Kudisch's Return to Glorious Ones Delayed Due to Onstage Injury

By Andrew Gans
and Kenneth Jones
December 18, 2007

As previously reported, Marc Kudisch — a Tony nominee for his work in Thoroughly Modern Millie and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang — had an onstage mishap during the Dec. 16 performance of The Glorious Ones, necessitating the star's exit from the performance.

A spokesman from Lincoln Center Theater confirmed the incident that had been reported by theatregoers on internet message boards: In a scene with Natalie Venetia Belcon, Kudisch was hit in the eye. His understudy, Neal Benari, took over for him mid-way during the matinee performance.

Kudisch, who plays one member of a family of 16th-century Italian troupers in the musical, had been expected to resume performances at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Dec. 19. His return, however, will most likely not occur before the Dec. 21 weekend.

Kudisch told Playbill.com Dec. 18 that he suffered a scratched cornea across his field of vision. "The doctor is now saying I should be able to return to work next week. A bit of a shocker. I of course want to get back sooner, but the eye is a delicate thing. I don't think I would be back in before the weekend."

The run of the musical by lyricist-librettist Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty continues to Jan. 6, 2008, at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. JAY Records will record a cast album Jan. 8.

Previews of The Glorious Ones began Oct. 11 toward a Nov. 5 opening. Graciela Daniele directs a cast that includes Tony Award nominee Kudisch, Belcon, Erin Davie, John Kassir, David Patrick Kelly, Jeremy Webb and Tony Award nominee Julyana Soelistyo.

According to LCT, The Glorious Ones is the "backstage story about the lives, loves, merriment and manipulations of a troupe of bawdy, witty improvising street performers — the commedia dell'arte actors of 16th-century Italy... It tells how the troupe came to be, in all its ragged, colorful glory, and how it captured the public's adoration for so long before losing the spotlight." The troupe's life and art are — like so many art forms throughout history — "cast aside in the wake of newer artistic fashion and changing morals."

Kudisch's Broadway credits include Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Beauty and the Beast, The Scarlet Pimpernel, High Society, The Wild Party, Bells Are Ringing, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Assassins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and The Apple Tree.

Tony Award winners Ahrens & Flaherty's scores include Once On This Island, Ragtime, A Man of No Importance, Dessa Rose, Lucky Stiff and My Favorite Year.

For more information, visit www.lct.org.