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Wednesday, September 03, 2025
What It's Like Being Backstage for the Madness of Oh, Mary!
Playbill: Last month we got to check in with the last remaining original stars of Cole Escola's unlikeliest of wacky smash-hits Oh, Mary!—but we couldn't leave the Lyceum without chatting with another fabulous band of hilarious misfits: the understudies of Oh, Mary!
3 comments:
Reigh Wilson
said...
By the title of this article I had assumed it would be about the stage management or tech teams that run the show, but was pleasantly surprised to see it being about the understudies! (Though I would love to hear from the tech teams). I personally love going to see understudy performances, although sometimes I would love to see the star I’ve been a fan of for so long, I’ve seen some of the best beautifully nuanced performances from an understudy that I never leave disappointed. I think they are unsung heroes of the industry that have only recently been given their flowers now that people see more of how awesome they are through social media. I also find that their ability to cover multiple roles and be able to drop into them at a drop of a hat, many times without proper full run rehearsals before they have to go on is so ridiculously impressive.
It's really interesting to hear about the way that the understudy process works on Oh Mary. I think it's a really smart choice to give the understudies the ability to sort of make different jokes or behave in a way that is different to how the normal performance ways the same go home because like the article mentioned, a lot of the understudies are very different physically from the actors that they are understudying, and with the goal to be as funny as possible, that means that bits have to change. I find it very frustrating when understudies are sort of hemmed into playing the role exactly as the way that the normal actor would do it. Don't get me wrong, I understand why it happens, especially with really big musicals, people go expecting to see certain things, so they want to see a character played in a certain way, or to see a certain number in a certain way. However, I do think it ruins a little bit of the magic of live theater when that happens, because you're so focused on replicating something yourself, you don't get time to make your own informed choices.
I mean, I also totally thought this would be an article about backstage management, but still interesting nonetheless. Still, enlightening as always to know that the world of Broadway is possibly the most unserious entertainment industry out there, especially for a show like Oh, Mary! I’ve never really considered a swing-on in such a short straight play, and it doesn’t really surprise me that it hasn’t happened so far during the show’s run. It was similarly interesting to hear how understudies can occasionally change the physical comedy of the show–how do the actors change their reactions to it? I’m also definitely the type of person who loves seeing an understudy, because you’re usually pleasantly surprised. Physicality of jokes seems to be a (very small) issue that can happen, though. I saw Hadestown with an understudy and he was fantastic, but he was also well over 6 feet tall and absolutely jacked, so it made the scene where he gets the crap beat out of him by the workers a little bit less believable.
3 comments:
By the title of this article I had assumed it would be about the stage management or tech teams that run the show, but was pleasantly surprised to see it being about the understudies! (Though I would love to hear from the tech teams). I personally love going to see understudy performances, although sometimes I would love to see the star I’ve been a fan of for so long, I’ve seen some of the best beautifully nuanced performances from an understudy that I never leave disappointed. I think they are unsung heroes of the industry that have only recently been given their flowers now that people see more of how awesome they are through social media. I also find that their ability to cover multiple roles and be able to drop into them at a drop of a hat, many times without proper full run rehearsals before they have to go on is so ridiculously impressive.
It's really interesting to hear about the way that the understudy process works on Oh Mary. I think it's a really smart choice to give the understudies the ability to sort of make different jokes or behave in a way that is different to how the normal performance ways the same go home because like the article mentioned, a lot of the understudies are very different physically from the actors that they are understudying, and with the goal to be as funny as possible, that means that bits have to change. I find it very frustrating when understudies are sort of hemmed into playing the role exactly as the way that the normal actor would do it. Don't get me wrong, I understand why it happens, especially with really big musicals, people go expecting to see certain things, so they want to see a character played in a certain way, or to see a certain number in a certain way. However, I do think it ruins a little bit of the magic of live theater when that happens, because you're so focused on replicating something yourself, you don't get time to make your own informed choices.
I mean, I also totally thought this would be an article about backstage management, but still interesting nonetheless. Still, enlightening as always to know that the world of Broadway is possibly the most unserious entertainment industry out there, especially for a show like Oh, Mary! I’ve never really considered a swing-on in such a short straight play, and it doesn’t really surprise me that it hasn’t happened so far during the show’s run. It was similarly interesting to hear how understudies can occasionally change the physical comedy of the show–how do the actors change their reactions to it? I’m also definitely the type of person who loves seeing an understudy, because you’re usually pleasantly surprised. Physicality of jokes seems to be a (very small) issue that can happen, though. I saw Hadestown with an understudy and he was fantastic, but he was also well over 6 feet tall and absolutely jacked, so it made the scene where he gets the crap beat out of him by the workers a little bit less believable.
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