Here's part of a message Audra McDonald posted online…
Hi friends! You know that nasty cold that's going around right now? Maybe some of you have it? Sore throat, cough, etc? No fun right? Well that little bugger is racing through the Broadway community right now too including here at Gypsy and including yours truly. So I'm hoping all of you that are coming to shows this holiday week and next can give a little grace to us folks up onstage and backstage as well.
If you bought your tickets through the box office or Telecharge, you're entitled to a refund or an exchange for some other night…and of course, you're outta luck if going to see the show tonight involved travel expenses, a hotel room, etc. Or if you just plain can't go any of those other nights for which you can exchange your tix. If you bought 'em off Stubhub or some other reseller…well, I dunno. It may depend on where those seats came from.
This kind of thing is, of course, unavoidable with live shows. Performers do get sick and there are various Acts o' God that cause performances to be cancelled. There was a lot of that during the main thrust of COVID and COVID may not be over yet. I have nothing clever or informative to say about any of this. I do know that there are people who won't buy tickets to the kind of show you don't want to attend if the S*T*A*R is out. Even if it's only a 2% chance, they don't want to take it.
I have been to shows when the star is out and occasionally seen a real terrific understudy. Audra probably has one — Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster had them for the revival of The Music Man and both went on at times — and I'm wondering if they could have done Gypsy tonight or if just too many cast members were ill. I guess I'm just happy I didn't say to Amber, "Hey, let's fly back to New York and see Audra McDonald do Gypsy two days before Christmas and I'll spend whatever it takes to get good seats!"