Heart condition forces Wayne Bryan to drop out of Music Theatre Wichita’s ‘Chaperone’

For several years, Music Theatre Wichita had set the stage for Wayne Bryan’s grand finale from the company.

Bryan, producing artistic director for 38 of MTW’s 51 seasons, was to have reprised his 2009 portrayal of Man in Chair in the musical “The Drowsy Chaperone” at the Century II concert hall Aug. 17-21, with the last performance targeted as a celebration of Bryan and his work.

But Bryan was hospitalized in Wichita with a heart condition Thursday night, followed by successful surgery Saturday morning, forcing him to drop out of the role.

“He leads with his heart all the time and unfortunately it needed a little bit of maintenance,” said Brian J. Marcum, who succeeded Bryan as artistic director. “He gave a little too much of it away and it needed to be repaired.”

Bryan was three days into rehearsal for “Drowsy Chaperone” before being hospitalized.

“It was a huge surprise. He’s been running around and doing rehearsals,” Marcum said. “Wayne Bryan has more energy than any man I’ve ever met.”

Bryan, who turns 75 this month, had lost about 45 pounds in recent years and was back to his weight in college, he said during a recent interview. He lives in Rancho Mirage, Calif., and had served in an advisory capacity during the past season, completing Marcum’s transition to artistic director.

In his time at MTW, Bryan produced 168 musicals, directed 56 of them and appeared in 14.

Marcum said discussions haven’t been made about a different celebration of Bryan’s 34-year career with MTW, but something will be done.

“Our focus is getting him back to being healthy and strong, and then we’ll see where we can feature him in this season or another one,” he said.

But the show will go on.

Marcum found actor John Scherer, a MTW veteran from the mid-’90s, who played Man in Chair for a three-month run at Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut four years ago and flew in for rehearsals beginning Aug. 6.

Since Man in Chair — who is the crux of the show, serving as both narrator and onstage participant — is vital to the show, having someone already familiar with the multitude of lines and the character was necessary, Marcum said.

“If they already know that, it’s half the battle,” he said.

Scherer had roles in “Damn Yankees” and “Hello Dolly” while at MTW.

“He knows us, he loves MTW, and he loves Wayne,” Marcum said. “He was more than happy to come in and step into these shoes, these big shoes to fill.

“Many people will remember him, I’m sure, and it’s nice to have someone from the MTW family able to come in,” he added, thanking the theater that let Scherer out of his contract so he could appear in “Chaperone.”

A Buffalo, N.Y., native, Scherer has credits including the lead role in “By Jeeves” and as a cast member of “Sunset Boulevard” on Broadway.

In an interview hours before he was hospitalized, Bryan said Man in Chair — a Broadway musical aficionado with deep respect and adoration of the classics — was one of the three favorite roles he’s played, and the one that best depicted him at this stage of his life.

“I can’t imagine anything that would be more appropriate at my age and abilities,” he said. “It just seems perfect.”

The rest of the cast includes Stacia Fernandez, an understudy for the title role on Broadway, playing the chaperone; Emma Pittman, most recently Roxie in Broadway’s “Chicago” as the female romantic lead; Johnny Stellard, reprising his role from 2009 as the male romantic lead; and Wichitans Timothy Robu (as a Broadway producer) and Patty Reeder (as a socialite), back in their roles from 13 years ago.

Marcum said he had been looking forward to directing his mentor in the musical.

“It was a big deal for me, and I think it was a big deal for him,” said Marcum, who was an understudy in “Chaperone” on Broadway and had the blessing of director/choreographer Casey Nicholaw to use the original direction and choreography in the MTW version.

“The emotional magnitude it’s had on all of us, that we aren’t able to honor him and work with him, that he isn’t able to do this performance, that audiences won’t be able to see him do this, is sad for all of us,” Marcum said.

“We know that the audiences were very excited to see Wayne in this role, and we were all excited for him,” he added.

‘THE DROWSY CHAPERONE’ BY MUSIC THEATRE WICHITA

When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, Aug. 17-18; 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 19; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 20; 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 21

Where: Century II concert hall, 225 W. Douglas

Tickets: $25-$77, from mtwichita.org or 265-3107