ah, hate to say it but I also saw Nic's phantom and was not impressed. I'd seen Ramin on the 18th of July for my first time seeing the show and was just blown away by him. One of the greatest male performances I've ever seen.

Nic, however, plays a more 'traditional' vocal phantom. There really didn't seem to be any passion in his voice when I saw him (20/08/2008) and actually he was well flat during music of the night on 'soar'. Hopefully he was just having an off day. Has Ramin been ill for Nic to be on? anyone know if Ramin will be on this tuesday matinee as my sister is seeing the show for the first time and I'd love her to see Ramin.

Think Ramin has just been on hols, not ill. I am sure he is back now so your sister should be lucky enough to see him and not Nic (who was also flat in MOTN when I saw it!)

Ramin had booked a couple of days off on the 15th-16th August. But then he was ill for the rest of the week - he's got flu apparently. He still wasn't back today, as my friends saw Nic.
Not sure if Ramin will be back on Monday or not. Hopefully he will be better though.

Well i'm glad to hear it's not just me being overly critical.
I've had the oppurtunity to see 7 shows in the last two weeks and thought I was just mishearing Nic but I'm sure that now that I was right and he was flat. and MOTN was not the only place...

wow, I saw the understudy Scaramouche for my second time at WWRY last night. I saw Sabrina 2 weeks ago and was gutted to have the understudy before it started, but then...

Gosh, she was just as good if not better than Sabrina! Can't quite recall her name though, something 'French'? help anyone? but she was fantastic!

And can I just say how amazing the entire WWRY cast is at the moment. I've seen 8 different shows in the past 3 weeks and they are definitely the most stand out entire cast on the west end at the moment! We Will, We Will Rock You!

Sarah French Ellis. She's leaving in September, but not sure where she's going.

Stephen John Davis was an absolutely brilliant Valjean in Les Mis. I feel so lucky to have seen him in the role.
(I hear his Javert was great too)

She's doing some TV work after WWRY.

Correct answer

Also saw Sarah French-Ellis as Scaramouche in WWRY, she was good,but to be honest i wasn't blown away by her. But rest of cast defenitely made up for it i also had as Ian Carlyle as Vic who i thought ws relly good, and i believe he is taking over the role in September so obviously i wasnt the only person who thought so!!

Only understudy I've hated was Anthony Luperi as Roger. John Hick as Boq.

Every other has been as good if not better than the lead.

Caroline Glinda - Fan!
Charlotte Tracy - Fan!
Fem Tracy - Fan!
Nicky Amber - Fan!
Jenny Penny - Fan!
Sandra Maybelle - FAN!

That is all

Jenny Penny, Sandra Motormouth and Toony Link, are all amazing.
Sarah French Ellis FANTASTIC as scary bush
Also been a fan of Sarah Earnshaws Glinda for a long time.

I saw Marguerite again yesterday and James was on as Alex Hanson's understudy for Otto, he was absolutely fantastic, quite different to Alex who was also good but James' take on the part really made things much clearer.

Have to agree on Sarah French Ellis, just as good as sabrina!

Have to disagree she was good, but she didn't blow me away!!
Ian Carlyle as Vic understudy was hilarious though and i thought he was really good!!

agree- the acting was too under played imho. her voice was too screechy too.

He's taking over as the new Vic when Lain Gray leaves.

Saw MARK ISHERWOOD as BOB CREWE and GRAHAM VICK as Gyp DeCarlo in Jersey Boys, they were both outstanding,just as good as the other leads.

Anna Mateo was superb this afternoon, standing in for Lesli Margherita in Zorro. No disrespect to Lesli, but it's hard to imagine anyone bettering Anna in the part. Just shows how much talent there is, back in those ensembles.

Nicky Griffiths = Amber (made the show for me - was truely amazing. )
Gavin Alex Wood = Corny Collins
Sarah French Ellis = Scaramouche (brilliant!)
Fiona Reyes = Narrator (she does two shows a week so is obviously more practised than some of the other understudies but she was really good)
Caroline Keiff = Nessarose (she was amazing and makes it into my Wicked dream cast as Nessa. So glad she has the role now!)
Terel Nugent = Seaweed


All of them were absolutely amazing. Have seen a few rubbish understudies but generally the understudies are just as good as the principles, or in some cases (Nicky and Caroline) better.

Am hopefully seeing Ashleigh Gray as Elphaba on Monday and am very excited as have heard her audios and I think she is amazing!

