Two acclaimed revivals — “On the Town” and “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” — recently announced their closing dates on Broadway and both will have much to brag about when the curtain comes down for the final time next month.“On the Town,” heretofore seen as something of a musty, even moribund, musical, was given a shot of adrenalin in its most recent production, directed by John Rando and choreographed by Joshua Bergasse, which earned rave reviews — “This merry mating dance of a musical feels as fresh as first sunlight,” Ben Brantley wrote in the New York Times — and a run just short of the 1944 original, which resonated with a war-weary public.The show, written by Betty Comden, Adolph Green, and Leonard Bernstein, will close on September 6, having played 368 regular performances and 28 previews at the Lyric Theatre on Broadway. The run erases the sour memory of two previous flop revivals in 1971 and 1978.While this production never attained hot-ticket status — in part because the Lyric Theatre is so vast — it did receive four Tony nominations last spring, including Best Revival, and one for its male lead Tony Yazbek, who reinforced his reputation as one of Broadway’s most polished leading men. The show also garnered attention for the ballet stars who took turns in the role of Ivy “Miss Turnstyles” Smith, beginning with Megan Fairchild. When she went on vacation, Tiler Peck assumed the role. Georgina Pazcoguin took over for Fairchild, and is currently playing the role until August 23. That’s when Misty Copeland, who made history as the first African-American to be promoted to principal dancer in the 75-year history of the American Ballet Theatre, will play Ivy. Watch for the musical to earn its highest grosses yet for these last weeks, given Copeland’s marquee name and the show’s last-chance status. A national tour has been announced for next year.The fortunes of “Hedwig” were even more surprising and far more lucrative. In a statement, the lead producer, David Binder, observed, “When we announced our limited 16-week Broadway engagement of ‘Hedwig,’ never in my wildest dreams did I think it would run for a year and a half. ‘Hedwig’ heralded a historic year of acceptance and celebration across America.”And that is almost an understatement given that the show recouped 15 weeks into its announced limited 16-week engagement, and then kept extending for another whopping 60 weeks, to close on September 13. Along the way, the rock musical, written by John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask, broke box-office records and won four of its eight Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical Revival, and one for its originating star Neil Patrick Harris. Through the revolving door in the title role came Michael C. Hall, Darren Criss, and Taye Diggs, who is currently on the boards. Amid much hoopla, Mitchell stepped into the role, which he himself had created in the original 1998 off-Broadway hit at the Jane Street Theatre and re-created for 2001 film that he also directed. The revival of “Hedwig” so galvanized Broadway that the Tony Administration Committee felt compelled to give Mitchell a special Tony Award last spring. Even though the musical had earned a cult following around the world over the succeeding decades, there was no guarantee that it would work on Broadway — an expensive show about a botched transsexual operation of a “slip of a girly boy” from East Berlin and set in a Kansas City trailer park? Hence, the insurance of a box-office star like Harris and a limited engagement. But from the first performance, “Hedwig” packed them in, not just the fanatics, dubbed “Hedheads,” or the Harris groupies, but also the proverbial “grayheads” and matinee ladies. A lot of credit must go to director Michael Mayer (“Spring Awakening”), who led a creative team which included featured player Lena Hall (also a Tony winner), lighting designer Kevin Adams, set designer Julian Crouch, costume designer Arianne Phillips, and sound designer Timothy O’Heir.“Hedwig” is likely to clean up on the road, beginning in San Francisco in October with major productions planned around the globe. Audacious and original in 1998, “Hedwig” earned major bonafides seventeen years later on Broadway. Talk about good timing. And this was even before the ubiquitous Caitlyn Jenner.
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