The Royal Family Matinee Cancelled . . .

I'm in New York with my husband who is here for a business trade show, and we went to see The Royal Family yesterday afternoon. About 15 minutes into the play, Tony Roberts made his entrance looking absolutely fine, but speaking in a garbled voice. It was so perfectly timed that it seemed like an intentional gag . . . The rest of the cast on stage seemed bemused, like he was playing a joke, but Danny Glover suddenly dashed off stage and the curtain came down. There was an announcement that the show would resume in a couple of minutes, but it was clear that something was seriously wrong, and that most likely he had had a stroke.

About five minutes later, the house manager says, "Is there a doctor in the house? Actually, is there a neurologist in the house?" It was a sureal experience. The timing of his entrance and the stroke seems unbelievable. It became clear that the show was going to be cancelled, so we went to the box office to get a refund. As we were waiting, we actually saw the EMT's bringing Mr. Roberts out on a stretcher to the ambulance. He seemed conscious--at least his eyes were open. It was quite awful to see.

We went to get something to eat, and when we were walking back by the theatre I spotted Larry Pine, also from the play. In a truly Culture Buddy kind of way, my husband went up to him and said, "Excuse me, do you have any update on Tony's condition?" He said he didn't and told us it was a terrible moment when they realized what was going on. He hadn't made his entrance yet and was watching from backstage. He seemed pretty shook up--it must have been very difficult for the cast to perform the scheduled 7:00 performance that night with the understudy going on for Mr. Roberts. As of this morning, he is reported to be in stable condition.

This is the kind of theater first that I wish I hadn't experienced. More on my short trip to the city with my husband to come . . .