Just because it's a lower back injury doesn't mean it's damning his existence. Yes, he has a herniated disc, but the severity of this varies. My aunt herniated a disc about a month ago. However, she did not herniate it bad enough (even though it was caused due to erratic movement-- as I assume Roger's was as well) to where she was out of submission for months. She was on her back for about 2-3 weeks tops and now she's good as new.
I guess my point being that despite it being a back injury, it doesn't necessarily mean it's a HORRIFIC injury. I'm sure it's bad, but none of us can say for sure just how bad it is.
I just wish health and fast healing for Roger. I think that's all any of us can ask for.
The reviews will be the reviews regardless of who is playing the leads. Like a previous poster (sorry for not remembering your username offhand) had said, the reviews are not everything. There's a ton of sold out performances. Plus, the show has so much word-of-mouth that it will attract people despite what they've heard about it. That's how The Producers was towards the end, as well. It was old news, but it had it's weekend where tourists FLOCKED to it just because they knew the title.
We were fated to be mated. We're Bialystock & Bloom!