Understanding the Understudy...

Yesterday I went to Gammage Auditorium to see the musical Wicked. After hearing so many wonderful things about this theatrical sensation I was very excited for my matinee performance of the show.

After parking what felt like a thousand miles away, walking in the daytime summer AZ heat in my shirt and tie ensemble, I finally got to the air conditioned theatre. A bit annoyed at the sweat that had formed all over my body, I ordered a cold beer and found a bench to cool down on to read my Playbill.

The second I opened it, however, another annoying thing occurred. Two small little pieces of white paper fell out of the booklet onto the floor. They read: "The roles of Elphaba and Glinda at this performance will be played by blah blah blah blah...." WHAT!!!!!???????? The two lead roles in the show will be played by the freakin' understudies? That's what I get for attending the fucking matinee. DAMN!

The beer lasted 2 minutes, partially due to needing a thirst quench, yet mostly due to the fact that I was not satisfied with this understudy nonsense. The doors opened, the lights went down, and the show began...

From the moment the two understudies walked on stage and began to sing, a huge amount of guilt filled my heart. These bitches brought it! I regret any negative energy I put out into the world regarding the "understudy situation" at my performance of Wicked.

The lesson I learned from this is that no matter how much of a spotlight you may have or whether or not your name is the one in lights, everything we do in life has "supporting cast members", "technical crew", and "understudies". Let's not underestimate the little people in our lives who work just as hard as the names on the marquee.