Matt Cavenaugh injured in WSS Tonight..

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/27/08 at 12:27am

http://talkinbroadway.com/allthatchat/d.php?id=1666784


That sucks. I hope he's ok!

[mywonderwa11]

Posted: 12/27/08 at 12:36am

Oh no! I hope he's okay! I'm seeing the show on Tuesday. I hope he's fine by then.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 12/27/08 at 12:37am

Uh-oh. I'm sensing another 'injured Hoff replaced by understudy in PAL JOEY' scenario. Hmmm.

We better keep a close eye on this 'injury'.

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/27/08 at 12:38am

I highly doubt that.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 12/27/08 at 12:42am

I haven't seen the show, but based on the posts here, the criticism of the production seems to have nothing to do with Cavenaugh or the rest of the cast.

Certianly not anywhere near the level that Hoff got it.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 12/27/08 at 12:47am

This is nothing like Hoff's injury. This one has witnesses.

[beltingbaritone]

Posted: 12/27/08 at 12:48am

While the word is Matt is the weakest link, and I'm curious to hear how his understudies compare, I love Matt as a performer and hope he takes the time necessary to heal!

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 12/27/08 at 12:53am

Dang!
Is this the new way to replace the male leads?
Anyone know what happened to Matt?
Was he run over by a set piece?

I have to disagree about that post on ATC stating Josefina has an "Opera" voice, it is nowhere near that yet as lovely as it is.

Can't wait to see how this plays out.
It is always exciting when an understudy takes the stage, especially when the lead has been getting bad word of mouth.

adamgreer: did you see the post about how Matt and Cody had to be replaced?
I know it just posters not real reviewers but still.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 12/27/08 at 1:02am

I did see that post, but what I was saying was that there seem to be plenty of people that enjoyed Cavenaugh's performance. With Hoff, it was nearly universal that he needed to be immediately replaced if the production had any hope of succeeding.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 12/27/08 at 1:05am

I liked Matt. He deserves the opportunity to fine-tune his performance just as the production itself is still finding its footing.

[CMU_bway_lover]

Posted: 12/27/08 at 1:10am

I happened to be there tonight so here is the summary:

During the scene change for Act I, scene ii (when the Jets are walking out and Riff is on his way to Doc's to find Tony)you could see the Jets walking off stage in a group and then Matt start to walk on, all of a sudden he turned on his heel, as if to turn around and go in the same direction as the leaving group of Jets, and said something like 'Oh ****!' and sat down on the stage. They did make an announcement asking for a doctor to please come to the back of the house, however later one of the ushers said he wasn't hurt badly but that as a precaution he was being taken to the hospital.

During intermission the rumor floating about was that one of set flys had come loose and hit him, which makes sense since it was during the scene change and would be around the tracking that pulls Doc's shop facade on.

Matt Hydzik was decent, but over shown by all the other leads. He and Josefina had good chemistry.

[A Director]

Posted: 12/27/08 at 1:10am

Christian Hoff was replaced and Pal Joey still flopped.

It looks like actors will have to hire bodyguards to protect them from directors or producers who read Message Boards and then follow the advice from the bloggers.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 12/27/08 at 1:30am

Non-profit shows can't flop.

[popular_elphie]

Posted: 12/27/08 at 2:40am

Hope Matt C is okay. Hurrah for Matt Hydzik getting to go on so early, though! How exciting.

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 12/27/08 at 3:07pm

Non-profit shows can't flop.

Especially two months before they close.

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 12/27/08 at 3:15pm

Christian Hoff was excellent in Pal Joey and did a fine job especially in creating a character set in that time period. His injury was unfortunate, and I'm sure the show suffered without him.

I hope Matt C. is well.

[trucksandplanes]

Posted: 12/27/08 at 3:32pm

I was there for this too!

It was really scary. I was in the third row, center, and saw the set piece begin to roll on stage. I didn't catch exactly what happened (due to it being a blackout scene change) but I heard Matt yell "HOLD!" and then "STOP!" Knowing WSS, I knew this wasn't supposed to happen, while the people around me didn't, and thought that perhaps this was a part of the show. Then Matt stumbled out to center stage, and doubled over in pain and muttered a profanity beginning with God. Then the curtain came down. The whole "Is there a doctor in the house" thing was how I knew he wasn't seriously injured, but it's once experience I'm not eager to repeat. It was really concerning--being really close to the orchestra we were able to catch that they were sending him to the hospital before they announced it to the house. Then it was time to speculate about Matt's standby, Matt Hydzik. I figure the 30 minutes was spent getting him to the theatre!

