Christopher Sieber, Angie Schworer, Beth Leavel, Brooks Ashmanskas, Josh Lamon in The Prom. Picture: Deen van Meer
Two Broadway musicals, The Prom and Be More Chill, have announced earlier-than-anticipated closings, joining what’s commonly referred to as the post-Tony shake-out.
Both shows have scheduled shutdowns for 11 August 2019. They follow a trio of prominent non-musicals that have closed or are closing after receiving little or no recognition from the Tonys, either in nominations or awards.
The Prom, which garnered seven Tony nominations including Best Musical but won none, will at closing have played 23 previews and 310 regular performances. A national tour is planned and there’s talk of a movie version for the streaming service Netflix.
The show did receive one big honour in the Drama Desk Awards, a competition embracing all of New York theatre: Off and Off-Off-Broadway as well as Broadway. Without bestowing any other honours on the show for its creative elements or performers, the Drama Desk folks voted it Outstanding Musical.
Featuring a warm-hearted message of inclusion, The Prom tells of a group of underemployed Broadway actors who for publicity purposes mix it up with the bigoted populace of a Midwest town who have cancelled the high school prom. Why the cancellation? One of the students, a female, wanted to bring her girlfriend as a date.
Be More Chill, which received a nomination but no win for its score, will chalk up 37 previews and 177 performances. The closing is another milestone in the show’s noteworthy history. Based on a young adult novel, the piece – a sort of sci-fi take on the pleasures and perils of high school popularity – was commissioned and produced in 2015 by the Two River Theater in New Jersey where it received an inauspicious critical reception. A cast recording, however, became a viral teen sensation, leading to a sold-out Off-Broadway production last year and the follow-up move to Broadway.
The three straight plays with early closings include King Lear starring Glenda Jackson, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus starring Nathan Lane, and Hillary and Clinton, a fictionalised look at the political power couple played by Laurie Metcalf and John Lithgow.
On a happier note, it’s been announced that Girl From the North Country, which blends a Conor McPherson script into the songs of Bob Dylan, will come to Broadway next year. Previews are to begin 7 February 2020 for an opening on 5 March. The show’s brilliance has already been certified by the acclaim for an Off-Broadway production last year at the Public Theater and earlier London mountings at Old Vic and then the West End.
Ron Cohen
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