“Celebrity Autobiography,” in which celebrities perform unintentionally hilarious passages from other celebrities’ memoirs, will close Sunday at the Shubert Theatre after just three previews and 40 regular performances. It had been scheduled to run through Aug. 16.
The decision to bring the long-running comedy revue to Broadway was questionable from the outset. It appeared to be relatively inexpensive stopgap programming for the Shubert before another production moved in, with a rotating cast that included Rita Wilson, Andrea Martin, Kenan Thompson, Molly Shannon, Matthew Broderick and Tony Shalhoub.
Audiences largely stayed away. The show recently grossed just $74,437 across eight performances and filled only 37% of the Shubert, with an average ticket price of less than $23.
Its major comic set piece revisits the decades-old romantic saga involving Elizabeth Taylor, Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds—a reliable piece of old-Hollywood gossip, perhaps, but hardly material likely to excite a broad contemporary Broadway audience.
‘Ragtime’ announces final extension
Lincoln Center Theater’s acclaimed Broadway revival of “Ragtime” has announced its third and final extension, adding two weeks of performances through Aug. 16 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater.
Although “Ragtime” was always intended as a limited engagement, it was unclear whether Lincoln Center Theater and the production’s commercial partners might try to keep it running into the fall, especially after it won multiple Tony Awards, including best musical revival and acting prizes for Joshua Henry and Caissie Levy.
Instead, they appear to have chosen to finish on top, while grosses and demand remain high, rather than risk a decline after the summer. A longer run also would have required recasting many major roles. “Ragtime” will therefore end on a triumphant note, receiving a level of acclaim, popular affection and commercial momentum that largely eluded its 1997 original Broadway production.
Lily Rabe and Raúl Esparza to lead ‘The Winter’s Tale’
Lily Rabe and Raúl Esparza will reunite with director Daniel Sullivan for “The Winter’s Tale,” the second Shakespeare in the Park production of the summer. Esparza will play Leontes, the jealous king who falsely accuses his pregnant wife, Hermione, played by Rabe, of infidelity. Performances will run from July 25 through Aug. 22 at the Delacorte Theater.
Sullivan, returning for his 12th Shakespeare in the Park production, previously directed Rabe’s acclaimed Portia in “The Merchant of Venice,” which transferred to Broadway, and Esparza as Orsino in a superb 2009 production of “Twelfth Night.”
“The Winter’s Tale” follows Saheem Ali’s “Romeo & Juliet,” which opened the Shakespeare in the Park season with engaging young leads and a strong veteran cast but has become overshadowed by a politically charged border-wall concept.
Off-Broadway ‘Spring Awakening’ revival set for fall
“Spring Awakening,” Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik’s Tony Award-winning rock musical about adolescent sexuality and repression, will return to New York this fall in a commercially produced Off-Broadway staging at Studio Seaview.
It is an unusual route for a major musical revival, especially one backed by a commercial producer rather than a nonprofit theater. One suspects the intimate run may serve as a test for an eventual Broadway transfer.
Studio Seaview, near 43rd Street and Eighth Avenue, is the former Tony Kiser Theater, which was operated by Second Stage before Seaview took it over last year and transformed it into a commercial Off-Broadway house.
Danya Taymor will direct following her success with the youth-centered Broadway shows “The Outsiders” and “John Proctor Is the Villain.”
Based on Frank Wedekind’s once-banned 1891 drama, “Spring Awakening” contrasts a repressive 19th-century setting with a contemporary pop-rock score expressing its teenagers’ frustrations and longings.
The original 2006 Broadway production helped launch Jonathan Groff, Lea Michele, John Gallagher Jr. and Skylar Astin. Michael Arden’s acclaimed 2015 Broadway revival incorporated American Sign Language.
‘Paddington’ musical will bring marmalade to Broadway
“Paddington The Musical,” the London hit based on Michael Bond’s beloved bear, will open on Broadway next spring at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. The transfer was hardly a surprise after the production won seven Olivier Awards, tying the record for the most wins by any musical, including best new musical. There was even a wink during the Tony Awards opening number, when Neil Patrick Harris held up a Paddington bear, prompting host Pink to suggest, “Maybe next season.”
The show follows the small bear from Peru as he arrives in London, moves in with the Brown family and becomes the target of a vengeful villain. Its greatest curiosity—and apparently one of its greatest theatrical achievements—is Paddington himself, brought to life through intricate design and stagecraft.