After posting last weeks ads for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? a month ago in TheNew York Times, the show's producers have settled on a closing date. The revival of the stinging Edward Albee classic will end its run at the Longacre Theatre (220 W. 48th St.) on September 4th.The show will have played 8 previews and 176 performances when it closes; it opened at the Longacre on March 20th, after starting previews on March 12th. Despite stellar reviews (The New York Times called it a "pulse-racing masterpiece"), the show's business has dropped off and it played at a mere 55.6% capacity for the week ending July 17th.A bitterly funny play about a night of pyschological warfare between two married couples, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
stars Kathleen Turner as Martha, David Harbour as Nick, Mireille Enos
as Honey and Bill Irwin as George. The latter was honored with a 2005
Tony for Best Actor in a Play, and the show received five other
nods--for Best Revival of a Play, for the three other principals and for costume designer Jane Greenwood. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is
directed by Antony Page, and produced by Elizabeth McCann, Daryl Roth,
Terry Allen Kramer, Scott Rudin, Roger Berlind, James L. Nederlander
and Nick Simunek. It also features scenic design by John Lee Beatty, lighting design by Peter Kaczorowski
and sound design by Mark Bennett.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
originally opened at the Billy Rose Theatre on October 13th, 1962,
where it was immediately dubbed (by most) a masterpiece of modern theatre and ran
for 664 performances. It received the 1963 Tony for Best Play, and
stars Uta Hagen and Arthur Hill were also rewarded. A 1966 film
classic was directed by Mike Nichols, and starred Elizabeth Taylor and
Richard Burton in an art-imitates-life reflection of their rocky
marriage. The film was nominated for Best Picture, and also netted
Oscars for Taylor and Sandy Dennis.To order tickets for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, visit www.telecharge.com or call 212-239-6200.