Them's the breaks

SOMETHING’S AFOOT Due to a stage mishap, Hoff, left, is out and Risch (seen here in Legally Blonde) is in.

Photograph: Joan Marcus

It was supposed to be Christian Hoff’s big break. Although the theater veteran had already won a Best Featured Actor Tony as rock & roll wiseguy Tommy DeVito in Jersey Boys, his performance as the title character in Roundabout Theatre Company’s revival of Pal Joey was supposed to turn him into a true leading man.

Then he injured his foot during one of the early previews.Initially the public was told that Hoff would only be out for a few performances, but four days after he hurt his hoof, producers announced that understudy Matthew Risch would take over the role permanently. The minute the news was announced, cynics started speculating, online and elsewhere. Some of the buzz about Hoff’s performance had been bad, with message-board posters questioning whether he had the vocal or dancing chops—or the star quality—to pull off a part previously played by the likes of Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Bob Fosse. Perhaps Hoff was drummed out of the show due to a vote of no confidence?

In any case, what began as Hoff’s shining moment has ended as Risch’s turn in the spotlight. In 42nd Street—the film and the musical—a chorus girl steps in for the leading lady after she breaks her ankle, and the director famously tells his instant ingenue: “You’re going out a youngster, but you’ve got to come back a star!” That’s the position Risch finds himself in, but his excitement is tempered with sadness.

“There is no way I could have gotten up on the stage without the rare graciousness of Christian,” says Risch via e-mail on a break between intense rehearsals. “When the news was broken to me that he would not be returning and I was being offered the role, I felt weak in the knees. This is a rare, blue-moon opportunity for an actor, and I wake up every morning and literally have to pinch myself.”

This isn’t the first time Broadway history imitated the aforementioned movie classic. In 1954, when Carol Haney broke her ankle a month into The Pajama Game, her understudy, an unknown named Shirley MacLaine, took over and was catapulted from the chorus line.

Just last year, Cheyenne Jackson stepped into Xanadu four days after the show’s lead, James Carpinello, injured his foot during a rehearsal. As in the Hoff situation, Jackson was originally said to be temporarily subbing for Carpinello, but was eventually named the permanent lead.

Although Jackson wasn’t Carpinello’s cover (producers called on him because he had played the part in a workshop), he says he’s been an understudy “many, many times, so I definitely know what it’s like to be that go-to guy.” Being offered the role kicked up conflicting emotions. “It was scary and exciting and bittersweet,” he remembers. “You don’t want to have something come to you because of someone else’s misfortune. My heart breaks for Christian just like it did for James.”

Of course, not every lead’s injury results in a windfall for the successor. In 2005, longtime dancer Charlotte d’Amboise was the standby for Christina Applegate in Sweet Charity when the sitcom star broke her (wait for it) foot during the revival’s out-of-town tryout. D’Amboise took over for the ailing star and finished the tour, but the producers, citing poor advance sales, decided to close the show on the road rather than let her bring it to Broadway. (After much backstage drama, Applegate ended up returning to the show and opening it here.)

Despite nasty gossip that the two ladies were at each other’s throats, d’Amboise says there were no hard feelings. “The media put out a lot of negative stuff about me and Christina, which was all lies,” she insists. “Would it have been great if I had been able to open the show? Sure. But the production wasn’t based on me; it was based on Christina, it was choreographed for her. So I never felt a big loss.”

Given Risch’s situation, critics could go a little easier on him than they might have on Hoff, who had been connected to the production for a lengthy period. Risch’s only other Broadway credits are small parts in Chicago and Legally Blonde, and here he is, being asked to carry a big-budget revival opposite Tony-winner Stockard Channing and stage veteran Martha Plimpton.

If Risch is freaking out, he’s not letting it show. “Of course every artist feels moments of pressure and doubt, but I am finding those moments to be fewer and farther between,” he says. “There’s no time to worry. I can’t worry. Joey never worries. I’m ready to kick some ass.”

Pal Joey is now playing at Studio 54.