Festen to End Broadway Run on May 20

Variety has reported that Festen's characters will sit down at the family dining table for the last time on May 20th.

Despite a starry cast, the play opened on April 9th at the Music Box Theatre to lackluster reviews. Festen has also suffered in its box office intake (it grossed $165,745 for the week ending May 14th). At closing, it will have played 20 previews and 49 performances.

Festen, which was a hit in London, is produced on Broadway by Bill Kenwright and Marla Rubin. It stars Jeremy Sisto ("Six Feet Under"), Larry Bryggman (Twelve Angry Men, Proof), Michael Hayden (Henry IV, Carousel), Ali MacGraw (films such as Love Story) and Julianna Margulies ("ER"). David Eldridge adapted the play from the Danish 1998 film. Rufus Norris directs.

In Festen, "a beloved patriarch (Bryggman), surrounded by his wife (MacGraw), his daughter (Margulies), his two sons (Hayden as Christian; Sisto as Michael) and a host of family and friends, is celebrating his 60th birthday at his country home. This promises to be a very special occasion, but as the evening progresses, the man's eldest son, Christian, feels compelled to break the silence surrounding a family secret. Standing to propose a toast, he offers his father - much to the delight of the guests - an amusing yet simple choice. And so the games begin. Revelations and accusations tumble across the dinner table, paving the way for a celebration that no one will ever forget," state press notes.
 
In addition to Bryggman, Hayden, MacGraw, Margulies and Sisto, the cast of Festen features John Carter, Diane Davis, Keith Davis, David Patrick Kelly, Stephen Kunken, Carrie Preston, Christopher Evan Welch and C.J. Wilson.

Festen features set design by Ian MacNeil , costume design by Joan Wadge, lighting by Jean Kalman, original music by Orlando Gough and sound design by Paul Arditti.

Vinterberg's Festen (or The Celebration, as it was called when released in the U.S.) put the Danish film movement Dogme 95 on the cultural map. Eldridge's dramatization Festen of the Dogme film and play by Thomas Vinterberg, Mogens Rukov and Bo Hr. Hansen, received its world premiere at London's Almeida Theatre in March 2004 in association with Rubin. It was subsequently presented by Rubin and Kenwright at the Lyric Theatre in the West End.

Tickets are $95-$75-$30, and are available through Telecharge, 212-239-6200 or www.telecharge.com.