A new Broadway production of “Macbeth,” determined to go ahead even if cast members continue to test positive for the coronavirus, came up with an unusual solution Thursday night: The director went to replace an absent performer.
The director, Sam Gold, played the part of a Scottish thane named Lennox, as well as another role played by the same actor. He stepped in because all of the show’s understudies were already on stage, replacing other absent actors.
The production, starring Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga, is slated for April 28, the eligibility deadline for this year’s Tony Awards. That makes “Macbeth” the last show to open this season.
But the piece has faced serious coronavirus challenges during its preview period.
“Macbeth” only made it through three performances when, just half an hour before the curtain was set to go down on April 1, a cast member tested positive for the coronavirus. The show canceled that performance and the next day Craig also tested positive.
The show was eventually closed for 11 days and started on April 12. The house was sold out on Thursday evening. When another cast member tested positive, Gold himself took to the stage to avoid sending all those cardholders home.
A similar rescue happened last December, when Keenan Scott II, the writer of “Thoughts of a Colored Man,” stepped in to save a performance of that show after several actors tested positive for the coronavirus.
“Macbeth” is the ninth production to be directed by Gold on Broadway in the past ten years. In 2015 he won a Tony Award as director of the musical ‘Fun Home’.
“Macbeth” is also one of four productions that will have to cancel performances this month due to the corona virus. The play “Plaza Suite” resumed performances Thursday (although one of its stars, Sarah Jessica Parker, is out until Saturday); the new musical “A Strange Loop” held its postponed first preview that same night. The musical “Paradise Square” remains closed and plans to resume performances on April 19.
