The Show Must Go On!

September 29, 11:17 AMDenver Theater ExaminerDeb Flomberg

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Les Miserables, now playing at the Arvada Center

The Saturday matinee of the Arvada Center's Les Miserables ended very quickly. Lead actor Randal Keith tripped on an entrance, just ten minutes into the performance. He was rushed to the hospital with a broken ankle that is expected to require surgery. The understudy, Drew Frady, is stepping in to the role for the rest of the run.

Many theatres in town do not have the ability, budget, or man power to have understudies for most shows.  I was privileged to see another example of the beauty of live theatre when I attended the Friday performance of 12 Angry Men at the John Hand Theatre. One of the men was unable to go on, due to an illness. With just 4 hours until curtain, 3 different people had to juggle roles, with Bob Leggett stepping into the larger role, Luke Allen Terry stepping into Leggett's role, and Pat Payne (The Producer of 12 Angry Men) stepping into Terry's role. The resulting performances were what make live theatre beautiful. If I didn't know what had happened, I wouldn't have known there was even a change.

I've been in a show where this has happened as well. One of the leads in last springs Once On This Island was not able to make a performance and we had just 1 hour to shuffle the cast and get the role covered. The nerves and the tension going into that evening's performance were palpable, as we all tried to make it look seamless. The magic of the theatre came true, once again, and we pulled it off. The energy was unlike anything I'd experienced before.

This is live theatre.
The Show Must Go On.