I attended today’s matinee of “My Fair Lady,” at Arena Stage, in Washington, DC, which had to be cancelled mid-performance when the actor playing Eliza Doolittle, Manna Nichols, suffered a flu relapse and her understudy, Erin Driscoll, also out with the flu, was unavailable to take her place. Apparently the 6 p.m. performance, the last in the show’s two-month run, had to be cancelled as well. An usher told me that two performances had to be cancelled earlier in the week because flu ran through much of the cast, and another performance proceeded with understudies in all the main roles. The Washington Post link below details what happened yesterday, when the show went forward with an ensemble member playing Eliza, book in hand.
I began to wonder how often a show gets cancelled mid-performance. I also started to wonder how a Broadway company can protect itself from having to cancel performances because illness runs through the cast.
BTW, based on the few short scenes I got to see, Manna Nichols deserves to be a star. Even coughing and flu-ridden, she sweetly sang “Wouldn’t it be Loverly,” and she has a great deal of stage presence. I hope to see her someday on Broadway. Washington Post Article about
I worked for a theater company where a week of performances had to be cancelled due to illness. The entire cast and understudies all got the flu at the same time and at one point the entire cast was sick. It would have taken much longer to hire new performers and rehearse and but up an all new show, than to just cancel a week's worth of performances.
Canceling performances due to illness is different for Broadway/Tour productions than it is for regional non-profit productions.
Most Broadway and Touring productions anticipate a long run, and setup as many redundancies as possible to make sure that "the show must go on." This includes rehearsing the understudies and swings routinely.
Non-profit theatres have short runs, and therefore rarely rehearse the understudies to be instantly performance-ready.
And as for canceling a performance instead of putting on an understudy: sadly when you have a star in the show, many people pay to see that star rather than the show. Instead of having your box office deal with hundreds of refunds/exchanges in a half-hour's time, in addition to the embarrassment of potentially playing to a smaller house due to the suddenly empty seats, the producer will decide to cancel the show. (Unless I would lose money if the performance takes place, I would never cancel due to a star's calling out.)
Not only My Fair Lady, the touring productions of White Christmas and Les Miserables which are there in Washington now also are being hit very hard by this flu.
Not surprising as probably the actors from all 3 hang out with each other and know each other.
Remember, these actors (and crew members and orchestra members) are in very close proximity to each other-singing all over each other, sharing bathrooms backstage, touching the same props, etc.
It is not difficult for a flu (stomach or otherwise) to spread quickly in such an environment.
If someone is clearly sick, they should ditch the "the show must go on" mentality and for themselves and their coworkers, stay in bed- that's what understudies and swings are for. If too many of the understudies and swings are sick, that is when the stage manager and company manager start to get worried.
It is possible with a a show like Les Miz to ask people who were once in the show to come back for a little while to do their old roles. As many might be currently unemployed, most will happily help out and return for a few days or a week or so.
But, if everyone is just throwing up and passing out left and right------time ta' "shut her down". Most shows have insurance about things like that so I do not believe they take a big loss.
This kind of thing goes beyond the washing your hands and using hand sanitizers normal things to try to stay un-flu-y. The nature of these kinds of flu's, be they bacterial or viral, are simply hard to control when doing a show.
I saw Signature's production of Dreamgirls yesterday and clearly several people in the cast sounded hoarse. I was at the final performance of White Christmas today at the Kennedy Center and David Elder was out (not sure if it was illness or injury). His understudy was on and there was a new ensemble member filling in who wasn't even listed in the program.
When Altar Boyz was running Off-Broadway, I remember three actors called out the same night and they only had two understudies, so they called in a former cast member.
This is indeed the case. I live in the DC metro area and saw Dreamgirls Friday night even though my friend in the cast was out with the flu, as well as a second cast member. My Fair Lady at Arena was canceled on Friday with enough notice for Nicholas Rodriguez to come see Dreamgirls and I ran into him there and he was talking about how bad it is.
The flu is certainly going around DC, as I had it for a full week back in December, so it really isn't surprising. Stinks that My Fair Lady had to cancel their last show, though, and stop midway through the second to last.
PTOPhan, how did they handle the audience and money?
In Chicago the recent tour of Little Shop was hard hit, resulting in all three of three girls out and only one healthy standby to play Crystal, Ronnette and Chiffon. She talked to herself a lot.
Everybody I know has this thing. It must be wreaking havoc on all the shows.
Thanks for linking that article by Adam Hetrick from Playbill. This is my favorite quote:
"I went back into the jury room after I found out I was officially doing it and was muttering lyrics to 'The Miller's Son' to myself like a crazy person,"
I recall seeing a performance of Les Mis in the West End about five or six years ago during a week when the cast was decimated... If I recall correctly I saw understudies for Valjean, Javert, both Thernardiers, Marius, Cosette and Eponine. Fantine was main cast, but you could tell she was sick (she just was fortunate enough that she could use it.) Enjolras was the star of the show that day!
There was a bug going around backstage at Drood a few weeks back. Within a few days, Nicholas Barasch, Robert Creighton, Andy Karl, and Stephanie J. Block all had to miss at least one show over it.
When I saw Wicked in 2008, we had understudies for Elphaba, the Wizard, Fiyero (a pre-Idol Adam Lambert!), Nessarose, and Boq. Luckily, I had already seen Eden Espinosa in 2004 and ADORED Julie Reibler.
They announced that the show would stop for ten minutes while they dealt with a health issue, then they announced the cancellation about 15 minutes later. People were told to line up at the box office or call Tuesday for refunds. However, Sunday night, we got a call from Arena Stage trying to talk us into seeing a substitute show. The problem is that there's nothing coming that I'm that interested in seeing.
There hasn't been too much talk about it, but the flu is pretty nasty this year. I got the flu right before Christmas. Three of my family members ended up in the emergency room with it. I was in bed for three days with a temperature ranging from 101-103. I haven't been that sick since I was a kid. I am still just now getting over some residual effects of a nasty sinus infection that piggy-backed onto the end of it.
Bottom line: Get the flu vaccine now if you haven't had the flu yet. If you feel yourself getting the flu, get to your doctor quickly and get some Tamiflu. It only helps in the first 48 hours of sickness. Don't mess with this year's bug.
According to caps17 on ATC, the Sunday matinee of My Fair Lady was cancelled after Manna Nichols fell ill after "Wouldn't it be Loverly." Apparently the evening's final performance went on with Erin Driscoll as Eliza Doolittle.
My ID guys say it's not that this year would have been so bad xcept lots o people din get flu shots this yr so it's spreading more. Not more virulent just loads more sources spreading the joy.
Sounds like she did a great job. I got to see Manna Nichols in the role a few weeks ago, and she was fantastic, but I kind of wish I could have seen Willman as well!
Doubt replacement cast. At what was to be their first public performance, Eileen Atkins, Ron Eldard, and Jena Malone all were out with flu. It was the first time the understudies for Sister Aloysius and Father Flynn had ever been on. Atkins went on to miss the entirety of what was to be her first week.
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Posted: 1/6/13 at 09:59pm