| Jordan who? Joshua Grosso steals the show this afternoon at Urinetown | |
| Last Edit: mikem 01:49 am EST 02/16/25 | |
| Posted by: mikem 01:37 am EST 02/16/25 | |
| In reply to: lovely thing about today's matinee, even with Fisher being out - Showtunegal 09:49 pm EST 02/15/25 | |
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| I was also at the matinee today. I guess City Center doesn't stuff Playbills with understudy slips, so I think very few people in the audience knew that Fisher was going to be out until the announcement right before the show started. It was probably a good thing that this happened at Encores with an audience that goes to the theater a lot rather than at a more tourist-driven show, because, as Showtunegal said, the reaction from the audience to the announcement was surprisingly fairly positive, with a fair amount of applauding when Joshua Grosso's name was announced as today's performer for the lead. I have never heard applause like that for an understudy announcement before. For myself, I am now 0 for 2 with seeing Fisher; he was out when I saw Sweeney Todd, and I know his attendance record is mixed so I wasn't really surprised that he was out, and it didn't really matter to me. After hearing the applause, I felt like the audience, like me, was going to make the best of the situation, maybe be a bit intrigued, and try to be supportive. Grosso really rose to the occasion. From what other people were saying, Grosso did not know he was going on until about an hour and a half before the show, and he essentially had not had much of a rehearsal with the rest of the cast. Grosso wasn't tentative at all, was completely off book and made no apparent flubs whatsoever, and has a great voice. He sang Run Freedom Run superbly. This production has a very high held note right before the very end of the song, and Grosso's rendition was very powerful and impressive. And then when the song ended just a few seconds later, the place erupted. Urinetown breaks the fourth wall and is meta all over the place, and it is the type of show where the cast can kind of break character and it doesn't really matter. Grosso was very emotional at all the applause at the end of Run Freedom Run, partially as his character, Bobby Strong, and partially as the understudy who climbed a big mountain and did it with flying colors. And the rest of the cast onstage were also both invigorated by Bobby and also proud and supportive of their fellow actor who really came through. And the audience applause definitely had an element of, "You did it!" The show had kind of an only-in-New-York, only-in-live-theater energy where the audience energy, the cast energy, and Grosso's energy all fed off each other. It was really nice to be a part of it, especially with how crazy, divisive, and non-supportive it can feel like nowadays. (I am saying "only in New York" because I don't think you could find 2000 audience members in another city who would be at the same performance thinking, "let's cheer on the understudy!") A similar thing happened at curtain call, where Rainn Wilson, who was next to Grosso, kind of pushed him forward and spun him around as the audience and the rest of the cast cheered. I am always impressed that swings and understudies can be in a big number they've never rehearsed with their stage mates. I don't know how I would know where to stand and what to do. Has anyone else had memorable understudy experiences? As for the show itself, I know there's been some mixed reaction on this board. I had never seen Urinetown before and I had a great time. It certainly didn't hurt that the energy level was sky-high. And I was struck by how little this production seemed like it was a staged concert as Encores ostensibly is. I guess the production design would be a bit beefed up if this was a "regular" production rather than an Encores one, but Urinetown doesn't seem like the kind of show that would have an elaborate production design, anyway. |
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