Broadway's 'Chess' Will Close June 21 as Weekly Grosses Fall Below $1 Million
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · May 27
Broadway's 'Chess' Will Close June 21 as Weekly Grosses Fall Below $1 Million
5 articles · Updated · The New York Times · May 27
June 21 will now be both Lea Michele’s final performance and the revival’s closing night, scrapping a March plan to keep “Chess” running through at least Sept. 13 with JoJo replacing her.
Weekly grosses slid from more than $2 million for several weeks in November to under $1 million this month, and the show typically weakened further when Michele was absent.
The production also missed a best musical revival Tony nomination, despite five other nods, leaving it without the awards boost that can help sustain late-season Broadway sales.
$15 million was raised to capitalize the revival and has not been recouped, underscoring the broader pressure on Broadway musicals as rising costs and soft demand force more closures.
A dream role cancelled hours before rehearsals—what's next for singer JoJo?
ABBA's music wasn't enough to save 'Chess', so what was the real reason it failed?
With a $15M loss, is Broadway's big-budget musical revival model fundamentally broken?