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To see an alternate or understudy in a role can be revelatory—not just about the actor in question but about the work itself. When, in the opening number of “Hamilton,” Lin-Manuel Miranda makes his first entrance, and his character announces himself by name, the audience reliably applauds. Here is the man they have come to see: the first Secretary of the Treasury and the MacArthur-certified genius who has re-imagined him so powerfully. The entrance is an opportunity for a celebration of his achievement. The audience members are fully aware of all that Miranda and Hamilton have accomplished—even though they haven’t yet seen the play, and even though the Hamilton onstage is newly arrived in New York City, unheralded and as yet unknown.
Enacted by an alternate or understudy, though, uncertainty is restored to the scene. When an unfamiliar actor steps into the light as Hamilton, the applause that greets him is scattered, more muted, as audience members rustle their Playbills for the overlooked white slip. The challenge that faces Hamilton, the character, as the play unfolds—how to make an impression against all expectations—is also the challenge that the actor confronts in playing him.
“Who is this kid? What’s he gonna do?” Hamilton’s fellow-rebels ask, before witnessing him deliver his first, incendiary number, “My Shot,” in which he stakes his claim to the future. To see an actor other than Miranda step into this role is to be aware in a different way of the risk and the danger and the promise of the historical moment, and the theatrical one. It is also a salutary reminder to all theatregoers to embrace the understudy, in whatever show he or she appears, in whatever role he or she is cast. See the understudy take his shot. It might be revolutionary.
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– The Thrilling Uncertainty of the Understudy (The New Yorker)
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