Video: A Declassified Understudy Survival Guide with Kaleigh Cronin and Natalie Charle Ellis

I literally started going

I scuba da and a babadda-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-ba-da-la-la-la-la-la. And I just kept going. But I had no idea what I was doing

What is the first thing you should do as an understudy learning the track

Learning the lines. Like learning the material, especially the music. I don't like to learn the lines too

early on because especially in shows like this, they were changing it. Every day we would come in

and there would be a stack like this big. You'd come in and you're like, please hope there's no

mail in our mailbox. And then you'd be like, shit. Both, I know you would do the same. I would spend

every lunch break or dinner break memorizing all the new lines that we would have received that day

so that I could be ready to go on if needed in a moment's notice. And sometimes I would even

think, okay, maybe this is kind of overkill. You know, I'm spending every waking moment, reviewing lines and practicing blocking, but then it comes time to do it and you get tossed on

and you just have to know what you're doing. And so, yeah, I can't emphasize that more. You need to

be overly prepared and then when you think you're done preparing, prepare some more. Also

the flip side of that is being comfortable with then letting that pressure go, like trusting that you

have then done the work so that when you get up there and have to perform, you just are doing your

and you get to enjoy it and you get to connect with your scene partner and not be panicked about

what you know what line comes next so yeah and giving yourself grace like sometimes things don't

go as planned you got to just roll with it being flexible you know just go with the flow i think

that like a huge thing over prepared and then throwing it all away and saying you know what i just going to go out there and have fun We playing make at the end of the day So you know just enjoy yourself not take it too seriously

What do rehearsals look like as an understudy? Well, you don't get them for a while

So rehearsal is a lot of, like in Chicago especially, I was doing the full show with full blocking in my hotel room every day

So I would have the line learner, and then I had recorded the show

And so I did each track. So I would do the lines, and then I would switch to the other app

and then I would play the music, and I would sing it, and then I would go back and forth. I did the full show, full out, my poor neighbors, every day

I know. They love us. I know. Whatever. Got to do it

But because I had done that, and I was thrown on in Chicago, I had the stability, like I had the stamina to be able to do it because I had done it

So you do the rehearsal all on your own until you finally get to play with your friend

and call it like show, practice. It feels like community theater, like doing it, and you play, make leave with your friends

You have to do your full vocal warm-up. You have to do a physical warm-up every day

but you also have to live the same life that those women live, and they don't really have a life

So I don't drink a lot. I don't go out a lot

I don't really have a social life. I have to take care of myself

and sleep and hydrate and warm up every day. I have a voice lesson once a month

And then you don't know if you're ever going to go on

So you're living that life. And then you might not go on for months. And you're like, well, I feel really boring for no reason

But that's the only way that when I do get thrown on, I'm ready

It's because I've been pretending I'm going on every day. I think you just have to give in to like, this is stressful

This is terrifying But you know what I going to do it because this is the job I signed up for And I think nothing can really prepare you You just have to relinquish the need to be perfect because it never going to be perfect

And that's okay. I so badly want to do a good job and want people to like me. But I have to say to myself, you know what? It makes no difference right now. You're here to do a job. The job is to be Madeline Ashton for the next two and a half hours. And if people like it, great

And if they don't, that's okay too. But my job is to just do the work. So I think I need to remove, like, that helps me take some of the nerves out of it

Like, you know what? I'm just here to do my job and I'm going to do it and get to go home at the end of the night

And all will be well. We're playing make-believe, you know? 100%. And that's such a good, like, for life

Like that is also good to carry it. Oh, yeah, yeah. I have to tell myself that all the time

Yeah. As an understudy, as a performer, just as a human. It makes no difference with who to think of you

I don't mind that down. Stealing it. The biggest thing I've learned is when something goes wrong, I laugh at myself

Like, if I mess up, if I don't know what I'm doing, or if I flub and someone has to help me

it's also, we're very lucky at Death Becomes Her because Chris Sieber, Megan Hiltie Jen Samard

all of the ensemble, all the features, it literally feels like a team sport

So they've got your back. Like, I've never felt more safe on stage as a cover than I do in the show because they also want to play

So when something does go wrong, you kind of see a twinkle in their eye

So they go with it, which I love. I thought, well, this is great

You know, how exciting it has this opportunity, I'll never go on

When you think you're never going to go on, you go on. And sometimes it's on the second preview

I think a lot of people probably don realize that like when you step in for a role that early everyone in the theater is stepping in and doing things they don normally do The swing was on for my track The costume team is scrambling to find costumes for me because no costumes have been built yet

And it's just things like that. It's like such a team effort. And it's so cool to be in a space

like ours and to have so much support. Well, this actually just happened. I was on for

Helen on Sunday and she has a lot of patter songs and I was enjoying the ride and not

thinking about my lines so I literally she's this one part now as soon as they

arrived the police as soon as they see I don't even know now but she's like as soon as

you arrived there but and I literally couldn't remember the lines and so I just

looked at another under study was on Bud Weber was on for Ernest too which was even

better because he like wanted to help but because we want to help us especially understudy is like yeah I know how this feels it

this feels awful. And I'm just going to look at you with love

But I literally started going, I scuba da and a bab do-dab-dab-da-da-da-da-da-la-la-la-la-la

And it just kept going. But I had no idea what I was doing

I had no idea what was happening. And Michelle Williams, from Destiny's Child

comes down after, like she's on the stairs during this part, and she comes down, she goes

well, we have ourselves an elephant's jail in our company. No. And I was like, oh, my God

But see, like... It doesn't matter. And even funnier. I know. At least we're not doing like a mammoth play

That wouldn't work. Sure. Yes. Lame is. Maybe wouldn't work. Right. But a little scat and death becomes her, why not

Why not? Yep. So that's my moment's the most reason one. I'm sure there's more