The Broadway revival of Hughie closes March 27 after 55 performances, 10 weeks earlier than scheduled. The play marks the Broadway debut of Oscar-winning actor Whitaker.
The production opened February 25 and had been scheduled to play through June 12. The producers released a statement saying the show is closing “due to limited advance ticket sales following highly positive reviews.” Read reviews for the revival here.
Hughie is four-time Pulitzer Prize winner O’Neill's play about drunken, small-time hustler Erie Smith (Whitaker), who is mourning the death of a run-down Manhattan hotel’s night clerk, Hughie, with his successor. Whitaker starred in such critically acclaimed films as The Butler and The Last King of Scotland, for which he won the Oscar as Best Actor.
Whitaker is joined by Frank Wood (Side Man, Angels in America, Clybourne Park) as A Night Clerk. Wood won the 1999 Tony Award as Best Featured Actor in a Play for his work in Side Man.
Director Michael Grandage, who has also directed Evita, Frost/Nixon and 2014's The Cripple of Inishmaan on Broadway, reunited his entire creative team from the 2010 Broadway production of Red. This includes Tony-winning set and costume designer Christopher Oram, Tony-winning lighting designer Neil Austin and Tony-winning sound designer Adam Cork.
Hughie premiered on Broadway in 1964 (with Jason Robards Jr.) and was last revived in 1996 (with Al Pacino). Whitaker plays the role of Erie, which has also been performed by such acclaimed actors as Burgess Meredith and Ben Gazzara. O'Neill is the only American playwright to win the Nobel Prize for literature.
Multi-award winner Whitaker has appeared in more than 50 films and worked with some of cinema’s most respected directors, including Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, Spike Jonze and many more. He will next appear on the big screen in the anticipated Star Wars: Rogue One.
Tickets for Hughie can be ordered online at HughieBroadway.com or by phone at (212) 239-6200 or at the Booth Theatre box office, 222 West 45th Street in Manhattan.
Hughie was produced by Darren Bagert, Michael Grandage Company, Adam Zotovich, Joan Raffe & Jhett Tolentino, Arielle Tepper Madover, Martin McCallum, Debbie Bisno, CJ E&M, Jeffrey Finn, Hagemann Rosenthal Associates, Stacey Mindich, Bob Boyett, Seaview Productions, Taylor Weinstein Theatricals, Julie Boardman, Falkenstein Simons LTD, Michael Watt and The Shubert Organization.
