Pippin Sydney: Angelique Cassimatis replaces Kerri-Anne Kennerley after stage injury

It was on with the show for Kerri-Anne Kennerley’s understudy after her co-star broke her collar bone midway through performing in the Sydney stage musical Pippin.

It was on with the show for Angelique Cassimatis when co-star Kerri-Anne Kennerley broke her collar bone midway through performing in stage musical Pippin.

As Kennerley’s understudy and cast dance captain, Cassimatis was watching the show front of house when the veteran entertainer fell a few metres from a trapeze singing showstopper No Time At All.

“I just went in to work mode, which was to go back stage and see what was happening with the situation,” Cassimatis told Confidential.

Angelique Cassimatis steps in for Kerri-Anne Kennerley in Pippin stage musical. Picture: Jonathan Ng

“Obviously I am her (Kennerley’s) cover so I went and assumed that she would be going straight to hospital, which she did, so I prepped, got ready and was back on stage as soon as they needed me.”

Cassimatis has replaced Kennerley as Berthe for the remainder of the production run at Sydney’s Lyric Theatre, which will run through until January 24.

She confirmed producers had made some slight changes to the performance after Kennerley’s accident, including reducing the height of the trapeze by about 20cm.

Angelique Cassimatis as Berthe in Pippin. Picture: Christian Gilles

Kerri-Anne Kennerley as Berthe in Pippin. Picture: John Appleyard

“We have just lowered it slightly and we have a couple more people spotting around,” she explained.

“And there’s a few tweaks to the very end of the routine so that there is no way anything could happen again ever.

Kerri-Anne Kennerley attends the Social Diary 16th birthday dinner at Bedouin in Double Bay with her arm in a sling ahead of surgery.

“I am very confident with the people that I get to work with on the show.

“After the incident I felt so safe and I didn’t really feel nervous at all because of the way that they handled it.”

Kennerley meanwhile told Confidential she is looking forward to getting on with life as she prepared to undergo surgery today.

“I am looking forward to getting back to normal,” she said, attending an intimate dinner in Double Bay to celebrate the 16th anniversary of events, PR and media industry bible, Social Diary, on Tuesday.