Dreamgirls - Savoy / UK Tour

Hmmmm....

So two different Effies other than Amber on Wednesday? SIGN ME UP!!! This is alternate nirvana we are witnessing!

Indeed. From those clips they both sound like people trying to imitate great singers. No real substance underneath it.

Fur coat, no knickers. 

She should be. They are making it very clear she is only off Wednesday evenings

It is such a demanding role though, the songs Effie has to sing are extreme!

Will the alternates only do one show a fortnight then?

I see where you're coming from ali973, but musical theatre performers are trained to perform 8 shows week (at least I was!), that is the job. You train your voice to make it safe to use 8 shows a week. You train your body to give just the right amount of energy required for a show, dancing, singing, acting etc, yet reserve that crucial amount needed to get you through a week of shows. Yes the standards are extremely challenging, but really, that's the bare minimum that should be expected of any trained actor, and only the best make it (most of the time), because it IS so challenging. The ensemble of a show work just as hard as the lead, and are demanded and expected to adhere to 8 shows a week, and for the most part, they do. And they make it look easy. Really, the same should be expected of a leading performer. I will always refer to Imelda. She did it. She'd probably still be doing it if the show was running. Those who can't suggest that maybe they haven't been trained well enough - or maybe haven't trained at all (bar extenuating circumstances). Either that, or producers are being overly cautious.

As for turning up to the theatre, normal call time is hour and a half before curtain up, unless, like you say, there are rehearsals. But once you're into your run, they won't usually be so often. So sometimes, yes, we do turn up to work an hour (and a half) before a show and work for 4 hours - or double if it's a 2-show day.

Hope I haven't spoken out of turn, for all I know you could also be a performer ali973! But that's just my opinion/experience from a performers side.

I don't know how I personally feel about this alternates debate, as I get both sides of the argument, but I've seen some absolutely wonderful alternates, and the exposure is fantastic for those performers. Overall though, if the producers decide on an alternate and make clear what days the alternate will perform well in advance then I don't really see the issue. Yes in an ideal world those with an alternate would perform in every show (and the majority probably could) but I guess employing an alternate is a good way to prevent all hell from breaking loose if the lead did get burned out and had to leave the show altogether. I know this rarely rarely happens, but better safe than sorry.

Plus, yeah, employing ANY deserving out of work performer in this industry can't be a bad thing!

I think sometimes it depends on the composer too. Some roles are deadly and it's a relief to see them with an alternate (Andrew Lloyd Webber is quite bad for this, so alternate Christines and alternate Evas are a must), but other roles are more carefully written. Mama Rose is a great role, but you don't have to be all guns blazing, singing-wise, for the entire duration of the show. I don't know Dreamgirls especially well, but given what I do know of Effie's character and some of the songs, it sounds like it really is the sensible thing to have an alternate. I agree with ali973 in that it's better to have two or even three performers able to give their best across a sensibly scheduled week rather than risk burning out one performer, or having that performer give a substandard performance because it's the only way they'll get through the week.

I mean, you don't usually have alternates in straight plays in the way you do in musical theatre (notable exception being the very young Ben Whishaw's Hamlet; I think his alternate was Al Weaver?), so I tend to assume that the need for alternates comes primarily if not exclusively from the singing demands. As for the stamina required for the non-singing demands, I guess that's where the training really comes into its own.

Is it though? I think there's a tendency to only remember the last 30 minutes of Gypsy when describing the leads performance. But the first act is light as a feather, as is the start of the second. I'm not saying mama has nothing to do but it's hardy gruelling, and none of the songs in act 1 are that hard either. 

I think in addition to the vocal strain of musicals over plays, musicals tend to have a LOT going on for them on and off stage in terms of technical consideration and movement. There's a lot more cues, lighting, movement of sets, costume changes, and overall its a more technically complicated and active night for all the crew and performers than plays. There are of course plays with a lot of technical elements to them like Curious Incident and War Horse, but generally with plays, it's one unit set with very little else going on for them.

The actors in musicals need to juggle a lot more than actors in plays, which could be physically and mentally draining. Sure, they could be trained to do this, but man can only do so much.

I think this goes back to the character--Effie is quite a beast of a character. The Act 1 finale for Effie requires a woman of superhuman capabilities to pull off such an impossible song, and only to do another huge numbers in act 2 that are just as powerful and taxing.

I would have been surprised if she wouldn't have an alternate or standby at least.