Fiona Reyes is amazing!! I agree!!

I'm sure it must have happened before, but at last Monday's Les Mis the boy playing Gavroche was having problems with his throat and croaked out his lines in act 1. I wondered if he'd be replaced and there was an announcement in the interval that one of the female ensemble - Emma Dukes I think - would take over! She did a good job. There were already 3 undertsudies on - for javert, Eponine and Cosette so the chorus started to look slightly disjointed...but it made the show more interesting, not to mention the fact Jodie was there too!

Paul Basleigh as Diego in Zorro- fantastic! =)

TOTALLY agree!! Have seen Mark Powell as well. He wasn't as good but I believe it was his first time on and at very short notice as an usher explained! We were very late going in because they had to get him through the stunts etc... But back to Paul... he really was very good. I felt he lacked some of Matt's charisma but he has a different take on the character which also works.

Bit of an advertisment I'm afraid, but if you get the chance check out the RSC's public understudy matinees. They only do two per season (this year was The Merchant of Venice and Love's Labour's Lost, next year is The Winter's Tale and As You Like It I believe), but they are a chance to see the understudies taking over and playing all their u/s roles, and also a chance to see the stars of the show playing practically walk-on parts, ie David Tennant played Forester/Marcade in Love's Labour's understudy matinee, hee hee.

Tasha Sheridan (ex-Sophie Mamma Mia!) was on as Carrie in Carousel for 2 nights at Wimbledon last week. It was really great to see and hear her again. Her performance (I saw Tuesday) was brilliant (very comedic) and vocally she was so strong. What a difference to MM - just shows her versatility. I was told she had never done a full run through rehearsal, and Tuesday was her first u/s performance. To know that, her performance was amazing! Really hope she will get on as Julie too - and that I will know about it in advance!!

Personally think Charlotte Riby IS the west end's tracy turnblad! Such charisma, such girlish charms and such a voice!

I agree she is the shizz!
So is Sandra Marvin, she can sing man!! Unlike the lead? she crap!

ive seen nic greenshields as the phantom a few weeks and thought he was recently

on tuesday 5th agust 08 i saw nic greenshields standby phantom and he was amazing i thought he was so good i have heard clips of ramin and he dosent sound as good as nic and unfortunatly i would just like to say even though leila isnt the understudy she is amazing and she didnt get enough applause imo.
Also i have seen good understudies

Andy mace-wizard-wicked

alma fevoric-galadriel-lotr

jennie dale-rosie cotton-lotr

cj-elphba-wicked

kaite ray-liesl-sound of music

charlotte rigby-tracy-hairspray

sara earnshaw-glinda-wicked

kady jo jackson-nessarose-wicked


i have failed to see bad understudies but i have seen bad principals i would much rather have seen andy mace in wicked that nigel planer

Really didn't rate Nic as phantom but then again I could have seen him on a bad day... for me, Ramin is amazing!

yeah ramin is amazing i agree very much.

Saw Avenue Q the other day! Saw Rachel Jerram as Kate monster/Lucy the slut! She was really good and had a great voice! I was kind of disappointed because I've heard that Julie is supposed to be really good, but i loved the show! Never laughed so much in my life! And hope to see it again before it closes in march!!!!

Last Wednesday, we had the understudy for Rowan Atkinson in Oliver!, it annoyed me as when the announcement was made, some very rude people sitting near us booed which I feel must be very confidence knocking. By the end of the show however, he got the biggest cheer, as he was in fact amazing - I can't imagine how Rowan Atkinson could top that performance, his name was Tim Laurenti. When I saw Wicked in November 2006, I had Kerry Ellis at what I think might have been one of her first, if not first performances, again some rude members of the audience booed, needless to say after her amazing performance, she won the audience over almost straight away. In my opinion she should have just opened the show in London.

Sandra Marvin in Hairspray as Motormouth Maybelle.
Johnnie who?

I saw Stephen as Javert and thought he was really good. Although the current Javert understudy, Richard Woodford, is my absolute favourite. His performances as Javert are just awesome. And Jonathan Williams is brilliant as Valjean too.

When I worked at Les Mis we once had the 2nd cover for Val Jean go on. It was the time that Phill Cavill almost lost his foot in a motorbike accident on his way home from work, and the 1st cover had knocked himself out and had concussion! We also once had Ruthie "I think I'm so marvellous" henshall come in one weekend to play Fantine, which was just blurgh. Young Eponine had to goone one night as the young Cosette wassick,sowhen Madame T is supposed to be singing to Eponine she just had to sing into the wings!

