Given the competitive nature of Broadway musicals, it's uncommon to find stars who go to great lengths to help their understudies. It's just the nature of the beast. But Lin-Manuel Miranda is not your average star.
The "Hamilton" mastermind graciously covered for understudy Javier Muñoz when the actor was forced to miss a Sunday matinee. But as an understudy, Sundays are the only shows in which Muñoz stars, so why the change?
Unfortunately, Muñoz was battling cancer.
"I was diagnosed in October," he said in a recent interview. "I spent about six weeks not wanting to think about it, face it, deal with it. I had never felt fear before like this in my life."
A photo posted by Hamilton (@hamiltonmusical) on Oct 18, 2015 at 5:06am PDT
The 40-year-old actor put off telling his co-workers for weeks because he didn't want to deal with the reality himself. "I'd just call out [sick] or push through," Muñoz said.
Pushing through is no easy task as Muñoz's job is to watch every single "Hamilton" performance and observe for any degrees of change. He also has to carry the load if Miranda can't go for some reason, but that's not likely to happen anytime soon apparently. "Lin's such a workhorse - if both his legs fell off, he'd wheel himself out there!"
Thank you! Been back about 3 months now and going strong but you can believe the cast helped me get back on my feet! https://t.co/9cX0LVWt2E — Javier Muñoz (@JMunozActor) March 18, 2016
In November, Muñoz left the show to undergo special surgery and radiation treatments that exhausted his energy. He then had to undergo intense physical therapy to get his strength back up.
Normally, this is a long and grueling process. But Muñoz was only away for two months before he was able to return. Healthy again, Muñoz is back with the production and taking his normal Sunday curtain calls.
