Patti LaBelle 'Has Angels Working' to Save AFTER MIDNIGHT Before Early Closing on June 29

Patti LaBelle, who is currently guest starring in AFTER MIDNIGHT on Broadway, told ABC News Radio that she has a few connections up her sleeve that she hopes will save the show before its planned closing (and her final performance) on June 29th. And she says she's not beyond begging; the show is worth it to her.

"I have angels working, people that I hope will come to the play and put some money up to keep it alive," she said. "My whole worry is to all of those wonderful talents, what will they do after this play? When you see this play you think it will be here like a Cats or a Wicked, you know, 10 years or something. This play is so wonderful, so my heart is broken for the cast. Totally. And that Gladys Knight won't get a chance or Natalie Cole won't get a chance to experience this wonderful play."

She continued: "I'm praying that somebody, a big angel, will come and say, 'Here's enough money to keep it going'. We have to beg, I'm ready to take buckets after the show when the people are leaving the building and offer a kiss for $5,000 or one of my old shoes or something, just...something to keep it alive and you know the kids, some of them are devastated and that makes me very sad. And I'm praying that something will happen to keep it open."

Producers Scott Sanders and Wynton Marsalis recently announced that After Midnight, the seven-time 2014 Tony Award-nominee, and winner of the Tony Award for Best Choreography (Warren Carlyle), will play its final performance on Sunday, June 29, at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre (256 W 47th Street). At the time of its closing, After Midnight will have run 8 months, with 19 preview performances and 272 regular performances. Conceived by Jack Viertel, and directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle, After Midnight began preview performances on Friday, October 18, 2013, and opened on Sunday, November 3, 2013.

After Midnight was nominated for seven 2014 Tony Awards this season, winning for Best Choreography (Warren Carlyle). Also, After Midnight is winner of two 2014 Drama Desk Awards (Outstanding Choreography and Outstanding Revue), four 2014 Astaire Awards and the 2014 Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Chorepgraphy.

After Midnight takes the sexy, smoky glamour of the original Jazz Age and catapults it into a whole new era of heart-pounding, mind-blowing entertainment for modern Broadway audiences. Refracted through a contemporary lens, After Midnight celebrates Duke Ellington's years at the Cotton Club using his original arrangements and performed by a world-class big band of 17 musicians hand-picked by living jazz legend, Wynton Marsalis. The timeless tunes set against a narrative of Langston Hughes poetry provide an authentic backdrop for an array of cutting-edge performances by 25 sensational vocalists and dancers, including special guest stars, whose interpretations shatter everything you think you know about music, In its heyday, the Cotton Club featured a cavalcade of guest stars each week, known then as "Celebrity Nights."

After Midnight features musical direction by Wynton Marsalis, musical supervision by Daryl Waters and direction and choreography by Warren Carlyle. The design team for After Midnight includes prolific design couple Isabel Toledo (costumes) and Ruben Toledo, Tony Award-winners John Lee Beatty (set design) and Howell Binkley (lighting design) and Peter Hylenski (sound).

Photo Credit: Heather Wines/CBS