• Beaches: A New Musical will close May 24, more than three months ahead of its scheduled September 6 closing
• The show starring Jessica Vosk and Kelli Barrett received mostly negative reviews and was completely shut out of Tony nominations
• Seats were nearly half-empty in recent weeks, with average ticket prices 40% below the industry average
• Jessica Vosk had publicly addressed the Tony snub in a TikTok video earlier this month
• A national tour is planned for 2027, which was always part of the production’s strategy

The last day at this beach is May 24. Beaches: A New Musical — the Broadway adaptation of Iris Rainer Dart’s beloved 1985 novel and its iconic 1988 film — announced Tuesday that it will close this Sunday, ending its run at the Majestic Theatre more than three months before its scheduled September 6 closing date.

The show, starring Jessica Vosk as Cee Cee Bloom and Kelli Barrett as Bertie White, opened April 22 after previews began March 27. It will close having played just 28 previews and 38 regular performances. The combination of mixed-to-negative reviews, soft ticket sales, and a complete shutout from the Tony Award nominations proved too much to overcome.

During the week ending May 10, nearly half of all seats at the Majestic went unsold, with average ticket prices sitting at $72 — roughly 40 percent below the Broadway average. The most recent weekly gross came in at just $441,484, far below what it costs to run a musical of this scale.

A Rough Road From the Start

The production arrived on Broadway under unusual circumstances. The show’s original plan had been a pre-Broadway national tour, but when the Shubert Organization offered the Majestic during what has turned out to be one of the weakest seasons for new musicals in recent memory — only six new musicals opened this year, compared to 14 last season — producers seized the opportunity. The theory was that the thin competition would work in their favor and that a Broadway run would boost the touring production’s profile around the country.

It didn’t pan out that way. The show arrived with a modest cast of 12, a spare set, and a 24-week limited engagement plan. Critics weren’t kind. Writing in The New York Times, Laura Collins-Hughes called it “like a corner-cutting rush job,” describing the result as “a pervasive, underwhelming blandness in a condescending production.” Tony nominators apparently agreed — the show didn’t receive a single nomination, in any category.

Vosk, who earned personal praise even as the show itself was panned, addressed the snub openly in a TikTok video earlier this month.

“It’s the first time I’ve sat with the possibility of even being nominated for anything Tony-wise, and it was really exciting,” she said. “And while I wish I could also be up there with all those incredible ladies, it’s been incredible to watch them all season and even be a part of the conversation.”

https://youtube.com/watch?v=cRm4-l4V1IA%3Ffeature%3Doembed

In a statement announcing the closing, Vosk spoke to what the role has meant to her personally. “It has been my great joy to originate a role for the very first time on Broadway with Cee Cee Bloom, who I adore for her grit, her great humor and her huge heart,” she said. “To continue the legacy of a character first made famous by my idol Bette Midler is something I’m not sure I’ll ever fully process.”

The character of Cee Cee Bloom, of course, was immortalized by Midler in the 1988 film alongside Barbara Hershey — the movie that gave the world “Wind Beneath My Wings” and made generations of people sob into their popcorn. The stage musical has been in development for over a decade, with earlier productions at Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia in 2014, Drury Lane Theater in Illinois in 2015, and most recently at Theatre Calgary in 2024 — that Canadian production also starring Vosk and Barrett.

Where the Show Goes From Here

Producer Jennifer Maloney-Prezioso struck a defiant note in her statement. “Bringing a new musical to Broadway is always an enormous undertaking, and we are deeply proud of this company who created a production filled with heart, humanity, humor, and emotional truth,” she said. “Night after night, audiences have laughed, cried, called their friends on the way out of the theater, and connected deeply with this story of friendship and love. That impact is real, and it will stay with people long after the final curtain.”

The Broadway closing does not mean the end of the show. A national tour is set for 2027, though specific dates and cities haven’t been announced yet. That tour was always the endgame — Broadway, for all its prestige, was the gamble. Whether the show can find a more welcoming audience outside New York remains the open question.

