Curtain comes down early on Sheridan Smith’s Opening Night
SHERIDAN SMITH’S West End musical, Opening Night, is to shut two months early following poor reviews from critics and audience members.
The show will end at the Gielgud Theatre in London on May 18, just over two months before the original ending which was planned for July 27.
Announcing the news yesterday, the production team Wessex Grove cited a “challenging financial landscape” and said the musical was “always a risk”. “In a challenging financial landscape, Opening Night was always a risk and, while the production may not have had the life we had hoped for, we feel immensely proud of the risk we took and of this extraordinary production.”
Smith, 42, stars in the musical about an ageing thespian who has a nervous breakdown following the accidental death of a fan. Reviews ranged from one to four stars after its official opening.
The actress and singer recently implored people to come to the show after it was slammed by audience members who claimed it was “boring”, with some walking out halfway through. The show, based on the 1977 film of the same name starring John Cassavetes, reportedly baffled theatregoers with its plot.
One audience member who made an early exit at a performance earlier this month, named Helen, said: “I didn’t have a clue what was going on. It’s not Sheridan – she’s a great actress – but I was falling asleep.”
The show includes an immersive segment in which Smith’s character, Myrtle, collapses in a drunken state outside the stage doors with the scenes projected on to screens inside. This part of the performance was also hit by problems when Smith was unable to stray too far from the theatre because of a nearby crime scene.
She told The Chris Evans Breakfast Show on Virgin Radio: “Security wouldn’t let me go out too far the other night because someone was being arrested and restrained. I was like, ‘It’s fine, it doesn’t matter and they were like, ‘No, no you can’t go too far over that way.’ So I had to start the scene a bit closer to the stage door.”
She has also spoken about how the location of the theatre can cause issues for this part of the show, explaining: “It’s right between two pubs, so people are all outside hammered and they want to come and try and help me.”
Speaking about the show’s early cancellation, director and writer Ivo Van Van Hove said: “I had the most wonderful and inspiring time making Opening Night thanks to the talent and commitment of our incredible team.
“I try to be fearless and sincere in everything I make. With Rufus’s beautiful music, we made something totally unique and true to Cassavetes’ daring exploration of the human condition.”