["Dance with You" from The Prom]
--Hello, Broadway.com. It's me
Caitlin Kinnunen and you are watching my vlog Dance with Me.
Today we're gonna do a little behind the scenes chat with some of our
understudies and a member of our stage management company to see what
they do in the show. And it's gonna be awesome,
so keep watching!
--All right, we are here with Kate. She is
going on as Dee Dee Allen today. She's currently getting ready, --Hi!
--Doing her pin
curls.
--I'm doing my pin curls!
--She's gonna be a beautiful angel. She already is, but you
know. --Aww thanks Caitlin
--So, Kate, --Yeah?
--Who do you cover in the show?
--I cover Dee Dee Allen, played by the superb Beth Leavel. I cover the role of Angie,
played by the amazing Angie Schworer. I play, I cover Mrs. Green
, played by the wonderful Courtenay Collins. And then I cover two featured ensemble
tracks, Olivia Keating and another featured
ensemble track parent role, played by Vasthy Mompoint.
--That's so many people. Okay, so
how about how do you do that because that's a
--Hi Brooksy! --Brooks is here. How do
you do that? Like, my brain can barely fit one character. How do you
--You know, that's that's
this this time will be a little bit easier, because I was thrown on two
shows after opening. --That's right.
--When the curtain was about to go up. And
the wonderful Beth Leavel apparently was ill. And she became ill right before the
show started. So, we stopped the show from going on, and I ran off stage and got
ready. So, this time, I have more rehearsal and I feel more a little bit more but
I'm still terrified, but I'm a little more ready.
I compartmentalize in my brain. I have
like little little discs of compartments in my brain for, Okay, this is my Angie
disc. Okay, this is my my Dee Dee disc. and my Dee Dee disc is in full full mode right now.
--That's amazing. --And I get to play with you!
yeah!
--I'm so excited. --And I just really,
this group of people is the most supportive, compassionate, fun group of
people I've honestly ever worked with. And just the idea, although I'm terrified,
to play with Brooks Ashmanskas, Christopher Sieber, Angie Schworer
and Michael Potts and David
Josephsburg today.
--Guys, we're gonna talk to him in a minute.
--Ah! That's gonna be fun. It's
just a real joy and I am never bored at work. I'm having so much fun and of
course got to play with you, which is you know an added bonus.
--Aww. --Um, so I I just
I would I wouldn't rather be on Broadway in any other show but this one.
--What is the hardest part about your job that people may not know? --Um, the hardest part
is I'm a perfectionist, and I really want the audience to get the best Dee Dee I can
give them. I mean I'm not Tony Award-winning Beth Leavel, but I really
try to embody everything that she does on stage as best I can, with little to no
rehearsal. And I just want them to have a good time and get their money's worth,
but also I want my fellow actors to you know to not get jolted onstage. So the
hardest part is to make sure that I am not only doing the part as best I can
vocally, and you know being trying to be as funny as possible, but also to assure
them in the right spot, the exact right slot that they need. So,
that sometimes makes me more nervous than missing a line. --Yeah, well I
can say, from when she went on the weekend of opening, she nailed it. She
made acting choices. She sounded amazing. She was always in the right spot.
--Oh, stop! --So, like
she's a perfectionist, but she's she's nailing it. --Thanks Caitlin!
--She's incredible. --I might not nail it today,
but --She will, she will. -- I'm talking to
David Josefsberg --Oh, hey. Hi guys!
--He is going on for Josh Lamon --Josh Lamon!
--Today. Who do you cover
in the show?
--I cover Josh Lamon. I cover Michael Potts. -- Surprise, Michael Potts!
--Hi!
--So, if I go on for him, I just have to move one seat over.
Brooks Ashmanskas, and
Christopher Sieber. --Okay.
--Tall, short, Jewish, --Okay
--You know, different types -- Who else?
--Oh, and then to ensemble fellows.
--Okay, so that's a lot of
people. --It is a lot of people.
Do you want me to look at you or into the camera?
--Doesn't matter. --Should I do one eye each?
--Yeah, he's very talented you guys.
That's beautiful.
Um, so how do you do that?
--Uh, it's a struggle to be honest. I
actually, every day at home, run at least two characters per day. Every dog walk,
cuz I have two dogs, I go over another person, just the lines.
--Okay, so this is,
you've been on a couple of times for this show. --But, you know,
it is crazy, but I don't have
to do the show most nights. So, there's that. --Speaking of that, what do you do
normally during the show, like if you're on versus whether you're not on. What's
your routine my routine?
--My routine is lots of coffee to have to get through listening to these
people every... no. I'm just kidding. I love watching the show.
I watch it probably three times a week, and I run dances up in the upper
Lobby three times a week.
--Great.
--One time, sometimes I might run some things, and
then maybe one day, I watch football or something.
--He's not a professional. --That's
today, it would be today,
--But instead you're going on!
