Understudies being forbidden to reveal their dates

I've heard of this happening in other productions, too. Usually it's because the producers want the show to be about the show, and not who's in it. I can kind of see the reasoning for a new or struggling show, and/or one with a star, but for something that long-running, how does it influence ticket sales?

This is the tweet, btw.

The reason for it is that the producers know that people would stay away or try to exchange tickets if they knew an understudy were on.

but would the general public even be aware of such a tweet? I'd assume it's only some hardcore fans and private friends who follow most performers - and those would actually leap at the chance to buy a ticket and see the understudy in question.

Exactly. I think it's pretty obvious by this point that when it comes to Les Mis, the show is the star. Ridiculous policy in my opinion and unfair to the understudies and their fans.

Or has the box office/stage door complained about obnoxious fans of anyone in particular? That's the only other thing I can think of, especially if this is LM-exclusive.

Well she left in Feb it's only started this 16/17 cast.

I wonder if it's just a ban on social media & they'll still be allowed to tell fans at the stage door or if it's total ban? Also are the leads banned from posting any holiday snaps, as that'll show they're on holiday?!

This is turning into an interesting situation. Cast are encouraging people to follow West End Covers who for the last 5hours have been retweeting everyone's dismay. I'm sure now it's viral will get people talking about it.

I don't think 99.9% of theatregoers know or care if an understudy is on ahead of time. It only really comes into play if you have a big star in the lead role, and don't want to lose out on ticket sales if people can easily find out when they're not going to be there. In the interests of transparency though, they should allow people to say when they're on, and really they should just publish actor/actresses holidays so people can make informed decisions if they're in the tiny minority that bother to check.

A lot of the time I go and see a show especially because an understudy is on. I don't see the harm in letting the understudies announce their dates so that fans can come see them. I very much doubt sales are dropping when understudy Valjean puts on Twitter that he is playing the lead on certain dates. This might be the case when you have big names in a show but then not announcing scheduled holidays of said names would possibly cause a backlash as some people would start the whole "We came just to see so-and-so! You should have told us! We want our money back." debate.

I'm pretty sure the Les Mis understudies will still tell family and friends about their cover dates. Even if they are not allowed to shout it out on social media I doubt understudies will keep those dates secret from their parents and such.

The extreme example of not announcing who is on would be Punchdrunk. Officially the performers in their shows are not allowed to say at all when they are on. At Sleep no more in New York there is no cast board pre show so you go in without having a clue who is playing who (unless you have your sources). For Punchdrunk it's a case of "the show is the star".

I think that's true of nearly everyone who sees the same show multiple times. What makes it interesting is seeing different interpretations of the same script.