Josh Gad Misses Broadway Performance Due to ‘Medical Emergency’

October 8, 2023 E Jazz Reporter

Entertainment

Gad’s standby filled in at Saturday afternoon’s (Oct. 7) Gutenberg! The Musical! performance while he was treated for “lower abdominal issues” at a New York hospital.

Josh Gad speaks onstage during the 92nd Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Feb. 9, 2020.

MARK RALSTON/AFP via Getty Images

Josh Gad, who’s currently starring as Bud Davenport in Broadway‘s Gutenberg! The Musical!, had to bow out of a weekend performance due to a medical situation that his doctors said “needed to be addressed immediately.”

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“Not the news I’d like to share, but life happens. Unfortunately, I will not be at this afternoon’s performance of Gutenberg. I’m dealing with a medical emergency that despite telling my doctors I wanted to wait till Monday to address, they thought needed to be addressed immediately,” he wrote Saturday (Oct. 7) on Instagram, where he also shared a video.

He announced that Russell Daniels would fill in for the role of Bud Saturday afternoon at the musical, which is playing at James Earl Jones Theatre in New York City.

“Off to hospital for (hopefully) quick treatment and then with any luck will be back by this evening,” Gad wrote. “In the meantime, please help me wish @russelljdaniels the best of luck as he makes his Broadway debut as Bud! I know he is going to give you all the show of your lives!”

In the video clip Gad posted, he apologized for missing the show and added, “I would rather be spending my afternoon with all of you than at a hospital. I hope that this gets resolved pretty quickly and I’ll be back on stage with my buddy [Gutenberg! co-star Andrew] Rannells as soon as possible.”

Later on Saturday, he provided an update confirming that he would be back for Saturday night’s performance.

“Thanks to the phenomenal team at Lenox Hill, I was able to be diagnosed and treated in record time for some lower abdominal issues I’ve been having,” Gad wrote in a “good news” message. “With their blessing, I will be back in the show this evening.”

Gutenberg! The Musical! is described as “the story of two best pals named Bud and Doug who put on a show together because they just love each other so damn much. It’s art imitating life imitating art! And it’s the funniest thing to come to Broadway since 1448! (Which is the year the printing press was invented by Johannes Gutenberg, who is the subject of the musical that Bud and Doug write, but that’s not important right now.)”

Gad is known for a long list of film and television credits, including voicing Olaf in Disney’s Frozen franchise, and his work on the stage: He received a Grammy Award in 2012 for best musical theater album for his work in The Book of Mormon, and he was nominated for best actor in a music at the Tony Awards in 2011.

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