Everyone loves a “star is born” story; the classic 42nd Street scenario in which chorus girl Peggy Sawyer is told “you’re going out there a youngster, but you’ve got to come back a star”. It actually happened to Catherine Zeta-Jones when she was an understudy in a 1984 revival of 42nd Street at Drury Lane.
What many audiences like much less is turning up at a theatre having purchased tickets to see a star, and discovering that they are getting an understudy instead. That’s happened a few times lately, most notably when Natasha J Barnes stood in for Sheridan Smith in Funny Girl, and when Ria Jones covered for Glenn Close during a brief run of Sunset Boulevard. By many accounts, both were terrific.As Edward Bennett observed about his much praised stint replacing David Tennant as Hamlet for the RSC, such experiences don’t always lead to better job offers. Bennett was out of work for a period after Hamlet, and it took the RSC several years to invite him back. He was a hit as Benedick in Much Ado, a role he will be reprising when it goes out on tour from Chichester later this month.
When David Tennant pulled out of Hamlet, and was replaced by Bennett, the RSC offered those who had booked the opportunity to swap tickets for another production, recognising that many – particularly family – audiences hadn’t bought them because they wanted to see Hamlet but to see Dr Who. When a production is being sold on a star name – Kit Harrington as Doctor Faustus or Benedict Cumberbatch as Hamlet – then it is obvious that they are the draw. It seems to me no different from buying a washing machine. You choose the brand you want, and if that’s not what is delivered then you would either demand it be swapped or that you get your money back.
But with many commercial productions, it’s not so clear-cut. Very few people, except possibly the principals’ mums, are buying a ticket to see a long-running West End show because of whose names are in the programme. They want to see Les Misérables or The Phantom of the Opera, and they make the perfectly reasonable assumption that the show will have been cast to the highest possible standard. And mostly they are.
I have nothing but admiration for these jobbing actors in long-running shows, tirelessly giving it their all night in and night out for very little financial reward. They love what they do and they know that, while it might be another night at work for them, it is always a special occasion for the audience in the house that particular evening. Most of the audience won’t even notice that an understudy is on. On any one night in the West End, there will be numerous understudies on stage, because actors in long-running productions quite rightly have holidays as part of their contracts, and nobody can help it if they get ill. For the understudies themselves, who are often likely to have smaller roles in the production the rest of the time – it’s a chance to step up from out of the chorus to play a main role and test themselves.
Go on social media and you will find many of these West End performers tirelessly talking about the shows they are in and keeping them in the public consciousness. As far as I’m aware, no management has ever complained about that and asked actors to stop tweeting about a show, but Cameron Mackintosh Ltd has recently issued new guidance about the use of social media. Performers in the company’s shows cannot use it to distribute show-related information without management consent. This means that if you are understudying a principal role and know that the principal will be on holiday next week, you can’t immediately tell your Twitter followers, because it is deemed too commercially sensitive.
Actors in long-running and touring productions do a great deal of unpaid work marketing their shows on social media. To suggest that understudies telling their followers when they will be performing a lead role will damage the commercial viability of a show is absurd in the vast majority of cases.
Of course casting information can be sensitive, but while audiences may indeed be justified in asking for a refund if they book to see Glenn Close and find that somebody else is performing, it’s unlikely that anybody is going to say that Gran’s birthday was ruined because Éponine was on holiday and was being played by an understudy. By tweeting about it, that understudy may actually sell a few more tickets. Rather than being draconian, Mackintosh should be grateful – and have more faith in the talents of his casts.
