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Curtains for "Lennon"
In the end it wasn't instant karma but bad karma that got Lennon.
Damned by critics and dissed by theatergoers, the Broadway musical inspired by the life and songs of late Beatle John Lennon will end its run Sept. 24 after only 49 regular performances.
Produced with the blessing of Yoko Ono, Lennon was a so-called "jukebox musical" recounting the rock legend's life using his music, including three never released tracks--"India, India," "I Don't Want to Lose You," and "Cookin' (in the Kitchen of Love). The first two were rare private recordings while the last one came out of a 1976 recording session Lennon had with Ringo Starr.
But, like last year's Beach Boys-themed debacle, Good Vibrations, which closed after 94 performances, Lennon was problem-plagued from the start. Lennon was extensively retooled by adapter and director Don Scardino, forcing the production to be postponed on several occasions.
When it finally did open at the Broadhurst Theater on Aug. 15, after 42 previews, the musical was savaged by critics, who complained that it glossed over Lennon's formative days with the Fab Four and his first marriage and focused more on his relationship with Ono and his solo career.
"This is John Lennon, the legend, as filtered through the protective, selective, up-with-people, later-life self-interest of Yoko Ono Lennon," said New York's Newsday.
Reviewers also slammed Lennon's creators for having nine different actors--of all races and genders--playing Lennon.
"Instead of making Lennon seem multifaceted and multiform, the device turns him into a one-size-fits-all alter ego to the world," opined the New York Times. "It suffers from a concept and book...that is so shaky it can scarcely stagger from one side of the stage to the other," said the New York Post.
Audience attendance dropped precipitously in the weeks after its premiere. By last week, Lennon's closure was pretty much guaranteed. It sold less than 40 percent of its capacity at the Broadhurst, grossing a tepid $230,775-- far cry from the $600,000 in ticket sales generated by a full house. Producers will lose most of its $7 million cost.
Nobody told them there'd be days like these.
By closing so early, the producers won't be able to get any boost from the singer's 65th birthday on Oct. 9 and the 25th anniversary of his death on Dec. 9.
Ono is planning to release a new book, Memories of John Lennon, and a new compilation album, Working Class Hero: The Definitive Lennon, in early October and a deluxe edition of the 1988 documentary Imagine in December. Meanwhile, Lennon's first wife, Cynthia, tells all in a new book, John, in bookstores Sept. 27. The Smithsonian's National Postal Museum will display John Lennon's childhood stamp album beginning Oct. 6.
There are also events scheduled to take place at Central Park's Strawberry Fields, which, unlike a certain musical, are forever.
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