Photo Credit: Gene ReedThe ‘Music Man’ revival with Hugh Jackman was officially canceled due to Omicron.
The December 25 and December 26 shows were canceled after actress Sutton Foster tested positive. She missed Thursday’s performance of the show and producers decided to shut down the next scheduled dates. These cancellations are just the cherry on top of a trend that sees a dozen Broadway shows going dark for cast and crew testing positive for coronavirus.
Despite the vaccination protocols for audiences, crews, and performers, shows like ‘The Lion King’, ‘Jagged Little Pill,’ ‘Aladdin’, ‘Hamilton’, and ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ have all gone dark.
‘Music Man’ producers shared the revival scheduled dates are canceled via social media.
“Our company would have loved nothing more than to celebrate the holiday with the audience and their families, but the priority is the health and wellness of the cast, crew, and audience,” the statement says. Sutton Foster shared the news of her positive test on Friday, which prompted the cancellations.
“Yesterday, I tested positive for COVID,” Foster writes. “At noon Kathy Voytko found out. And last night she went on for Marian Proo (Foster’s character) and smashed it,” Foster said, praising her understudy’s performance.
“Grateful to Kathy and our incredible company. Grateful to all swings and understudies who keep all the shows going, now and always.” Jackman also gave a post-show speech thanking Voytko and took to social media to express his thoughts later.
“All over Broadway, this is a time we’ve never known,” Jackman writes. “We’re in our fourth preview. We’re all just sort of learning. Swings and understudies have not had a chance to learn. They watch from the corner of a room while we rehearse, while we get to practice over and over again.”
“They just get to watch and write notes, and then five hours before our performances, they’re told, ‘you’re on.’ The courage, the brilliance, the dedication, the talent, the swings, the understudies – they are the bedrock of Broadway.”
