Off Broadway. No, Really.

Broadway is starting to feel the pain.

Today, producers of Xanadu moved up their closing date in New York by two weeks, to this Sunday, citing economic turmoil as the reason.

Xanadu, which opened in July 2007 and garnered good reviews and a Tony nomination, didn't make back its $4 million to $5 million capitalization. But producers are mounting a November run at California's La Jolla Playhouse, which will be followed by a six-month engagement at the Drury Lane Theatre in Chicago and a national tour.

The curtain is also falling on [title of show], which only opened in July. Last week, the show's director told Portfolio.com that the musical's lower overhead served it well. But the musical was only filling up only around half the seats at the Lyceum Theater, and that number dropped to 36 percent last week. It's set to close Oct. 12.

The creative team behind [title of show] are making a few last attempts to stay alive. They posted a blog plea to their fans to see if anyone knew people on the daytime talk show circuit (The View, Ellen, Oprah, Live with Regis and Kelly) to see if they could get on one of the programs.

As for A Tale of Two Cities, a new musical whose producer told us he had already raised the $16 million budget for the show, reviews were brutal after the show opened last Thursday. The box office during its final week of previews and its opening was weak--the show filled only 57 percent of the Al Hirschfeld Theater.

Despite the closing notices, Broadway is still attracting some deep-pocketed investors. Marvel Studios Chairman David Maisel was in New York this week to announce that a Spider-Man musical might come to Broadway next year. That show boasts a score by Bono and The Edge.

By J. Jennings Moss

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