The Play That Goes Wrong, the longest-running play currently on Broadway, was originally scheduled to end its run at the Lyceum Theatre on Sunday, August 26. Good news for fans of the farcical comedy: producers have announced that show will extend its run for an additional 152 performances, closing instead on January 6, 2019. When it concludes its run, it will have played 27 preview performances and 745 performances, with a National Tour scheduled to commence in September.
Producers of the hit comedy remarked “We goofed! We had the ‘wrong’ date for closing and are excited to keep audiences laughing through the end of 2018 in New York and across the United States in 2019.”
The Play That Goes Wrong is co-written by Mischief Theatre company members Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields. The play is described as “a riotous comedy about the theatre. The play introduces The ‘Cornley University Drama Society’ who are attempting to put on a 1920s’ murder mystery, but as the title suggests, everything that can go wrong…does, as the accident-prone thespians battle on against all odds to get to their final curtain call.”
The Broadway cast of The Play That Goes Wrong stars Preston Truman Boyd (Sunset Boulevard) as “Robert,” Ashley Bryant (Emotional Creature) as “Annie,” Mark Evans (Paper Mill Playhouse’s Mary Poppins) as “Chris,” Jonathan Fielding (Noises Off) as “Jonathan,” Alex Mandell (Hand to God) as Max, Amelia McClain (Noises Off) as “Sandra,” Harrison Unger (Broadway debut) as “Dennis” and Akron Watson (The Color Purple) as “Trevor.” The company also features Ned Noyes (You Can’t Take It with You), Ashley Reyes (Broadway debut), Katie Sexton (Broadway debut), and Quinn Van Antwerp (Jersey Boys).
Directed by Mark Bell, and featuring set design by Tony Award Winner Nigel Hook, lighting design by Ric Mountjoy, sound design by Andy Johnson, and costume design by Roberto Surace, The Play That Goes Wrong will hold the second-highest box office record at the Lyceum when it concludes its run. The record is held by the original 1947 production of Born Yesterday.
Mark Robinson is the author of the two-volume encyclopedia The World of Musicals and maintains a theater and entertainment blog at markrobinsonwrites.com.