The Times They Are A Changin' is closing

Hi Erin!

I don't care what the critics think.  I enjoyed this musical.  I guess Broadway is a very tough nut to crack.  The main criticism was that there was no story and an incongruity between the songs and the dancing.  I bought tickets for a preview because I sensed that it could close early as many "jukebox musicals" have.  I guess the Tee-Sirt that I bought from the show will be a collectors item

 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A musical set to the songs of Bob Dylan will close less than a month after it opened on Broadway, the show's public relations firm said in a statement on Wednesday.

"The Times They Are A-Changin" -- which was critically panned -- will have its final performance on November 19, closing after 28 performances, a spokesman for Shaffer-Coyle Public Relations said.

The closure of the show, conceived and choreographed by Twyla Tharp who successfully transformed Billy Joel's songs into Tony-award winning musical "Movin' Out," follows failures like last year's flop "Lennon" about the late Beatle.

In his review, New York Times critic Ben Brantley called the Bob Dylan show "the latest heart-rending episode in Broadway's own reality soap opera, 'When bad shows happen to great songwriters.'"

 

The iconic Dylan approached Tharp three years ago but the critically acclaimed choreographer failed to woo critics, who said her fable about a struggling circus did not capture the magic of Dylan's songs.

New York columnist Michael Musto called the closing a "mercy killing."

"Dylan and Tharp didn't cohabit well in a circus setting, especially with a nearly incomprehensible storyline," he said. "But both are artists and will survive long after this becomes a camp footnote."

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.