Celebrated Broadway musical closes early; national tour planned
Popular Broadway musical closes sooner than expected before going out on the road.
It's usually sad when popular Broadway shows drop the curtain and end the production. But sometimes fans can catch a future performance on a Broadway show tour.
Classic musical "Funny Girl" arrived on Broadway at the August Wilson Theatre for a revival in March 2022 and closed Sept. 3, 2023. The original production opened at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York in March 1964 starring Barbra Streisand as Fanny Brice and closed in July 1967 after 17 previews, 1,348 performances and picking up a Tony Award for Best Musical.
Fans of "Funny Girl" can still catch the musical on tour as it wraps up a stop in Cleveland March 10 and continues on to 16 more cities across the country, including Des Moines, Iowa; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Costa Mesa, Calif.; Hartford, Conn.; Washington, D.C.; Philadelphia; Atlanta; Dallas; Houston; Seattle; Salt Lake City; Cincinnati; and New Orleans, before finishing April 6, 2025 in Schenectady, N.Y.
Several Broadway shows close early
Another favorite Broadway show, Lerner and Loewe's "Camelot," opened a revival production at the Vivian Beaumont Theater on March 9, 2023, and was reportedly extended to Sept. 3, 2023, but closed early on July 23 after playing 38 previews and 115 regular performances.
At the time of the closure announcement, production representatives said the producers were planning a U.S. national tour and West End shows, but no dates have been revealed.
The original cast production of "Camelot" opened on Broadway in 1960 starring Julie Andrews, Richard Burton and Robert Goulet.
Early show closings might be a little trend lately as "Days of Wine and Roses," which began Jan. 6 at Studio 54 and was expected to play through April 28, 2024, will close early on March 31, 2024.
The Broadway revival of Monty Python's "Spamalot," which opened Oct. 31, 2023, at the St. James Theatre in New York, is also closing down its production earlier than people expected as the producer has set April 7, 2024, for the final performance of the musical after a 24-week run. Several Broadway ticket websites had originally listed July 28, 2024, as the final date for the production.
The musical reportedly failed to attract strong audiences that the original show from 2005 drew. The show in the final week of February and beginning of March grossed just $589,970 and ticket sales only achieved about 59% of the theater's capacity, Deadline reported.
The revival's poor financial results will not bring an end to "Spamalot," however, as a national tour of the musical is set to launch in fall 2025. When the St. James production ends, it will have played 17 previews, 164 regular performances, Playbill reported.
'Spamalot' won Best Musical Tony Award
Monty Python's "Spamalot," which is based on the comedy troupe's 1975 film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," opened March 17, 2005 at Broadway's Shubert Theater and ran through Jan. 11, 2009 with 35 previews and 1,575 performances. The show, which starred Tim Curry, Hank Azaria, David Hyde Pierce, Christopher Sieber and Steve Rosen, was nominated for 14 Tony Awards in 2005 and won three, including Best Musical.
"Spamalot" continued on in 2006 for a U.S. national tour, an international tour and a West End theater run.
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