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James Van Der Beek had to drop out of the “Dawson’s Creek” reunion in NYC on Monday due to a stomach virus, but he did surprise fans with a pre-recorded video, reports People.
The cast reunited at Richard Rodgers Theatre in NYC for a reading of the show’s first episode to raise cash for F Cancer in light of Van Der Beek’s stage 3 colorectal cancer diagnosis.
In a video, he shared, “I have been looking forward to this night for months and months, ever since my angel Michelle Williams said she was putting it together. I can’t believe I’m not there. I can’t believe I don’t get to see my castmates, my beautiful cast, in person.”
James, 48, went on, “I want to stand on that stage and thank every single person in the theater for being here tonight, from the cast to the crew to everybody who’s doing anything and has been so generous, and especially every single last one of you — you are the best fans in the world.”
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Van Der Beek, who played Dawson Leery on the show, said, “Thank you for coming. It’s just absolutely humbling just how much you did for this night, and I just want to say thank you. Thank you to every single person here. And, obviously, on ‘Dawson’s Creek,’ I had no understudy, but this is Broadway, and I needed one. So, we figured we’d try to find somebody who had never understudied in this theater before.”
That’s when the actor introduced his replacement for the reading… Lin-Manuel Miranda. He teased his kids would consider Lin-Manuel “an upgrade.”
The night featured cast members Michelle, Joshua Jackson, Katie Holmes, Busy Phillips, Mary Beth Peil, Mary-Margaret Humes, John Wesley Shipp and more. Joshua and Busy even shared a kiss onstage!
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It was a touching moment when the whole cast came out for a sing-along of the show’s theme song, “I Don’t Want to Wait” by Paula Cole.
Afterward, James’ wife Kimberly posted a video on Instagram Stories, saying, “I just got off with James, digesting the whole night tonight, and Michelle Williams was the brainchild of this night. It was such a gift. Thomas Kail came in and made so many of the kids dreams come true on this trip… and those two are just exquisite fairy-angel humans.”
Kail, who directed “Hamilton” on Broadway and who has been married to Williams since 2020, served as one of the event’s producers.
She went on to praise Jason Moore, who directed, and Kevin Williamson, the show’s creator, as well as Greg Berlanti, who wrote for the series and became its showrunner, and their teams.
Kimberly added, “The entire cast has been beyond words. Words will never do justice for their support.”
Kimberly called the night “so special,” saying, “Just feeling my husband fill the entire theater and the love for him. We will be unwinding this one for a while, but thank you for the love and support and the prayers… It was a beautiful night, and I miss my husband. I can’t wait to go see him tomorrow.”
Busy also shared a video on Instagram Stories, saying, “Tonight was really incredible and very special and obviously James not being able to get there was heartbreaking for a million different reasons, but I was so glad that Kimberly and all the kids were able to be there… It was just really beautiful, and James was getting lots of videos and FaceTimes and texts and things… Thank you everyone who supported.”
“Extra” spoke with James about his cancer battle back in March after he appeared on “The Masked Singer.”
He shared at the time, “I feel like I can see the finish line… I’m in a healing phase, which is great. I’m going back to work next month. I’m taking this month really to just kind of relax.”
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