‘A Strange Loop,’ Which Won Best Musical, Will End Broadway Run - The New York Times

“A Strange Loop,” the winner of this year’s Tony Award for champion musical, volition adjacent connected Broadway connected Jan. 15, aft a abbreviated tally that reflects the industry’s ongoing pandemic-related struggles and the challenges of selling an unconventional philharmonic that wrestles with analyzable themes.

The musical, a meta-theatrical communicative astir an aspiring philharmonic theatre writer who is penning a philharmonic astir his struggles to find his mode professionally and personally, has been a triumph successful galore ways — a archetypal amusement by a antecedently chartless writer, Michael R. Jackson, it was hailed by critics arsenic soon arsenic it opened Off Broadway successful 2019, won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize successful drama, and then, aft opening connected Broadway successful April, picked up Tony Awards successful June for champion philharmonic and champion publication of a musical.

But its tally volition beryllium unusually abbreviated for a champion philharmonic victor successful caller years, erstwhile the prize has often had much container bureau impact.

At the clip of its closing, “A Strange Loop” volition person had 314 full performances, including 13 previews. That is importantly less than for different caller winners with humble runs, including “Fun Home,” which won the grant successful 2015 and closed aft 609 full performances; “The Band’s Visit,” which won successful 2018 and closed aft 624 full performances; and “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder,” which won successful 2014 and closed aft 935 full performances.

All 3 of those shows recouped their capitalization costs. A spokesperson said it is not yet wide whether “A Strange Loop” would recoup its capitalization costs, which a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission said were $9.5 million.

“A Strange Loop” was a passionateness task for Jackson, who labored connected the philharmonic for much than a decade. Inspired by his ain experiences, the philharmonic tells the communicative of Usher, who is moving arsenic an usher portion penning astir his ain life, portion besides struggling with his family’s homophobia and with the racism and sizeism helium encounters successful the cheery community.

The amusement — which markets itself arsenic “the big, Black and queer-ass Great American Musical” — is much sexually and emotionally frank than astir Broadway musicals.

The philharmonic saw a bump astatine the container bureau aft winning the Tony Award, playing to sold-out houses for 2 weeks with grosses peaking astatine $860,496 during the week that ended June 26. But grosses person been sliding since; during the week that ended Oct. 2, it grossed $579,354 and played to houses that were 79 percent full.

Its creator, Jackson, said successful a connection that helium felt “blessed to person had the accidental to stock this raw, susceptible and idiosyncratic communicative with the satellite and to person connected with truthful galore enthusiastic, loving audiences.”

Broadway had been enjoying a yearslong sustained roar earlier the coronavirus pandemic, but similar galore different performing arts forms it has been struggling to rebound pursuing the lengthy shutdown of theaters. The manufacture has been challenged not lone by concerns astir nationalist health, but besides by diminished tourism successful New York City, the dilatory instrumentality of bureau workers to Midtown, a worrisome system and, possibly, changing amusement habits.

During the 2021-22 Broadway play — a abbreviated play due to the fact that astir theaters remained closed during the summertime of 2021 — 6,729,143 radical attended Broadway shows, down from 14,768,254 during the 2018-19 season, which was the past afloat play earlier the pandemic. Annual Broadway grosses dropped from $1.8 cardinal to $845 cardinal implicit that clip period.

The industry’s softness appears to beryllium ongoing. During the week that ended Oct. 2, determination were 25 shows moving connected Broadway, attended by 209,668 radical and grossing $25,208,583. During the comparable week successful 2019 — the past comparable week earlier the pandemic shutdown — determination were 33 shows running, attended by 261,793 radical and grossing $30,098,714.

The struggles person contributed to a fig of closings. Most significantly, “The Phantom of the Opera” has announced that it plans to adjacent Feb. 18, concluding a record-breaking 35-year tally connected Broadway. Two much humble hits, “Come From Away” and “Dear Evan Hansen,” besides closed recently, and a strong-selling revival of “The Music Man” plans to adjacent connected New Year’s Day.

New Yorkers volition person different accidental to spot Jackson’s enactment adjacent year. His caller musical, “White Girl successful Danger,” is scheduled to person an Off Broadway tally adjacent outpouring astatine Second Stage Theater, which is producing it jointly with Vineyard Theater.