I thought Hydzik was wonderful, and had really great chemistry with Maria. He's verrrrrrry cute too, and while I wish Matt a swift and speedy recovery (I'm a big fan of his, having caught what was supposed to be Urban Cowboy's closing night in March 2003, and Grey Gardens last year), I thought that his standby did quite well. It was really great to hear all the cheering from the audience during his curtain call, and then the entire cast cheering him on once the curtain came down for the last time.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/27/08 at 4:28pm

On behalf of everyone at BroadwayWorld, Matt, we're all hoping you get better soon, get back in the saddle, and open in New York triumphantly.

We're ALL pulling for you. ALL of us.

[Drunk Chita Rivera]

Posted: 12/27/08 at 7:02pm

Anyone know if he was back today?

[Jane2]

Posted: 12/27/08 at 8:00pm

"I figure the 30 minutes was spent getting him to the theatre!"

I think the standbys are required to already be there with the rest of the cast, just in case something like this happens.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 12/27/08 at 8:31pm

I'm hoping that this incident doesn't cause Matt's mercury levels to rise.

[Christoph]

Posted: 12/27/08 at 8:33pm

In answer to your questions, as of this afternoon, Cavenaugh was not back in the show. Even more interesting was the fact that there was no announcement that the understudy was filling in for the lead. Usually they either announce replacements or slip a paper in the playbills - but they did neither, so I was surprised to see the understudy take the lead. It may have been on the board out front somewhere, but I arrived a few moments before the curtain and did not pause to look.

I know Matt Cavenaugh has had his detractors on the board for this part and I do not know what his performance was like first-hand, but I can say the following - Matt Hydzyk is handsome and very pleasant...but no where near the leading man as yet for this show. Despite the rapturous over-the-top gushiness of the Talkin' Broadway post about Hydzyk's substitution, they are correct on one thing. While Hydzyk has a fine singing voice, it is oddly mismatched with Josefina Scaglione. I also failed to get the chemistry that they were referring to as well. They make a cute couple, but it seems that Scaglione is doing a LOT of the heavy lifting in the pairing to make up for some of the lack of spark from her co-star. Perhaps it is also like that with Cavenaugh, I don't know. If Hydzyk has to fill-in permanently, he may grow into the part better, but as of now he is no where near the league of either his leading lady or the supporting cast.

Just for the record, the show as a whole is very good, and only requires some minimal tweaking. George Akram, Curtis Holbrook and (especially) Karen Olivo were stand-outs. Contrary to what some other posters have mentioned, I also thought Cody Green was quite good as Riff. Scaglione is an appealing and easily accessible Maria, with both a lovely voice and a wry sense of humor. Not sure how well the integration of pure Spanish in some of the scenes and numbers played with a lot of people - I think at least half the audience was lost at certain points and I was picking up some distinct grumblings from some of the older viewers. The show gets across its points with a minimum of ham-fisted moralizing and is filled with almost palpable emotional impact. The attack on Anita (Olivo) by the Jets in Act II is pretty excruciating to watch and Scaglione's final moments are pretty incredible - I was hearing a lot of sniffles and seeing many fumbling for the hankies.

All in all, a really lovely performance all around and a worthy revival.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 12/27/08 at 8:42pm

Ever since the original run of HELLO, DOLLY! when David Merrick didn't want to lose any money and announced over the PA just moments before the show began that "The role of Mrs Levi will be played at this performance by Bibi Osterwald" (Ginger Rogers was playing Mrs Levi), Equity has insisted that the understudy announcement be made outside the theater, with a slip of paper in the Playbill AND over the PA.

In the case of DOLLY! many theater-goers had no idea who "Mrs Levi" was and even when Dolly made her entrance, they thought that it was Rogers in character make-up and not Osterwald.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 12/27/08 at 8:45pm

Matt bruised his ribs and is still out.

[CMU_bway_lover]

Posted: 12/27/08 at 8:45pm

Just a caution to those wanting to see Matt Cavenaugh, they aren't doing refunds since he isn't billed above the title (I tried at the box office last night once we figured Matt C was out and they were waiting to get Matt H ready).