Disney Legend and actor Josh Gad experienced a medical emergency over the weekend that forced him to cancel his performance in his brand-new Broadway show, Gutenberg! The Musical!
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Among diehard Disney fans, actor and comedian Josh Gad is best known for breathing life into Olaf, the adorable snowman who likes warm hugs in Disney’s Frozen (2013) and Frozen 2 (2019), and for embodying LeFou in Disney’s live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast (2017). But Gad’s career began long before he began hobnobbing with Elsa and Anna.
Josh Gad Before “Frozen”
In March 2011, after playing roles in several shows for network television and cable, Gad portrayed the character Elder Cunningham in the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon. His final performance was in June 2012. For his efforts, Gad was nominated for the 2011 Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. He won the Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album along with his Book of Mormon co-star Andrew Rannels.
Also in 2012, Gad co-created, produced, and starred in the NBC sitcom 1600 Penn, which was canceled after just one season. Gad also voiced Louis the molehog in Ice Age: Continental Drift.
A year later, Disney’s Frozen debuted at the box office and was an instant hit. In the animated film that features an adaptation of The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen, Josh Gad voices Olaf, the snowman originally created by Anna and Elsa when they were small children. Six years and $1.280 billion later, Frozen was such a success that a sequel was a no-brainer. Gad reprised his role as the voice of Olaf in Frozen 2, which went on to earn even more than the first film.
Gad Goes Back to Broadway
Now, Gad is embracing the lead role in Gutenberg! The Musical! on Broadway. The musical, described as “a hilarious new musical about an unintentionally hilarious new musical, stars Josh Gad and his former Broadway co-star Andrew Rannels. The musical began its Broadway run on September 15 and is slated to run through late January 2024.
But in an Instagram post on Saturday, the Disney actor and Broadway star told fans he was experiencing a medical emergency that his doctors did not want to wait to address. As such, he was forced to announce his absence in the afternoon performance of Gutenberg! The Musical!
His post reads:
View this post on Instagram
Gad didn’t share specifics in his post about his condition or about the ailment or medical issue that doctors felt should be addressed “immediately,” but the post seems to show the Tony Award-nominated actor and performer.
Gad’s new Broadway show, Gutenberg! The Musical! is described as a “hilarious new musical” that’s “the funniest thing to come to Broadway since 1448!”
Need we say more? Okay, we will! Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells—who became pretty famous on Broadway and then extremely super famous out in Hollywood—are coming back to their musical theater roots, putting on a show together because they just love each other so damn much. And what did they pick? A hilarious new musical from the guys who wrote “Beetlejuice” and the guy who directed “Beetlejuice” and “Moulin Rouge.” It’s the story of two best pals named Bud and Doug, who put on a show together because they just love each other so damn much. It’s art imitating life imitating art! And it’s the funniest thing to come to Broadway since 1448! (Which is the year the printing press was invented by Johannes Gutenberg, who is the subject of the musical that Bud and Doug write, but that’s not important right now.)
Here’s wishing Gad well in the coming days and continued success in his new show on Broadway!