THE UNDERSTUDY swirls through a wealth of environments: the Broadway stage, a mind-blown safari in east Africa, a Hollywood film studio, a closing-night cast party in Boston, New York's underworld and its straight analog, the television industry.

Drawing on his experience as a director, Elia Kazan enhances the meaning of "arrangement" to encompass the sexual accommodations most people live by...and lie about.

Kazan's films have become classics. VIVA ZAPATA!, EAST OF EDEN and A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE secured his reputation, and he won Academy Awards for GENTLEMEN'S AGREEMENT and ON THE WATERFRONT.