitely grown a lot as an actor in my opinion. Granted, N2N gave him a lot more to work with, but I'm sure he's getting better and better.

And I'll take talent over stunt casting any day of the week.

[aliciag]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 7:03pm

"And I'll take talent over stunt casting any day of the week."

Agreed!!!