It’s been a week of closing notices. “Summer” (the disco-dancing Donna Summer bio musical), “Head Over Heels” (the gender-bending Go-Go’s jukebox musical) and the Tony-winning revival of “Once On This Island” (a Caribbean fairy tale musical) all threw in the towel in light of diminishing weekly box office grosses. “Summer” will play its last performance on Dec. 30, while “Head Over Heels” and “Once On This Island” will play their last performances on Jan. 6. This creates speculation over what shows will move into the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre and Circle in the Square. A Broadway revival of Lanford Wilson’s “Burn This” with Adam Driver and Keri Russell has already been announced as the next tenant at the Hudson Theatre.
Guest stars to rotate into ‘Nassim’
Barrow Street Theatricals, which recently lost its lease on the Greenwich House Theater following a 15-year run of hit Off-Broadway productions, will next present “Nassim,” a new work by Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour that explores the power of language. Similar to the playwright’s earlier work “White Rabbit Red Rabbit,” “Nassim” will incorporate a rotating cast of guest actors, including Michael Shannon, Michael Urie, Tracy Letts, Reed Birney, Annie Parisse and Cush Jumbo. It will play City Center’s Stage II, beginning in December.
‘Hadestown’ finally coming to Broadway
After playing Off-Broadway, Edmonton and most recently London, the new folk-jazz-pop musical “Hadestown” — an adaptation of the Orpheus myth, based on a concept album by singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell — will finally come to Broadway beginning in March. It will play the Walter Kerr Theatre (currently home to Bruce Springsteen’s one-man show). The cast of the London production (which runs through Jan. 26) includes Reeve Carney (Peter Parker in “Spider-Man”), Patrick Page (Green Goblin in “Spider-Man”), André De Shields (“The Wiz”), Eva Noblezada (“Miss Saigon”) and Amber Gray (“Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812”).
Financial drama ‘The Lehman Trilogy’ to play Park Ave Armory
Sam Mendes’ acclaimed London production of “The Lehman Trilogy,” a multipart financial drama charting the Lehman brothers and their lineage from 1844 to 2008, will play the expansive drill hall of the Park Avenue Armory on the Upper East Side in March. The original Lehman brothers will be played by Simon Russell Beale, Adam Godley and Ben Miles. The venue’s 2019 season will also include a Japanese adaptation of the Greek tragedy “Antigone” and a new version of the 1937 morality drama “Judgment Day” directed by Richard Jones (“The Hairy Ape”).
Spotted…
George R.R. Martin at “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” … Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton at “Torch Song” … Zach Braff at “Network” … Clay Aiken at “The Band’s Visit.”
