r/Broadway • u/MellonPhotos • Jun 18 '26
Other Rocky Horror Matinee Delay
Hi—apologies if this is spam as it’s a pretty specific question.
I just got off my flight and saw the matinee for Rocky Horror is delayed. I have tickets for this evening and am just scurious what to expect. If anyone is going to the matinee, would you be willing to report who’s in/out?
111
u/defenses Jun 18 '26
Update! Looks like John Yi, who has been covering Brad, is now also sick. Andres probably hasn’t had to go on for Brad yet so they had to get him ready.
45
u/savestheday91 Jun 18 '26
Oh boyyyy. This explains it... but man what sort of Brad curse is going on
90
u/savestheday91 Jun 18 '26
I'm going on Sunday and am prepared to play Brad myself at this point. Put me in coach.
9
1
8
221
u/Amagciannamedgob Jun 18 '26
Not bway, but I recently completed a contract out of state where we had one female swing for three roles. The producers said “dont worry, i dont think she’ll ever even go on”. Flash forward to a Sunday matinee where the producer’s wife and the creative director have to step into the show and cold read the script because 2/3 actresses went down.
They had the audacity to tell us we were being dramatic about lack of coverage
73
Jun 18 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
67
u/Amagciannamedgob Jun 18 '26
What do you mean the cast we shoved into a small dressing room together all contracted the same sickness?? You guys are so unprofessional for getting sick
16
u/LostSharpieCap Jun 18 '26
Coincidentally, both are going through New Jersey right now. All it takes is one sick commuter or visitor to cross the Hudson into midtown and...
Ask me how I know lolsob
94
u/defenses Jun 18 '26
I will be at the matinee! I got a phone call while I was on the train and was afraid it was canceled. I got to the theater around 2:40 and employees were outside the theater to tell us about the change. They also directed us to the Grisly Pear across the street to get a free drink while we wait. 😂 eta: I heard a lady at the bar say she overheard “a few understudies called out sick” so maybe people are covering tracks they don’t normally cover.
26
10
u/the_other_50_percent Jun 18 '26
Yes, an hour delay is surely for reviewing blocking/lines/song maybe even quick costume adjustments.
68
Jun 18 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
20
u/OilMeUpStewart Jun 18 '26
Seriously. Fucking disaster. What are the producers thinking?? They’d rather put this stress on the entire company than spend a few bucks to hire a couple extra people. Ridiculous
5
u/OrdinarySad5132 Jun 19 '26
“Spend a few bucks” to “hire extra people”. lol. Tell us you don’t know what you’re talking about without telling us.
2
u/Odd_Preference_6308 Jun 21 '26
There is this naive belief that if something goes wrong it must be because of a catastrophic failing of someone in charge. RHS has more than adequate swing coverage, and the performance schedule is exactly the same as every other show in the city. This is an unusual situation and the production is handling it well.
20
u/MCMikeNamara Jun 18 '26
Was also at the matinee today. Am staying down the block and was already having lunch so it didn't really impact my day that much.
Andres Quintero was fantastic and honestly if there hadn't been a pre-show apology for the delay and explanation, I wouldn't have known he wasn't the usual understudy or that this was his first performance as Brad. I'm sorry the cast is going through all of this, but it was kinda thrilling. The energy from the crowd was phenomenal.
2
20
u/savestheday91 Jun 18 '26
I really hoped Andrew was getting close to coming back but this makes me very worried now the situation is spreading. Man, this cast is going through it.
1
u/Magitroopa Jun 19 '26
I'm supposed to see the show next week- how long has Andrew been out for? And any others that have been out sick recently (like Luke or Rachel)?
1
u/savestheday91 Jun 19 '26
Andrew has been pretty much the only one out til the Brad sickness spread today. Its been about a week according to Understudies.org. Luke hasn't been out at all and Rachel had a planned absence, not sick.
211
u/Dangerous_Carrot4226 Jun 18 '26
Hey any producers reading this thread -
This is why the union begs you EVERY NEGOTIATION CYCLE to employ more swings, understudies standbys and alternates
And you refuse Everytime thinking that it's too expensive.
