Fox’s Rent Live: Should networks cast understudies for their musicals?

After Brennin Hunt broke his foot, Rent Live wasn’t quite live on Sunday night. Should networks start casting understudies for their live musical events?

Yesterday afternoon, just hours before it was set to air Rent Live, Fox announced that Brennin Hunt, set to play Roger, broke his foot during the dress rehearsal, and would be unable to perform.  They also pointed out that there was no understudy for the role. The show went on as scheduled, using footage taped during the dress rehearsal, but it made the experience less than live. And probably didn’t give us the best performances from the actors, since it wasn’t “the real thing.”

After last night, a lot of people are talking online about the lack of an understudy. Why wouldn’t Fox have an understudy for their major roles? The answer is pretty obvious: it’s a one-night event, and they are banking on the big name celebrities in the roles to draw in viewers.

More from Entertainment

• 10 Thanksgiving movies on Disney+ for your holiday watch list
• Strictly spoilers and results 2023: Who is leaving on Strictly Come Dancing Week 9?
• CMT Smashing Glass performers honoring groundbreaking women in music
• Jamie Lynn Spears joins I’m A Celebrity season 23: Who else is set to appear in the British reality series?
• Strictly spoilers and results 2023: Who is leaving on Strictly Come Dancing Week 8?

But what happens if something like last night happens again? What if Fox didn’t tape the dress rehearsal and they didn’t have something else to air in place of the live performance?

Live musicals have become a staple on Fox and NBC over the last five years. Each musical has given the networks something to learn from and improve upon. From The Sound of Music, where it was just all filmed on an elaborate sound stage, to last year’s Jesus Christ Superstar, filmed completely on a stage in front of a live audience, the musicals have evolved and gotten better each year. Could this be another learning experience?

I think the musicals could definitely benefit from casting understudies for the roles. Yes, they rely on these big names to draw in people, and I’m sure viewers are going to be disappointed if said person isn’t in the role, however, people are going to be disappointed if they don’t get what they’re promised either. Rent Live was not in fact live last night. While there will always be vocal critics of these live musicals, at least the show would have been live if they had a backup Roger.

This spring NBC will be putting on Hair Live. They haven’t announced a cast yet, but they should really be looking at what happened over at Fox and thinking carefully. Since each musical learns from the last, regardless of which network it is aired on, NBC should really think about casting understudies for their main actors.

A lot of these musicals cast some big names in the ensemble, what would it hurt to start naming these ensemble members understudies of the leads? If you have some big names in the ensemble that you can move up to the leads, you can easily fill in the ensemble with lesser names. I know the main draw is the celebrities, but the main draw is also a live show.

I’ll be interested to see what NBC decides to do once it starts announcing Hair Live in the coming months. We’ll see if they learned any lessons from Rent Live.

What do you think? Should networks start casting understudies for their musicals? Which do you care more about: the actors or the show being live? Please let us know in the comments.

You can catch Rent Live on Fox.com now.