Breaking News: AFTER MIDNIGHT to Close on Broadway in Late June

This just in - as per the NY Times, a spokesman for the Broadway production of AFTER MIDNIGHT has confirmed that the show will close on June 29, 2014, 8 months into the show's run. The show, a $7 million dollar production will close at a loss, at the conclusion of current guest star Patti LaBelle's final performance. The production was hoping to shut down temporarily over the July 4th holiday, before the next stars Gladys Knight and Natalie Cole were due to begin performances, but not all of the unions agreed to the proposal, making it impossible to continue running. Plans for a national tour are in the works.

At the time of its closing, After Midnight will have run 8 months, with 19 preview performances and 272 regular performances. After Midnight was nominated for seven 2014 Tony® Awards this season, winning for Best Choreography (Warren Carlyle). Also, After Midnight is winner of two 2014 Drama Desk Awards (Outstanding Choreography and Outstanding Revue), four 2014 Astaire Awards and the 2014 Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Choreography.

Directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle, the evocative new musical After Midnight takes the sexy, smoky glamour of the original Jazz Age and catapults it into a whole new era of heart-pounding, mind-blowing entertainment for modern Broadway audiences. Refracted through a contemporary lens,After Midnight celebrates Duke Ellington's years at the Cotton Club using his original arrangements and performed by a world-class big band of 17 musicians hand-picked by living jazz legend, Wynton Marsalis. The timeless tunes set against a narrative of Langston Hughes poetry provide an authentic backdrop for an array of cutting-edge performances by 25 sensational vocalists and dancers, including special guest stars, whose interpretations shatter everything you think you know about music, nightlife and Broadway.

Guest stars in the show included Fantasia, k.d. lang, Toni Braxton, Kenny 'Babyface' Edmonds, Vanessa Williams and Patti LaBelle. Upcoming stars were due to be Ms. Knight July 8 - August 3, and Ms. Cole August 5 - 31 at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre.

Photo by Walter McBride