Broadway is in the middle of a clearing out.
Soon, around a dozen plays and musicals will be gone. Some exits were planned up front. Some are sad surprises.
The latest news is that “Celebrity Autobiography” is done on June 21. They were supposed to stay through August.
This show should NEVER have been on Broadway. Its whole charm was being off and off off Broadway. It was a cool secret that demanded small houses. Whoever thought to put in the Shubert Theater was smoking something good.
Hopefully creators Eugene Pask and Dayle Reyfel can return to their origins.
“CA” has a rotating cast of dozens — way too many — and dozens of investors. But last week it played to empty houses — 37% capacity. There was no way they’d made it through the summer.
Other shows closing or closed now are “Beaches,” “Chess,” “Death Becomes Her,” “Dog Day Afternoon,” “Fallen Angels,” “Moulin Rouge,” “The Fear of 13,” not to mention the great limited run comedies “The Balusters” and “Becky Shaw.”
“Ragtime,” sadly will also wrap up in August after many extensions. New shows will come, and somehow “Chicago” will hang on, but this is definitely a course correction.
Ticket prices are way too high. Going to theater, in your car, paying tolls and a congestion fee plus parking, with a babysitter at home, having a modest meal — can cost $1,000. That has got to change. And fast! And, no, Mayor Mamdani, no one is biking to the theater with sandwiches made from home. Get real.
