John, We Hardly Knew Ye: Lennon to Close on September 24

Lennon, the critically lambasted Broadway musical based on the life and songs of John Lennon, will end its run at the Broadhurst Theatre on Saturday, September 24 at 8pm. At the time of its closing, the production will have played 42 previews and 49 regular performances.

Directed and conceived by Don Scardino, and produced with the permission of Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, the show features Will Chase, Chuck Cooper, Julie Danao-Salkin, Mandy Gonzalez, Marcy Harriell, Chad Kimball, Terrence Mann, Julia Murney, and Michael Potts in its ensemble cast.

One of the many criticisms leveled against the musical was that it concentrates on Lennon’s life with Ono and virtually ignores his years with the Beatles. In his review of the show, David Finkle wrote: “As Scardino reads it, Lennon was a social and artistic activist waiting to happen until he encountered Ono at a gallery in one of history’s great romantic moments and responded to her positive artistic statement, hung from the ceiling, of the single word ‘Yes.’ (He’d expected to hoot at a woman who did her performance art pieces in paper bags, eventually making her the world’s richest bag lady.) According to the musical, once Lennon put the Beatles years and his first wife Cynthia behind him, he could do his lasting work: a blend of self-discovery and public crusading.”