A 29-year-old stagehand was found unconscious and in cardiac arrest just before 8 p.m. in a bathroom backstage at the popular Broadway revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, which stars Daniel Radcliffe and Night Court's John Larroquette. The unidentified man was rushed to St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. An NYPD spokesman tells the Times no criminality was suspected and it is believed he died from a drug overdose. As the grisly situation unfolded backstage (apparently he was found in an "out-of-the-way" room), the audience waited for over an hour with no explanation, until Radcliffe and Larroquette appeared on stage around 9 p.m. to announce that the show would not go on.
According to Twitter user @HogwartsRadio, Radcliffe told the audience the show was cancelled because "a tragedy has befallen our company." One audience member tells the Times, "They said they debated it for a long time, and that there was a tragedy and they didn’t feel comfortable performing." Another says the two actors were "very emotional," adding, "They apologized to everyone, but said it wouldn’t be fair to us because they would not have been able to give a good performance." One audience member shouted a question about the nature of the tragedy, and Radcliffe reportedly replied, "It's personal."
Police are investigating the death, according to the AP. Last night's performance was to have been the 100th for the show, which has been playing to sold out houses and grossing over $1 million a week. Reviewing the premiere in April, we described it as "utterly forgettable musical comedy" and wondered if "Broadway producers come up with a more irrelevant and milquetoast revival to mount this season."