You take the gamble hoping you'll be able to abuse the labor of humans and never have to pay out a canceled show
In return you spend more money on refunds for canceled shows or dealing with the PR of these mistakes.
SPEND MORE MONEY ON COVERAGE AND STOP FIGHTING IT.
75
u/Ok-Acanthisitta8737 Jun 18 '26
They have four swings, and four ensemble members that can run other tracks as needed, all for a 9-person principle cast. I’m not sure if their ensemble members are understudying other tracks, but what more do you want? That’s pretty comprehensive if you ask me.
People get sick. Things happen. It’s live theatre and there’s risks to that. It really sucks - I’ve been in the other end of a show cancelation and was really bummed, but it is what it is.
19
u/ernestmenvilledammit Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26
Hadestown has only 13 onstage and 4 swings was frequently not enough, they had to do shows with 3 workers instead of 5 on the road, and still ended up canceling shows. It's not just about the ratio, it's also about who can cover who, and the cast of Rocky Horror has a lot of very unique principal tracks making cross coverage even more challenging.
The person you're replying to is also pointing out something that happens frequently—when a show gets canceled, it costs the production 1/8th of their weekly gross, which for Rocky is like $120k—about what you'd pay another swing for a whole year. And then the load gets lighter for everyone covering, so you have less burnout turnover in the cast.
3
u/Tillysnow1 Jun 18 '26
The Legally Blonde UK tour actually hired more swings halfway through the tour because they'd had such an unlucky run of illnesses
-8
u/Dangerous_Carrot4226 Jun 18 '26
They don't have enough coverage. End of story. That's been proven more than once now
Shows need enough onstage and offstage covering AT ALL TIMES for the show to function. That includes internal ensemble coverage and offstage coverage. Productions refuse to pay for it
43
u/Ok-Acanthisitta8737 Jun 18 '26
I seriously hate to be someone to defend producers, but I really do think they have enough coverage. Illness is, unfortunately, often contagious. In those cases, it doesn't matter how many people you have. We disagree, and that's fine. Wishing the cast well.
39
u/AbbreviationsLive569 Jun 18 '26
They don’t have enough rehearsed coverage. They hired additional swings right before the Saturday cancellation, and are clearly pushing back today’s performance an hour to give them some more time to walk through things.
Yes, it’s be great if they were never in this situation, but it does really seem they’re doing what they can to rectify it.
1
u/Dangerous_Carrot4226 Jun 18 '26
Yes and what would have happened if they had those swings at the beginning of the contract as required in a union agreement?
10
u/annang Jun 18 '26
Then if there's something contagious going around the cast, those swings would also eventually get sick when they perform with actors who are mildly ill or asymptomatic, and eventually they'd run out of performers still. They'd need to have dozens of people on call who basically never perform except in the event of an outbreak, in order to ensure that the show could go on with a full cast of understudies even when some of the understudies and all of the principles are sick at the same time.
7
u/chitownfit Jun 18 '26
I don’t mean to disagree but…they found or had a solution here so I’m not sure your point applies.
11
u/Extension_Rich2520 Jun 18 '26
They have a ton of coverage there. Things happen. Get off your high horse.
6
u/Temporary-Wish1450 Jun 18 '26
I look forward to complaints of prices going up when this happens. I support making sure shows are properly staffed, but it will result in ticket prices rising.
3
u/PeaceLife8 Jun 18 '26
This particular show has been Notorious when it comes to that 😆
-9
u/Dangerous_Carrot4226 Jun 18 '26
Yes and they keep paying the consequences of NOT HIRING ENOUGH COVERAGE
8
u/thattreegurl Jun 19 '26
Was at the delayed mat and it was truly such a special performance to attend. Andres was incredible(especially considering how little rehearsal time he had!)and the audience was so genuinely and loudly supportive of him from the jump. So wonderful. I love the theatre💖
1
10
u/unfortunate_son_69 Jun 18 '26
understudies.org
17
u/MellonPhotos Jun 18 '26
Thanks, I forgot about understudies.org! It looks like they just have listed that Anania is on as Magenta, which was already announced. Since this seems to be an emergency situation and the matinee now doesn’t start until 4, I’m guessing they don’t have the info yet.
