Understudy’s hour has come

Acouple of weeks ago, I went to the theatre, for the first time since March 2020. Back then, the question of whether or not it was a good idea to sit in a room crammed full of people somewhat tainted the evening’s entertainment. This was a different experience, at a newly built outdoor theatre. But the pandemic continues to reverberate. Before the play began, one of the actors came on stage to announce that not one, not two, but eight of the roles would be played by understudies that night. Despite this, maybe even because of it, it was energetic and magnificent.

In the West End on Monday, the actor Mark Oxtoby took on the part of Doc Brown on opening night of the much-awaited Back to the Future: The Musical. The 1985 film’s Doc Brown, Christopher Lloyd, was in the audience, but the original stage actor, Roger Bart, was out for Covid reasons. Oxtoby was the understudy; he only found out that day that he would be stepping into the lead role. By all accounts, it was a triumph. This skin-of-the-teeth ability to adapt in the face of extraordinary disruption is keeping theatre going and we should celebrate the resilience of productions and the understudies.