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And heroic non-understudies who go on in place of understudies

Posted by:	AlanScott 09:01 am EDT 03/30/14
In reply to:	re: and now news that the understudy went on this afternoon - ryhog 07:01 pm EDT 03/29/14

Like Gloria Wills, 19-year-old lyric soprano chorus in Carousel. Contralto Christine Johnson, playing Nettie, went on medical leave for six weeks. Her understudy, leaving her dressing room to make an entrance, fell and seriously hurt herself. Wills said, "I think I can do it." She went on as Nettie and played it for six weeks till Christine Johnson returned. (There is at least one hole in this story, but it's the way Wills told it.) Belter extraordinaire Susan Johnson was a soprano in the chorus of Brigadoon. On tour, Pamela Britton, playing Meg, was sick and so was her understudy. Johnson went on, not even knowing if she could sing it — she had never sung like that — and found what she was meant to do. More recently, Ann Harada went on as Gertrude McFuzz in Seussical when both Janine LaManna and her understudy was sick. She said, "I can do it." And she did. And she became the second understudy (she was already covering several other roles).

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Previous:	re: and now news that the understudy went on this afternoon - ryhog 07:01 pm EDT 03/29/14
Next:	Geraldine Page. - TheOtherOne 09:11 am EDT 03/30/14

Thread:	Geraldine Page. - TheOtherOne 09:11 am EDT 03/30/14 (1) re: Geraldine Page. - ryhog 09:47 am EDT 03/30/14

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