[ATTENDED: October 15, 2014] The Understudy
I feel like we haven’t been attending as much live theater this year (this year was more about concerts), but I was happy that McCarter was showing this comedy (they just showed Antony & Cleopatra which I just was never quite in the mood for). I got good seats and off we went.
I didn’t realize this was a preview performance (and what exactly that means I’m not sure–we saw a preview performance of Spamalot on Broadway and it was wonderful). With our programs was a survey of things we liked/didn’t like or suggestions we might have about the show. I though the show was wonderful and wouldn’t change anything.
The premise of the play is fantastic, especially if you like plays about the theater and acting. The story is that one of the lead actors and his understudy are going to have a rehearsal of their upcoming play. There are only three characters: the lead, the understudy and the stage manager. Any behind the scenes type of story is bound to be funny, and so this was. But what elevated this story to levels beyond a simple behind the scenes comedy was that the play the the actors are rehearsing for is a recently uncovered play written by Franz Kafka called The Man Who Disappeared.
The play is looking to be a huge success (Broadway loves Kafka!) especially since it stars two movie stars (there’s jokes about movie stars being on Broadway). The main lead of the Kafka play is never seen, but we learn that he makes $20 million per picture. The second lead is Jake–his recent film made $68 million in the first weekend and he is considered a major draw. The understudy is Harry, a down on his luck artiste who is really happy to just get paid, even if he will likely never go on. The third character is Roxanne. She is the stage manager and she has a very compelling back story that is slowly revealed.
The fourth “character” is Laura. We never see Laura, but she is in charge of the lights and set during this rehearsal. She is apparently high and is constantly causing trouble–missing light cues, bringing down incorrect sets. For a nonexistent person, she is a highlight of the show. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 