The producers of "MAGIC/BIRD" yesterday announced that the Broadway show will play its final performance on Saturday, May 12. Producers FRAN KIRMSER and TONY PONTURO said, “We are so proud that we were able to do this on Broadway, and though it ran a limited time, it attracted many new audiences to the theater as well as provided a vehicle for many young people to attend their first show. We hope to inspire new audiences through future sports stories in the theater (THE DAILY). In N.Y., Erik Piepenburg wrote the “critically-panned drama” will have played “23 previews and 38 regular performances.” Playwright ERIC SIMONSON’s last sports-based drama, “LOMBARDI,” about the former Packers coach, “did better, playing 31 previews and 244 regular performances last season” (NYTIMES.com, 5/1). ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY’s Mark Snetiker wrote the show opened “to negative reviews on March 21 and struggled right out of the gate, taking in less than 20 percent of its potential gross in its first week.” And after receiving “no Tony nominations -- which could potentially have kept the show alive a few weeks longer -- it appears that the short-lived play has officially run out of magic” (EW.com, 5/1).
