I saw a Saturday matinee of THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE at the then Uris Theater.
The show did not start on time, and the only announcements being made were that the show would begin shortly.
There was a lot of fussing around in the orchestra pit for about twenty minutes.
The show began at 2:30pm with an announcement that Rex Smith would NOT be appearing as Frederick, nor would his understudy, but would be played by a certain young man whose name I cannot recall.
This Frederick was phenomenal! Seriously, he kept up with Kevin Kline, Estelle Parsons, Karla DeVito and George Rose more than adequately.
When the curtains calls were done, George Rose came to the footlights and demanded another round of applause for this Frederick, the audience responded with a well-deserved standing ovation when Rose told the story of how this Frederick came to be on the stage that day.
Rose related that no one could find Mr. Smith - yep, George Rose actually dissed his co-star from the stage - and that Smith's understudy was on in another show that afternoon, or was otherwise unavailable and that the young man who we saw playing Frederick was actually a member of the orchestra, making his Broadway stage debut with that particular performance. Rose's speech brought down the house.