Time Runs Out for ‘Rock of Ages’

— November 18, 2014 0 162

By ALLAN KOZINN | ArtsBeat/The New York Times

“Rock of Ages,” the jukebox musical that was built on guitar-driven 1980s hair-band hits and that became a long-running Broadway hit, will play its final performance on Jan. 18, its producers announced Tuesday. The show will by then have played 2,328 Broadway performances (and 22 previews), first at the Brooks Atkinson Theater, where it opened in 2009, and then at the Helen Hayes Theater, to which it transferred in 2011.

Amy Spanger and James Carpinello in a scene from the original Broadway production of “Rock of Ages.”Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

The closing of the popular show — which has grossed more than $125 million on Broadway – will leave the Helen Hayes Theater, one of the more desirable playhouses on Broadway, free for the first time in nearly four years. Its owners did not immediately announce its next show, and the departure of “Rock of Ages” opens the way for Second Stage Theater, a nonprofit Off Broadway company, to pursue its plan to buy and renovate the theater, a goal the companyannounced in 2008.

“While we are sorry to hear that ‘Rock of Ages’ is ending its run, we are excited to move forward with our plans to finalize our purchase of the Helen Hayes Theater,” Casey Reitz, the executive director of Second Stage Theater, said through a spokesman. “We have just heard the news of the closing this morning and are aiming to announce our plans and a timeline in the near future.”

The manager of the Helen Hayes did not reply to a phone message seeking information about the house’s future.

Reference: ArtsBeat/The New York Times By ALLAN KOZINN