Busy Philipps has admitted the Dawson’s Creek cast were still hopeful James Van Der Beek would join their reunion “up until the last second” after he pulled out due to illness.
Busy Philipps has admitted the Dawson’s Creek cast were still hopeful James Van Der Beek would join their reunion “up until the last second”.
The 48-year-old actor – who is battling stage three cancer – pulled out of a live reading of the show’s pilot episode at the Richard Rogers Theatre in New York last month after falling ill, but his castmates refused to give up hope that he’d be able to get on stage to read his character Dawson Leery’s lines.
Busy told Us Weekly magazine: “I think we were all really hoping that James was going to be able to make it even kind of up until the last second.
“We just had a contingency plan in place.”
James’ part was instead taken by Lin-Manuel Miranda, whose musical Hamilton is usually performed in the same venue.
Busy added: “Thankfully, Lin-Manuel Miranda knows the Richard Rogers Theatre very well.”
The 46-year-old actress noted it was an “easy call” to ask the Broadway star to step in because he is close friends with Michelle Williams’ husband Thomas Kail, and James approved of his replacement.
She said: “James was also very thrilled that Lin was able to step in. His kids and family were able to see Hamilton the day before.
“We just had to figure out how it was going to … be the best version of a thing.”
The cast were joined on stage at the F Cancer fundraiser by James’ wife, Kimberly Van Der Beek, and their children, Olivia, 14, Joshua, 13, Annabel, 11, Emilia, nine, Gwendolyn, six, and two-year-old Jeremiah for a surprise singalong to the show’s theme song, Paula Cole’s I Don’t Want to Wait.
Busy explained the musical moment was arranged by Jason Moore, an “incredible theatre director” who had previously worked with the Dawson’s Creek cast on an episode in the 1990s.
She said: “We’d all worked with him before … We had been trying to figure out what the best way to do the song was.
“There was a lot of texting back and forth the week before between me, Tommy and Jason Moore about … what do we do with the song, and how do we make it special? I think it was Jason’s idea … and possibly Tommy too.”
And because James’ kids are “amazing singers”, they decided it would be a good idea to include them in the “great moment”.
Busy said: “Everybody just came together, and everyone had great ideas and input, and [it was] all hands on deck.
“We just really wanted it to be special and something that, even though James wasn’t able to be there, he would feel the love from the Richard Rogers theatre on Broadway all the way to Texas.”
The podcaster played Audrey Liddell on the show, which she joined in season five, and so for the reunion, she took on Leann Hunley’s part of teacher Tamara Jacobs, who had an affair with her 15-year-old student Pacey Witter.
And Busy and Joshua Jackson, in character as Tamara and Pacey, prompted cheers and screams from the audience when they kissed for real during the reading.
She said: “It’s a reading on stage. We just have to do it!
“I think anytime you kiss Josh Jackson, people are going to scream.”
Dawson’s Creek cast hopes James Van Der Beek would come to reunion ‘up until the last second’
