Wedding Singer: Lead Fritz Sullivan out with COVID-19 making a return the day before opening night

It was just another Wednesday night rehearsal for the cast of “The Wedding Singer.” Only one thing was different — face masks were coming off. After spending weeks preparing for opening night on Jan. 26, the cast was finally holding their first “no mask practice” as a way to gauge how singing without masks would go. Practice ended at 7 p.m, as usual, and everyone went home feeling more prepared for their first show.

But on Thursday morning, junior Fritz Sullian tested positive for COVID-19. 

Sullivan plays Robbie Hart, the lead of “The Wedding Singer,” and has no understudy to fill in for his parts during his quarantine, which is over on Tuesday. The East theater department has historically not chosen understudies because the English teacher and musical director Brian Capello is very selective when it comes to casting each part according to Sullivan. 

The mindset leaves out one potential problem — global pandemics. As COVID-19 is ramping up again, there are worries about how more cases in the cast will affect the outcome of the show.

“Every time we hear about someone who is sick, we always get a little scared,” Sullivan said. “We know it could be one of us next to get COVID-19.”

In this case, it was Sullivan. As soon as he tested positive, Sullivan knew it would be difficult and upsetting news to share with the rest of the cast. Continuing rehearsal without one of the leads was going to be a tough challenge.

 “I believe in us as a group and, at the end of the day, this won’t affect us too much,” Sullivan said.

“The Wedding Singer” cast has been preparing since mid-November for the musical. They’vebeen rehearsing after school until 5 p.m. on the daily. As show time approaches, rehearsals have been going overtime as late as 7 p.m. Sullivan knows these final days of rehearsals are imperative to a smooth-running show, so he’s eager to return.

In the meantime, Sullivan has continued working on his part during his quarantine at home — from texting fellow cast-mates about changes made in rehearsals to reviewing tricky lines he gets tripped up on. But most importantly, he’s practicing exactly as he would if he wasn’t in quarantine to keep him fresh for opening night.

According to the latest SMSD quarantining guidelines, requiring a mandatory 5 day quarantine if positive with COVID-19, Sullivan can return for one practice before opening night. Despite the amount of catching up he has to do in preparation, Sullivan is confident that it will work out due to the patience and support of his castmates.

Sullivan is ready to step back into his role as the heartbroken Robbie Hart as soon as his quarantine is up and has one final request. 

“Come see the Wedding Singer in the next few days,” Sullivan said. “Trust me, you won’t regret it.”