I've been thinking a lot lately about standbys and understudies. I know, I have already posted about this, but I feel it bears repeating, these are the unsung heroes of the show. Before I go any further, a brief vocabulary lesson:
Standby: a performer, not on stage every show, will only appear onstage when covering the lead role they stand by for.
Understudy: A performer who performs in the ensemble every show, but also covers a lead role.
Swing: Covers an ensemble member when they are out or covering a lead role.
So, most of these cover at least one (if not more) roles. Why is this so remarkable? Take a 2 show day for example. If you're a standby, you could be sitting in your dressing room for the matinee, and production could come up and say, "You're on for the evening show." Or, even more remarkable, the lead could suddenly be taken ill and need to switch out ASAP. As a standby, they have to be at the ready for anything.
If you're an understudy, you could be on for your ensemble role one show and on for a principal the next. Or, you could be on for a principal one show, and then a completely different principal the next show.
The show does not happen without these folks willing to step in and save the day...
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