Bullets Over Broadway, the Woody Allen-penned Broadway musical that opened April 10, 2014 following 33 previews, will close August 24 after 156 regular performances.
Directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman and based on the 1994 Woody Allen film, the show stars Zach Braff as an aspiring Broadway playwright in the 1920s who is forced by a mobster to cast his talentless girlfriend in order to get his play produced.
Stroman has five Tony Awards to her name, but Bullets came up empty at the 2014 Tony Awards despite six nominations. Broadway producers love for their shows to win Tonys not for the honor and recognition but for the boost in ticket sales.
Reviews were mediocre. Ben Brantley of The New York Times called the show "occasionally funny but mostly just loud," noting that Woody Allen's wit was one of those things that "were never meant to be shouted through megaphones." Joe Dziemianowicz wrote in the Daily News that though the show boasts good dance numbers, "Allen's showbiz and gangland eccentrics stiffen into cardboard when they're amplified from two to three dimensions."
But Tony Awards can be more important than reviews, and with the American Theatre Wing the musical's gangsters shot blanks.
A statement from producers Letty Aronson and Julian Schlossberg said, "We are tremendously proud of this show and every single person involved with it. It has been a true pleasure, and we know that Bullets Over Broadway will have a long life in future productions to come."
As opposed to future productions that already happened? But never mind redundancy. The producers have high hopes for hot-dog dances to spice up regional and high school theaters for many years.
