August Ends In June

As has been reported elsewhere, the Broadway production on August: Osage County will be closing on June 28th. The grosses have been anemic for quite a while--especially since it's not a cheap show to run--and apparently Phylicia Rashad's stepping into the role of Violet a few weeks back wasn't enough to push them into sellout status.

Still, it's a very impressive run--648 performances. The only nonmusical play to run longer in recent years was Proof (900-some), and that had a cast of four and a runtime of 90 minutes--as opposed to August's 13, all of whom had to be paid overtime because the show is over 3 hours in length. The show is leaving on tour next month, which was mentioned as one reason for its closing--now the touring production will be able to use elements of the designs from the Broadway version. Very clever.

So it looks like the local boy made pretty damn good. I wonder if the Broadway run of Superior Donuts, his followup, will manage similar success? The tour of August is heading back to Chicago in February of 2010--I'm very excited to see it again.