The Music Man : In Performance!

[jo]

[jo]

[jo]

All the kind words on Hugh's graciousness are soooo overwhelming that I need to choose among so many.

[jo]

Late reporting on my part ( away to a place by the sea)--

but they mounted a show on Dec 26 evening. It seems they took time to rehearse after losing some key members.

Kathy V was Marian and will continue to be until Sutton comes back from covid isolation. Quite a number were out.

Patrick Vaceriello was also reported to be out.

Hope Hugh remains healthy all throughout -- not just for his own well-being, but he is the one holding this production together!

JO

[jo]

Dec 26 evening show --

keep swiping.

http://instagram.com/p/CX-fZ-fuknX

[jo]

[jo]

[jo]

[jo]

From Kathy herself --

http://instagram.com/p/CX_S9VRrrYZ

[jo]

[jo]

He hopes to be back soon!

[jo]

It seems Hugh's Standby Max Clayton also has Covid, according to a BWWer who saw Max's instagram post ( which was deleted eventually). Will they let Sean Montgomery step in? Or will Max recover earlier than Hugh?

They are still selling tickets for the 1st days of January but with top premium prices still being charged for best seats ( reduced pricing for other premium seats) . I think TMM is testing the demand -- if it makes no financial sense to go ahead with the Jackman-less performances, they will simply cancel the shows & give refunds.


My own gut feel - I think the whole of Broadway will go on hiatus - maybe in January?

I just hope everyone is able to return beyond deep winter.

At least people protected by vaccination will not likely be in life-threatening conditions.

C'est la vie!



Jo

[jo]

Dec 28, 2021 10:51:36 GMT -5 jo said:

[jo]

Hugh's Covid-positive condition news and what is happening to B'way made it as a feature on the NYTimes!

‘The Music Man’ is canceling shows after Hugh Jackman announces he has Covid.

“The Music Man” will resume performances on Sunday, and Jackman will return to the show on Jan. 6.

By Laura Zornosa
Dec. 28, 2021
Updated 4:38 p.m. ET


Hugh Jackman, who is starring as Professor Harold Hill in “The Music Man” at the Winter Garden Theater on Broadway, announced on Tuesday that he had tested positive for the coronavirus.

“I just wanted you to hear from me that I tested positive this morning for Covid,” Jackman said in an Instagram video. “My symptoms are like a cold: I have a scratchy throat and a bit of a runny nose, but I’m fine. And I’m just going to do everything I can to get better, A.S.A.P., and as soon as I’m cleared, I’ll be back onstage.”

Shortly after Mr. Jackman posted his video, “The Music Man” announced on Instagram that all performances would be canceled through Saturday. Tickets can be refunded or exchanged where they were purchased. Performances will resume on Sunday, and Mr. Jackman will return to the show on Jan. 6.

Several other Tony winners star in “The Music Man” alongside Mr. Jackman: Sutton Foster as Marian Paroo, Shuler Hensley as Marcellus Washburn, Jefferson Mays as Mayor Shinn, Jayne Houdyshell as Mrs. Shinn and Marie Mullen as Mrs. Paroo.



Preview performances for “The Music Man” began on Dec. 20, with opening night scheduled for Feb. 10.

The producers of “Ain’t Too Proud,” a jukebox musical about the Temptations, also announced on Tuesday that their show will close on Jan. 16. The show has not run since Dec. 15, citing coronavirus cases. It is planning to resume on Tuesday, Dec. 28, and hoping to run for three more weeks before closing for good.

Last week, the musicals “Jagged Little Pill” and “Waitress,” as well as the play “Thoughts of a Colored Man” announced that they had closed without so much as a farewell performance — all were already on hiatus because of coronavirus cases among cast or crew.

The efforts of “The Music Man” to stay open had just been highlighted on Thursday night, when the actress Kathy Voytko, a swing and an understudy for Marian Paroo in the musical, filled in for Ms. Foster, who had Covid, at the last minute. After the show, the actress and dancer Katherine Winter posted an Instagram video of Mr. Jackman praising understudies and swings as “the bedrock of Broadway.”

“Kathy, when she turned up at work at 12 o’clock, could have played any of eight roles,” Jackman said at the curtain call. “It happened to be the leading lady. She found out at 12 noon today, and at 1 o’clock she had her very first rehearsal as Marian Paroo.”

As the coronavirus and its Omicron variant spread, understudies and swings are becoming more important than ever: Shows are relying on them to step in for sick or unavailable leads.

“This is unprecedented,” Mr. Jackman continued. “It’s not only happening here at the Winter Garden, but all over Broadway. This is a time we’ve never known.”

[jo]

It's world-wide headline news -- main and social media!

NYTimes/CNN/LATimes/WashingtonPost/NBC News/FoxNews/US Weekly/MSN/Hollywood reporter/Deadline/Variety/Vulture/TheWrap/news organizations around the world/People.com/ETonight/EWeekly/

[jo]

For those holding tickets on the dates when Hugh will be out --

[jo]

If you view the seating charts - say, for Jan 2, 2022 -- there seems to be more Orange seats ( Available) than Gray Seats ( Taken), despite the lowered prices. This was practically a SOLD OUT show, at original prices, before the advent of the new variant, then with some cancellations after the health situation deteriorated.

But with the many cancellations after Hugh's announcement about his infection --

Will they continue with the show, or maybe announce another cancellation?

These are very difficult and financially-disastrous days for Broadway

Jo

[jo]

Dec 28, 2021 19:22:24 GMT -5 jo said:

Dec 28, 2021 10:51:36 GMT -5 jo said:

[jo]

http://instagram.com/p/CYA7pi-u6NA

[jo]

www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2021/12/29/hugh-jackman-covid-broadway-cancelled/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

Excerpts --

Health experts have, in the past, linked singing to the potential spread of the coronavirus.

According to Britain’s New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group, some evidence indicates that “singing can produce more aerosols than normal talking or breathing," which may allow the infection to spread more easily when people are gathered to sing for “any appreciable amount of time.”...

[jo]

[ruby]

Dec 29, 2021 18:38:15 GMT -5 jo said:

No chance to see understudy now that the show will stay closed until Jan 6 Hugh return.

[jo]

Thanks!

I expected that because the seating charts began to look like a pumpkin patch -- with all those seats in Orange ( Available).

Also, this will be good for everyone in the show - the cast, the musicians, the support staff & the crew - time to
recover for those Covid-afflicted and to rest for all the others.

Besides this is still PrEVIEWS time -- it may be uncommon, but some shows in the past do cancel performances during previews to iron out show kinks. I remember Mackintosh cancel the entire preview of Martin Guerre ( to which I had tickets) and reset the previews much later. I think Lloyd-Webber did that, too, for one of his shows ( Sunset Blvd, if I am not mistaken)

It was also a chance for the producers to test the value of a Hugh Jackman in the show.

Jo

[jo]

[jo]

With reference to the issue of Marian's possible mother-son relationship with Winthrop --

Someone on ATC gave a link to an original character sketch on Marian


songbook.historyit.com/detail-page.php?id=2301

It is 7-pages long...but the ATC'er summa rized them as follows --



"Marian’s character sketch is seven pages long and gives a ton of backstory; however, it lists her name as Marian Maddy and is very evidently an early draft. Her last name is Maddy here because Old Miser Madison was originally her father, who then left her his books. Despite being an early draft, some details ring true for the final version of the character: “Marian might easily have succumbed to a life of quiet desperation had she not had Melvin Maddy’s legacy of books…These books were Marian’s life and the substance of her dreams.”