Could David Bowie's LAZARUS Be Heading to Broadway?

Since the passing of LAZARUS creator David Bowie on Sunday, ticket prices for the new off-Broadway musical have skyrocketed. According to reports, fans are willing to pay as much as $1,300 to scalpers, while the New York Theatre Workshop is offering coveted seats for $1,000 to $2,500 a ticket. (proceeds benefit the theater's education department.) The production has also added three additional performances, taking its run through Wednesday, January 20th.

The New York Post's Michael Riedel shares today that there have been recent discussions to bring the show to a commercial off-Broadway theater, or possibly even Broadway, for the upcoming spring season.

However despite the hype, a Broadway producer tells Riedel that the show may not be well-suited for the Great White Way. "I thought the show was brilliant," says the producer, "but it's pretty inscrutable. No one thought it was commercial until this week."

Producer Elizabeth I. McCann recalled another time when David Bowie caused a bit of bedlam on Broadway, starring in the 1980's production of THE ELEPHANT MAN. "It was pandemonium," she shared. "It got to the point where we had to sneak him out through the tunnels underground that connect the Shubert theaters. Everybody was waiting for him at the Booth, but he'd come out at the Broadhurst."

Read the article in full here

New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) is currently presenting Lazarus by David Bowie and Enda Walsh (Once, Tony Award), inspired by the novel The Man Who Fell to Earth by Walter Tevis, and directed by Ivo van Hove (Hedda Gabler, More Stately Mansions, Obie Awards). Lazarus officially opened December 7, 2015, and will now run through January 20, 2016 at New York Theatre Workshop (79 E. 4th Street New York, NY 10003).

The cast of Lazarus includes Golden Globe winner and six-time Emmy nominee Michael C. Hall(Hedwig and the Angry Inch, "Dexter") as Thomas Newton, Tony Award nominee Cristin Milioti(Once) as Elly, and Michael Esper (The Last Ship) as Valentine, as well as Krystina Alabado(American Idiot),Sophia Anne Caruso (The Nether), Nicholas Christopher (Whorl Inside A Loop), Lynn Craig (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson), Bobby Moreno (Year of the Rooster), Krista Pioppi (Spring Awakening Nat'l Tour), Charlie Pollock (The Wild Party), and Brynn Williams (Bye Bye Birdie).

Following his revelatory production of Ingmar Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage, the internationally acclaimed director Ivo van Hove returns to New York Theatre Workshop with Lazarus. Mr. Walshmakes his return to NYTW after the successful run of Once. LAZARUS features songs specially composed by Mr. Bowie for this production as well as new arrangements of previously recorded songs.

The New York premiere of RED SPEEDO, written by Lucas Hnath (The Christians) and directed byLileana Blain-Cruz(Hollow Roots), will begin performances at New York Theatre Workshop in February 2016. The 2015/16 Season will conclude with the world premiere of a new folk opera, HADESTOWN, by singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell. HADESTOWN was developed with and is directed by Rachel Chavkin (Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812), and will begin performances in May 2016.

Photo Credit: Jan Versweyveld