For now, the Majestic goes dark on Sunday. Tickets for the final performances are still available for anyone who wants to say goodbye.

The post ‘Beaches’ Musical Closes Early After Tony Shutout appeared first on Cream.

• Death Becomes Her will play its final Broadway performance on June 28, 2026
• The musical ran 20 months and 650+ performances, selling 900,000 tickets total
• Despite 10 Tony nominations, it closes without recouping its $31.5 million investment
• A multi-year North American tour launches this September in Cleveland, Ohio

After 20 months, 650-plus performances, and 900,000 tickets sold, Death Becomes Her is taking its final bow on Broadway. The musical will close at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on June 28, producers confirmed, ending a run that started with serious momentum but couldn’t quite sustain it through the spring.

The show, based on the beloved 1992 Robert Zemeckis film — itself a cult classic starring Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn — opened to positive reviews in November 2024 and quickly became one of the season’s strongest box office performers, regularly pulling in more than $1.2 million a week. But grosses began slipping in January, and by the week ending May 10, the show was bringing in just above $760,000. The writing, it seems, was on the wall.

What stings a little: the show is closing without recouping its widely reported $31.5 million capitalization. That’s a big number, even by Broadway standards, and the effects-heavy production never quite earned it back. It’s a frustratingly familiar story for big-budget Broadway musicals — Variety notes that only five shows to open since the pandemic (Just In Time, MJ, Six, & Juliet, and The Outsiders) have actually recouped during their Broadway runs.

A Season-Leading Show That Couldn’t Quite Seal the Deal

Death Becomes Her earned 10 Tony Award nominations this season — tied for the most of any show in 2024-2025 — but took home just one trophy, for best costume design. Both leads were nominated: Jennifer Simard and Megan Hilty, who originated the roles of Helen Sharp and Madeline Ashton (the parts played by Hawn and Streep in the film) and delivered performances that critics and audiences loved. Hilty departed the production in January; Betsy Wolfe stepped into the Madeline role and has been playing it since. The current cast also includes Christopher Sieber, Michelle Williams, Taurean Everett, and Josh Lamon.

The creative team — direction and choreography by Christopher Gattelli, a book by Marco Pennette, and an original score by Julia Mattison and Noel Carey — built something that clearly connected with audiences, even if the math didn’t work out in the end. The cast and creative team made more than 30 national TV appearances during the run, hitting everything from the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and Today to Watch What Happens Live and CNN’s New Year’s Eve Live. They worked hard to keep the show visible.

“Bringing Death Becomes Her to Broadway has been an incredible joy, and we are immensely proud of every artist, musician, crew member, and individual who helped make this show what it is,” said Lowe Cunningham, SVP and Head of Creative & Strategy at Universal Theatrical Group. “Night after night, it has been a thrill to watch audiences come together to laugh, celebrate, and embrace the wildly entertaining spirit of this production. We are deeply proud of what this show has brought into the world, and we are excited for its life to continue as it tours across the U.S. and beyond in the years ahead.”

The Show Lives On — On the Road

Broadway may be closing, but Death Becomes Her isn’t done. A multi-year North American tour launches this September at Playhouse Square in Cleveland, Ohio, giving the show a chance to reach new audiences — and, potentially, finally recoup that investment on the road.

For the fans who never got to see it at the Lunt-Fontanne, that’s genuinely good news. And for anyone who did catch it in New York, June 28 is your last chance to say goodbye.

The post ‘Death Becomes Her’ Broadway Run Ends June 28 appeared first on Cream.

• Lea Michele missed Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday performances of Chess after being shut out of the 2026 Tony nominations
• Sources say she has laryngitis that developed into bronchitis — but others note she was visibly devastated by the snub
• Her Chess co-stars Nicholas Christopher, Bryce Pinkham, and Hannah Cruz all received nominations
• Michele has never received a Tony nomination despite six Broadway appearances dating back to 1995
• A doctor has cleared her to return to the stage Friday

Lea Michele missed multiple performances of Chess this week, right on the heels of being shut out of the 2026 Tony Award nominations — and Broadway is talking.