Not an understudy, but one night during the football a certain JVJ was too busy watching England play and missed his cue for the garden scene at the end of Act 1!

Best understudy for me was Alisa Endlsey as Norma D in Sunset - think she was 2nd cover when she first had to go on when Patti threw a strop over not getting Broadway. Also once saw the 2nd cover Betty go on for the first time and she was great.

Excellent. More please!

Let's face it. Being an understudy is one of those necessary but ultimately thankless jobs and the actors more often than not get paid quite poorly to be one.

In particular if you are a no-name understudying a "star name" it is particularly unfair as the general public will compare your performance to that of the main performer and expect them to be as good as or the same. The fact is, understudy or not, each actor will always bring their interpretation to the role and that is the way it should be. Let's not forget that the performance could not go ahead at all should it not for the understudy. Yes I agree musical understudies tend to be better covers but only as previously mentioned they are usually a part of the company onstage every night in other roles. Also let's not forget that understudies often get little notice as to when they may go on. For example on a matinee day, an understudy may only be told in between shows which leaves about two hours notice for them to start getting their mind set on that role.

There is a danger in musical covers in the sense that as they are not on every night, they are exposed vocally to be comparable to the main performer or to the set standard that everyone's ear is accustomed to. This in particular applies to certain long-running well known musicals where the audience have their ear pitched to a cast recording or to many different actors in the role over time and expect to hear that - understudy or no understudy.

At the end of the day, the point of the audience is to attend a show, to be taken on a journey regardless of who is playing what role and if their attention is called to who is playing the role so much that they are taken out of that journey, then either the audience member is not interested in going on the journey or indeed the actor is so bad in the role for whatever reason, you can't help but have your supension of disbelief distubed!

Part of my job involves taking overseas clients to the theatre in the West End.

A few weeks ago I took a group to Chicago and Aoife was ill so we saw an understudy whose name I missed, but she was excellent. A great dancer and singer.

A week later I took another small group and Aoife was back, but Mama Morton was off and the understudy was the same girl I had seen as Roxie the week before.

A thoroughly versatile performer.

She is though, don't you think?!! If I was her I would also think that I was marvellous. I don't agree with your juvenille observation though, she is a very talented west end and broadway star with 22 years experience and her feet firmly on the ground.

I agree with allthatjazz, Ruthie is one of the loveliest, most down to earth people I know. When you bare in mind the attitudes of some of the younger performers out there she's a breath of fresh air and someone to look up to!

I saw Mark Dugdale as Enroljas today and thought he really stood out, loved him

Absolutely agree.

She is a first class role model and a thoroughly lovely woman as well.

I saw Avenue Q on Thursday night and Candy Ma was on as Christmas Eve. She was excellent and you'd never have known she was 1st cover and not the principal actor in that role.

Thank you. I have only met her 3 times (although I feel pretty priveleged to have met her at all!!!) and every single time she has been patient, kind, generous and very down to earth. I would think that if there was even a hint of an ego it would have slipped out on maybe one of those occasions. I remember seeing her interviewed on something (think it was Paul O'Grady?) and she said that she performed with Dame Julie Andrews who she said was the kindest, loveliest person you could meet. She added that the less well known members of the cast were the ones who were an absolute nightmare.

Jaime Farr as Mary Poppins. We saw her on Saturday night and you would never have guessed she was the understudy. She was flawless, had amazing stage presence and great chemistry with Bert and the children which was a credit to her as the children were very poor. I'd seen Scarlett Strallen and Lisa O'Hare previously and thought Jaime brought a lot more to the character and has a beautiful singing voice.

I recently saw Jon Boydon as Galileo in WWRY and he was amazing although i heard he was the alternate can anyone tell me is Jon the understudy or alternate but tbh i dont care because he is amazing witha great singing voice and lovely acting and his chemistry with Sabrina was excellent.

Whilst he's still billed as an understudy, Jon's technically an alternate as he performs weekly for one or two shows.

We saw Rosanna Hyland as Julie in Carousel when Al Silber was off earlier this month.

She made the perfect Julie - fiesty and petite all at once. Great voice and acting.

The only unfortunate thing is that they didn't announce her - instead tagging a silly little notice to the wall.

Enjoyed the show immensely. Thinking of seeing it again, as we would still really like to see Al in the role too!