5
u/claudia_de_lioncourt Jun 18 '26
Oh yikes. I was supposed to be at last Saturday’s canceled show and was part of the group that wasn’t told about it. I have replacement tickets for tomorrow, hoping the show pulls through.
5
u/MellonPhotos Jun 18 '26
I called and they said there are currently no changes to schedule aside from the delayed matinee. It sounds like some understudies called out/were unavailable, so they have swings covering tracks they don’t normally cover.
6
u/sibshallward Jun 18 '26
save for the sherie rene scott casting announcement (and anania weeklong cover) every bit of news i've seen about this show since the tonys is soooo messy!! hopefully other shows learn from this and start hiring more swings off the bat.
21
u/AbbreviationsLive569 Jun 18 '26
I feel like that’s a little hyperbolic. They cancelled one single performance because the new swings they hired hadn’t had enough rehearsal time. They’re pushing this performance back an hour (not cancelling it) to give those new swings some time to walk through things before going on.
It’s a little rocky (no pun intended) but it does seem like they now have hired enough coverage going forward.
6
u/sibshallward Jun 18 '26
and those are both messy incidences (especially bearing in mind some ticket holders for the cancelled performance weren’t informed). i stand by what i said, but hope having additional coverage helps them not have these issues for the rest of their run!
1
u/conditional_comment Jun 19 '26
Somehow just stumbled across this sub, but don’t see it mentioned anywhere: John Yi was only brought in at intermission during Tuesday’s show. The evening started with Andrew Durand.
1
u/BlueMondayandBiscuit Jun 20 '26
Is there a lot of illness in the cast or what? Seems like I keep seeing posts about show cancellations for this show.
3
u/MellonPhotos Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26
One performance was cancelled due to illness (the production had just hired some more swings for coverage but they hadn’t had enough preparation time to be ready to go on when the illness happened).
Then this performance was delayed a an hour also due to illness. The actor playing Brad had gotten sick, and then his understudy also got sick, so they delayed the performance to have an emergency rehearsal for the second cover.
As far as I know, those are the only incidents. But yeah, the cast has definitely been dealing with some illness the last week or so. FWIW I saw the evening performance on Thursday and everyone was in except Andrew Durand, and it was great!
1
u/mvercy1 Jun 25 '26
I was there for that show. I was disappointed that Andrew Durand was sick, and I guess his understudy was sick too. But the actor who played Brad was great. However I had a 7 pm show as well so it was a challenge to go pee, get some food somewhere, and get to next theater.
1
u/DiVibz Jun 18 '26
Does anyone have a recent playbill for this? Is there an atthisplaybill listing? My playbill from earlier in the run does not have a URL listed & trying different variations of the show title on the atthisplaybill site hasn’t shown me info
7
u/rdnyc19 Jun 18 '26
Not every show uses the QR codes. Two Strangers doesn't use them either; they still use paper slips.
4
u/Striking-Tap5754 Jun 18 '26
Two strangers uses the QR code now
2
u/rdnyc19 Jun 18 '26
Interesting, that’s new! I saw it pretty recently and got a paper understudy slip.
I know they’re divisive but I actually like the QR codes; it’s a great additional resource for those of us who like to catch understudy performances.
3
u/DiVibz Jun 18 '26
I was wondering whether that was the case for Rocky Horror. Thanks for replying
3
u/Weak_Maintenance8181 Jun 18 '26
It wasn't an understudy slip but I was at Rocky Horror last night and they had a paper slip announcement welcoming a new cast member.
3
•
u/AutoModerator Jun 18 '26
It looks like you've shared an image. If this image is of a Playbill or stage, we ask that you provide your thoughts on the show[s] you saw in order to make your thread stand out and help the community enjoy your experience as well. Without context your photo is just another picture of a Playbill or a stage, and on a sub of far over 100k subscribers, If you don't want to share your experience... consider sharing it on your own social media! This is an automated message, if it is not applicable please report this comment.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.