Xanadu- Broadway Understudies

[Matteo]

I was reading the cast bios for the BOM tour and in Jacob Ben Widmar's bio, it says that he was Whoopi's understudy in Xanadu... Were the "evil" Muse sisters ever actually played by a male understudy, or am I just not interpreting his bio correctly?

[blaxx]

Yes, there were male performers understudying female muses. It rarely happened, but they did perform and it was hilarious.

[dramamama611]

Yup. I've heard great stories in line with Blaxx's.

[sbflyfan]

If I remember correctly, Andre Ward went on instead of Mary Testa for the first few performances Whoopi was in. I think Mary Testa was working on a cabaret show at the time.

[nasty_khakis]

Mary Testa was filming her bit in "Eat Pray Love." Annie Golden was the standby for Jackie/Mary but Whoopi had spent the week rehearsing with Andre (who was Mary's second cover) and requested he go on with her for her first performance. It was very fun and interesting to see him do it. Since he (and Curtis/Kyle/Jacob/Marty/etc) were technically playing girls anyway in their regular track, why not have them cover a larger role as well. Andre has the distinction of playing Terpsiscore, Sonny, and Melpolmene. So yes, Jacob was technically her understudy, but never went on.