Evidently the Off Broadway musical In the Heights will close in July.
But that's not necessarily bad news. The show will apparently undergo some revisions prior to making its Broadway bow. So far, the producers haven't announced a specific date or venue.
The show has recently garnered a number of awards, including the Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics Circle awards for best Off Broadway musical, and a Drama Desk for best choreography. So perhaps the producers feel the time and the momentum are right to make the move uptown.
In the Heights will be yet another in a line of successful musicals to start Off Broadway and make the Broadway transfer. But what's sort of disappeared is the hit Off Broadway musical that stays Off Broadway, like The Fantasticks, Little Shop of Horrors, or more recently Altar Boyz. They tend either to close (Evil Dead, Gutenberg, Adrift in Macao) or move to Broadway (Grey Gardens, Spring Awakening, Avenue Q, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee).
While it's certainly good news that smaller shows have found a profitable home on Broadway, it's disconcerting to note that they have a harder time making it beyond the Rialto. It's ironic, given that an Off Broadway run is typically less expensive because of different union contracts, resulting in lower expenses. But a Broadway run generates a higher profile for the show, greater ticket-sale potential, and ultimately greater and faster profitability.
Hey, as long as these musicals are running somewhere, right? But it makes me wonder how many terrific shows we're missing out there, shows that would have previously found a berth Off Broadway, but can't anymore because they aren't perceived to have Broadway potential.
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