Somebody else will be playing Hugh Jackman‘s Professor Harold Hill character in “The Music Man.”
On Monday, June 13, the show’s producers announced that the actor would be missing from the Broadway musical from June 14 to 21 after testing positive for COVID-19.
The star, who began his acting career on Broadway, will be replaced by his standby Max Clayton while Jackman follows quarantine protocol.
Hugh Jackman Tests Positive For COVID-19 A Second Time
In a statement shared on Instagram, Jackman said he had “frustratingly tested positive for COVID. Again.”
In the accompanying clip, the Hollywood star said, “I wanted you guys to hear it from me first that unfortunately this morning I have frustratingly tested positive for COVID. Again.”
Although he was happy that Clayton was there to take over from him, Jackman was heartbroken that he would be unavailable to watch his standby on stage.
The “X-Men: Days of Future Past” concluded his statement by praising “standbys, swings, and understudies around the world,” calling them “the true heroes of theater. You give life to the saying ‘the show must go on.'”
In the video, Jackman revealed that he and Clayton started working on the project two years ago, thus preparing the latter for the big stage.
Soon after the post went live, over 600k fans liked it, and almost 3k people dropped comments. While several comments were wishes for him to enjoy a speedy recovery, others pointed out how “draining” COVID is.
One person suggested that everybody who attended the Tony Awards with Jackman on Sunday night needed to do a COVID test as soon as possible.
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The “Bad Education” actor first caught the virus in December 2021, according to The Blast. The 53-year-old broke the sad news with a video and a caption that read:
“I just wanted to make sure you heard this from me. I tested positive for covid. Mild symptoms and looking forward to getting back on stage ASAP! Sending love for a happy and healthy new year.”
Just like he did in his second COVID announcement, Jackman praised the understudies who ensured that the Broadway show could continue flawlessly.
Unfortunately, the theater company did not share the father-of-two’s sentiments as they officially canceled all “The Music Man” performances until January 2.
That cancellation was necessary, so Jackman had enough time to recover and get back on stage.
The “Les Misérables” Was Rumored To Be Gay
Aside from fighting COVID, the “Rise of the Guardians” actor has also dealt with rumors about his sexuality – despite his long-standing and seemingly happy marriage to Deborra-Lee Furness.
In April, the Australian native made headlines after his wife had to debunk the rumors of her husband being gay in April during an appearance on the “Not An Overnight Success” podcast.
Per The Blast, Furness insisted that the rumor had no basis as Jackman had no reason to hide that aspect of his life from her.
She claimed that he would have been with Brad Pitt if he played for the other team. The mother-of-two added that she and Jackman avoided reading about things like that as it was “so silly, and then people perpetuate silly things, and it’s boring.”
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Apart from it being “silly and boring,” it never stopped amazing her how media outlets could continually perpetuate a false narrative about her husband’s personal life.
Jackman first addressed rumors about his sexuality seven years ago when he told Australia’s “60 Minutes” that he was sick and tired of people speculating about him being gay.
He added that a person’s sexuality was the least exciting thing about anybody and wished that people would stop the rumor.
It did not help that the baseless rumor worried his wife, who previously had difficulty ignoring what was said about Jackman’s sexuality.
Despite the speculations, Furness and Jackman are still going strong following the recent celebration of their 26th wedding anniversary.
To mark the milestone, the “Kate and Leopold” actor uploaded a sweet tribute to his wife via his Instagram page. The Broadway star reflected on how every day was “filled with so much laughter, joy, and backgammon.”
The adorable caption included a photo of the lovebirds cuddling on the beach. The couple has been together since they met on the set of the 1995 Australian TV show “Corelli.”