--I'm going on for Josh
Lamon. -- Do you get nervous when you go on?
--Every time . --Every time? -- Every time.
--Okay, what do you do about that? How do you handle being thrown on into a show?
-- I try to breathe and just prepare, prepare, prepare, prepare, prepare, prepare!
That's my vocal warmup.
--Okay, so
we talked at Kate downstairs. --Ooh, she's got a lot to do today.
--She does, but she said
something about that she like has little discs in
minds that like Dee Dee is one disc, Angie is another disc. How do you keep all of the
different characters that you cover straight?
--Uh, they're not all straight.
[laughs] --Ladies and gentlemen
--Buh dum buh! --Ayo! Thank
you. --He's the worst.
--I guess it's the same thing. I try to
compartmentalize each one, but it is nerve-wracking when you're on
when you have little triggers for certain lines for certain people, and you
hear the line and you think, Oh that's, oh no that's not my line! That's scary.
--Ohhh --So, come today, it might be crazy!
--You've already done this track! You'll be fine
--Yes, that's true. --What is the best part about your job?
Like what do you think is the most fun?
--Well it's not one part, so it's sort of exciting each and every time you go on.
And I like having something to do all day, every day, you know? Youre never bored.
No. I just love going on for each each, well , so far the first two roles is great. We
don't have to move on to the next ones yet.
--We'll see how the other ones go. They're gonna be great.
--Sure --I can't wait. One day,
he's gonna go on as Barry Glickman, and I'm not gonna be able
to keep a straight face the entire show.
--I know. --You know, the minute I first
stepped into FDR's—no? --No.
--Don't do it? Okay --Don't do it.
--I can't put him in my brain cuz my disc...
--Get back into Josh
Lamon. --Okay. Well, I don't do Josh Lamon.
I do my version of Sheldon Saperstein. You
know what I'm talking about?
--All right. We're talking to Peyton, our
amazing stage manager, one of our amazing stage managers. Today, we're talking about
understudies. So, as a stage manager, what is your job dealing with understudies?
Like how do you prepare them? How do you figure out what happens when they go on?
Like what what goes on for a stage manager when understudies go on, and need
to learn the show?
--Well, exciting enough, we've got two on
today, two and a half. Basically, so what we do for understudies is is that we will
swing them out of the show at least once, hopefully twice, which means that we'll
pull them from the show and we'll put someone else in for them so that they
can watch the person that they're under- studying, and then they can trail them
backstage and see what they do so where their changes are, what costumes they're
in, what props they're touching, where they're entering, just to kind of
help them stay safe on stage. And then before they go in, we'll try and do a big
put-in rehearsal that has all of the parts and pieces of the moving scenery
and everything, so that that way when they do go in, they know what's
happening and what's in and out and above them and on stage with them.
--Because when... So, understudies rehearse about once a week. And when they rehearse,
they don't have any lights, they don't have their costumes, they don't have some
of the set pieces or props necessarily. And so a put in rehearsal
means that they get all of that. They do full lights, full costumes, sound,
everything, so they know what it feels like to actually do the show. Because
doing a rehearsal versus going on during a show is very different. What is the
like what happens if an actor calls out of the show? What's the protocol for a
stage manager to get everyone on the same page, knowing that an understudy is
going on?
--So, if someone calls out, we try and find out you know at least we asked
for 90 minutes before the show to make sure that there's everyone in the
building knows. So, we make sure that sound knows, wardrobe, wigs. We make sure
we talk to that understudy and make sure that they're ready, see if they need
anything onstage or offstage or with music. If they need to run anything on
stage, we'll go down and run it with them. We'll get our dance captains involved.
And so then they pretty much, at half-hour, they just they go into that
person's dressing room and they get ready at their station. And then their
dressers, they get their same dressers. So, it's nice because they go right into
that same track.
--That's awesome. What is the most
stressful part for a stage manager having understudies go on?
--Keeping them
safe.
[laughs] --Hoping that they know where things
are happening on stage --But, that's important! That's so important.
--It's really, really important! --And you guys do such a good job
doing that. What's the most fun? --We sit in the wings a lot of the time saying,
Please move!
--Please move! --Please go up stage!
--What's the most fun part about having an understudy go on for you?
--The energy. --Yeah?
--Yeah. It's a great energy. It's a totally different show. It's good
to see everyone like rally together and like totally different chemistry. Yeah.
It's nice. Today, we'll have great like great chemistry with
our principals, which is exciting. --Yeah.
--Yeah. Different show. Fun, --But fun show.
--Super fun. --Yay!
All right, thanks!
And there you have it. That is the lives of some of our
understudies and the viewpoint of a stage manager. Thanks for tuning in this
week. I only have one week left, and that makes me really sad! So tune in! It's,
I hope it's gonna be the best week. But yeah, thank you again so much for
watching. You guys are the best, and I'll see you next week! Bye!
--["Dance with You" from The Prom]