Actress Makes Broadway Debut Days After Breast Cancer Surgery

Nov. 17, 2005— -- Maria Friedman is making her Broadway debut tonight in the Andrew Lloyd Webber play "The Woman in White," just two weeks after she underwent surgery for breast cancer.

"It's hard enough opening and starring in a Broadway show," said cast mate Michael Ball. "I've had more admiration for her than anyone else. She's an extraordinary girl."

Friedman was already performing her lead role in preview performances of the $8.5 million show written just for her when she discovered the lump on her breast during a self-examination on Oct.31.

"You always wonder what it will feel like, if I feel it will I know?" Friedman said. "I knew instantly."

The diagnosis was stage I malignant breast cancer. Just three days after feeling the lump, Friedman had it surgically removed, only then sharing the news with her two sons, Toby, 10, and Alfie, 3. Then, giving credence to the adage "the show must go on," Friedman returned to the stage a week after her surgery. She performed the three-hour show bruised, bandaged and bound in a corset with a doctor watching anxiously from the wings and adjusting her bandages between scenes.

"I never considered dropping out," Friedman said. "I figured I had been working with cancer for a while and now the cancer has been cut out and is gone, so there was nothing to do but go ahead."

Friedman said she plans to continue performing throughout a seven-week cycle of radiation treatments that are due to begin next month. She is still waiting to hear if she will need chemotherapy.

"I'm taking one day at a time," Friedman said. "I love being on stage and I love doing what I do. This wasn't my plan and it's been a difficult thing to have to deal with … I feel completely blessed that I'm feeling well today."

"The Woman in White" is based on the 1860 Gothic novel by Wilkie Collins, and tells the story of two sisters fighting for their lives in Victorian England. The show opened in London last year.

Although relatively unknown in the U.S., Friedman has won three Olivier awards -- the British equivalent of the Tonys -- and was nominated seven other times.

"I'm not going for hero status," Friedman said. "I'm doing what I can do, with enormous support."