The comedy “Living on Love” starring opera great Renee Fleming has posted a closing notice for May 3. They were shut out of any Tony Awards nods this morning. More shows will follow. “The Heidi Chronicles” had already announced their early closing.
The very expensive musical “Doctor Zhivago” won’t be far behind, unfortunately. The revival of “Gigi” and the original musical “It Shoulda Been You” will also have trouble surviving without the public relations box office bounce of Tony nominations in their ads.
Another show that got no love from the Tonys, “Finding Neverland,” will continue on because of its main star’s following. Matthew Morrison, coming from the TV show “Glee,” has kept the box office up over $1 million a week so far. Good word of mouth will also help. “Neverland” may not be a Tony show but it’s a crowd pleaser.
Some of those shows that came in for Tony deadline should have been mounted in the summer or fall when there is less competition. “Zhivago” for example would have benefited from not being in the Tony mix.
It’s the single toughest thing to do — putting on a Broadway musical. All the chemistry has to be right. And the show, of course, has to be good. The biggest loss of this season was “The Last Ship,” which was undone by poor marketing. Still, Sting’s score was nominated today and could win. “The Last Ship” had the best songs of 2014-15.
