Hugh Jackman Tests Positive for COVID-19 Days After Powerful Broadway Speech

Hugh Jackman has tested positive for COVID-19. Jackman took to Twitter Tuesday to share that he contracted the virus and would have to take a step back from his performances on Broadway's The Music Man, while he quarantines and recovers.

"I just wanted you to hear from me that I tested positive this morning for Covid," Jackman said in a video shared to Twitter. "My symptoms are like a cold: I have a scratchy throat and a bit of a runny nose, but I’m fine. And I’m just going to do everything I can to get better, A.S.A.P., and as soon as I’m cleared, I’ll be back onstage."

Not long after Jackman's video, The Music Man announced that all performances of the Broadway show would be cancelled through Saturday, with performances set to resume on Sunday. The 53-year-old actor, who is starring as Professor Harold Hill in the Broadway production, is not scheduled to return to the show until Jan. 6.

Jackman's announcement and the show's cancelled dates come just days after the actor gave a powerful speech about celebrating understudies and swings after Sutton Foster, who stars as Marian Paroo in the musical, had to miss a performance of The Music Man in the show's first week of previews after testing positive for the coronavirus.

"This is a time we've never known. We're in our fourth preview, we're all just sort of learning so swings and understudies have not had a chance to learn," Jackman said in the audience captured video, before revealing that Foster's understudy, Kathy Voytko, had only found out at noon that day they she'd be stepping into perform. "They watch from the corner of a room while we rehearse, while we get to practice over and over again. They just get to watch and write notes and then five hours before performance they're told, 'You're on by the way, you've got a wig fitting, go!'"

Jackman had other understudies join him on stage as he continued his speech.

"I'm emotional because it humbles me," he continued. "Their courage, their brilliance, their dedication, their talent. The swings, the understudies, they are the bedrock of Broadway."

The actor, known for playing the Wolverine in the X-Men movies, threw up his hands in a claw-like gesture as he joked, "Take it from me: real superheroes do not wear capes!"

While the show is still in previews, The Music Man is scheduled to officially open Feb. 10. at the Winter Garden Theatre.

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