The 2025 Tony Awards may be over, but Broadway’s early summer exit list is still unfolding.
Over the past two weeks, multiple original musicals have announced their final performances, while others, though never officially slated for open-ended runs, are bowing out after failing to gain commercial momentum.
Already gone is “Smash,” the long-anticipated Broadway adaptation of the NBC television series, which played its final performance on Sunday, June 22. Despite a creative team stacked with Broadway veterans, the production was an overstuffed, self-referential, and chaotic reimagining of the TV show. Mixed-to-negative reviews and its conspicuous absence from the Tony broadcast sealed its fate.
Next to close are two more original musicals from this season: “Real Women Have Curves” and “Dead Outlaw,” both of which will take their final bows on Sunday, June 29.
“Real Women Have Curves,” the musical adaptation of the film of the same name, centers on a Mexican American teenager coming of age in East Los Angeles as she navigates body image, family expectations, and questions of independence and ambition. The musical underscores the everyday reality of undocumented immigrants who live under the constant threat of deportation and immigration raids.
The production earned critical praise but opened late in a saturated season and struggled to gain traction despite a performance slot on the Tonys.
“Dead Outlaw,” a darkly comic and haunting original musical about the afterlife of outlaw Elmer McCurdy, had a widely acclaimed Off-Broadway run last season, which earned it Best Musical honors from the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and New York Drama Critics’ Circle.
When it arrived on Broadway in April, it earned seven Tony nominations and strong reviews. But it was ultimately overshadowed by “Maybe Happy Ending,” which won the Tony Award for Best Musical, and never built enough commercial momentum to carry through the summer.
Lincoln Center Theater’s revival of “Floyd Collins” closed on Sunday. Though always planned as a limited engagement, the run came and went quietly, overshadowed by louder, flashier spring entries.
Likewise, Manhattan Theatre Club’s production of the Stephen Sondheim revue “Old Friends” will play its final performance on Sunday, June 29. Despite the success enjoyed by recent Broadway revivals of other Sondheim musicals, “Old Friends” felt redundant and wearying, even with Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga leading the cast.
Other closings to come?
Although “Boop! The Musical” has not yet posted a closing notice, it may soon, given that low grosses have persisted since the show opened.
The acclaimed revival of “Gypsy” starring Audra McDonald, which lost the Tony Award for Best Revival to “Sunset Boulevard,” may not survive past the summer. Its grosses are likely to dip further when McDonald takes a week off in early July.
Auf wiedersehen, a bientot, good night
The current revival of “Cabaret,” a major production from last season, has also posted a closing notice, confirming that it will end its run on Oct. 19 following a short final engagement starring Billy Porter as the Emcee. This bold, divisive reimagining of the Kander and Ebb classic radically transformed the August Wilson Theatre into an immersive nightclub, complete with a 75-minute preshow.
While a 13-month run is respectable (especially considering that its original star, Eddie Redmayne, departed nearly a year ago), the scale and expense of the production make its closure notable.
This has been a record-setting season at the box office, thanks largely to celebrity-driven plays like “Othello,” “Glengarry Glen Ross,” and “Good Night, and Good Luck.” But for musicals, particularly those without name recognition or star casting, the market can be unforgiving.
