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Anonymous
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64.12.104.x | posted: 5/21/2003 at 11:56:40 AM ET
The second half of Mandelbaum's understudy piece is up on Broadway.com. I've never had a problem. I saw Peters twice in ITW and the Goodbye Girl, three times in AGYG and Gypsy (of course that was three nights in a row opening week so.) I do remember someone saying they went to see TGG and Peters was out. Standby Joslyn went on but then she got sick or lost her voice and so the understudy went on the second half. Can you imagine being in that audience or the other performers on stage!
There was one theater trip to NY where every show I saw had an understudy on except Peters at her Carnegie Hall concert. Sarah Jessica was out of the preview performance of Once Upon A Mattress so I saw Krakowski, Reinking was out of Chicago, and even Forbidden Broadway had one of its performers out. The one that got me the most was Marin Mazzie. She was at the Drama League Luncheon that attended in the afternoon but wasn't at the performance that night.
PTM
| RobRamos
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4/1/2003 | posted: 5/21/2003 at 1:10:31 PM ET
I am fascinated by the issue of understudies. The way I see it, there are understudies and standbys for a reason--the reason is that performers are HUMAN like everyone else, and they get sick! Think of it as a SICK DAY, not an absence. Bernadette's track record is, I feel, quite good. She was bound to be absent a greater number of times during ANNIE GET YOUR GUN, because it was a LONG run for her. And lesser-known people are VERY frequently absent and it is of course not documented in the media. I think many people would be quite surprised at the number of times during a show's run when understudies perform. I saw EVITA twice in 1980, and BOTH times, months apart, Mandy Patinkin was absent. Marin Mazzie was absent ALL THREE TIMES I saw RAGTIME, and also the night I saw PASSION--guess I am not meant to see her! Carol Burnett also missed several performances of MOON OVER BUFFALO, and toward the end of the run, was no longer playing Tuesday performances...and this was a non-musical. She had a similr schedule in PUTTING IT TOGETHER. And it just seems so BIZARRE that when Nathan Lane was ill during THE PRODUCERS, it seemed as though the entire world was pulling for him, and praying for his return to the show. WHY has Bernadette's ILLNESS caused such a furor?? It boggles the mind and makes me wonder about the media and how people respond to what the media puts out there.
|  moljul
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4/2/2001
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| posted: 5/21/2003 at 1:15:57 PM ET
Good post Rob but actually even though Bernadette's run in AGYG was quite long, she missed very few performances even though as you said, one might understand her missing several. It was a wonderful attedance record. Though apparently her record in the past has been worse in shows like Song and Dance and Goodbye Girl. Though I think Song and Dance is another one that would understandable. Anyone who took that role on would suffer from severe vocal fatigue no matter how well they took care of themselves.
| Anonymous
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66.134.207.x | posted: 5/21/2003 at 9:24:21 PM ET
I haven't been able to find the articles in Variety, I think it was, but I recall shortly after Song and Dance opened that Peters came down with bronchitis or something similar to that and was only able to play something like 3 performances a week two weeks in a row. Anybody recall that?? Of course Song and Dance opened in September so that didn't happen during the award season crunch. I don't know if there were many absences after that or not during that run.
PTM
| moljul
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Fav. BP CD: I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
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| posted: 5/21/2003 at 9:34:03 PM ET
I'm not sure how many it was but I think it was quite a bit. Bernadette even thanked her understudy (Maureen Moore :-)) in her Tony acceptance speech for I'm sure being such a great understudy and having to go on so much in such a demanding role.
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