The timing is hard to ignore. The nominations dropped Tuesday morning, May 5, and Michele was absent from the show that same night. According to Telecharge, she was also listed out for Wednesday and Thursday. Sources close to the production have slightly different takes on why.

“She gave another excuse,” one source tells Page Six. “Everyone knows she was upset. She was hysterical.”

But a Broadway insider pushes back on any diva narrative. “She was sick last weekend and probably should have taken off Saturday and Sunday,” the source says. “She really is not well.” They added: “I’m sure she is disappointed as everyone is for her, but she really was under the weather.” A third source puts it plainly — she has laryngitis that developed into bronchitis. Apparently she pushed through the weekend when she probably shouldn’t have, and the illness caught up with her. A doctor has since cleared her to take the stage Friday.

The Snub That Stung

Whatever the cause, the pain of the snub is real. Michele has been playing Florence Vassy in the Broadway revival of Chess to genuinely rave reviews — the kind that had industry insiders believing this might finally be her year. She’s appeared on Broadway six times since 1995, in productions including Les Misérables, Ragtime, Fiddler on the Roof, and Spring Awakening. She was passed over for a nomination for Spring Awakening back in 2007. And when she famously saved the Funny Girl revival in 2022, turning a troubled production into a genuine hot ticket, she wasn’t even eligible for a Tony because she’d replaced original star Beanie Feldstein rather than originating the role.

So Chess was supposed to be her shot. The clean shot she’d never had.

The show received five nominations in total — Best Actor in a Musical for Nicholas Christopher, Best Featured Actor for Bryce Pinkham, Best Featured Actress for Hannah Cruz, Best Orchestrations, and Best Lighting Design. Her co-stars got their flowers. She didn’t.

The New York Times’ Jesse Green put it bluntly in his snubs and surprises breakdown, writing that with a male co-star nominated and even supporting cast members recognized, “it’s hard not to see the omission as a deliberate rebuke.” Green also noted that Kristin Chenoweth was similarly ignored for The Queen of Versailles, raising the uncomfortable question of whether there’s a creeping resistance to Broadway’s biggest female personalities. “Are we seeing the start of a diva backlash?” he asked.

Michele herself hasn’t made a public statement. But she has been quietly resharing the Chess social media page’s congratulatory posts for each of her nominated co-stars — a gracious move that speaks volumes about what she’s choosing not to say.

She’s Not Alone in Getting Left Out

The 2026 Tony nominations were genuinely brutal for big names across the board. The entire cast of The Bear‘s theatrical foray — Jon Bernthal, Ayo Edebiri, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach in Dog Day Afternoon and Proof — was completely shut out. Adrien Brody, who won an Olivier Award for his West End run in The Fear of 13 and took home his second Oscar just last year, didn’t make the list either. Tessa Thompson, his co-star, was also passed over. The starry revival of Proof — directed by Hamilton‘s Thomas Kail and carrying the distinction of being the first theatrical project attached to Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground — received zero nominations despite its cast including Don Cheadle and Edebiri.

It was, as Variety noted, a season where box office heat and Hollywood wattage just didn’t convert into awards love.

The season itself was also notably slim — only 30 eligible productions compared to 42 the year before — which made the snubs sting even more. In a smaller field, there was more room for the recognized names. And yet.

For Michele, the consolation is that she’s still in the show. Ticket holders can catch her in Chess through June 21, when JoJo — yes, the “Leave (Get Out)” singer — takes over the role of Florence Vassy. If you’ve been waiting for your chance to see Michele on that stage, the window is still open.

She’s been doing this long enough to know the Tony voters don’t always get it right. And the audiences who’ve watched her perform Florence Vassy eight times a week clearly have.

The post Lea Michele Calls Out of ‘Chess’ After Tony Snub appeared first on Cream.