Theater News

Broadway’s Imaginary Friends to Close on February 16

Swoosie Kurtz and Cherry Jones in Imaginary Friends(Photo © Joan Marcus)
Swoosie Kurtz and Cherry Jones in Imaginary Friends
(Photo © Joan Marcus)

, the play with music starring Cherry Jones and Swoosie Kurtz, will close on February 16 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre after having played 20 previews and 76 regular performances.

Written by Nora Ephron, Imaginary Friends was inspired by the real-life feud of literary greats Lillian Hellman (Kurtz) and Mary McCarthy (Jones). The show features a number of songs by Marvin Hamlisch and Craig Carnelia, who composed the score for last season’s Sweet Smell of Success; it was directed by Jack O’Brien and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell, who collaborated on the hit musical Hairspray. The cast also includes Harry Groener, Anne Pitoniak, Anne Allgood, Bernard Dotson, Rosena M. Hill, Gina Lamparella, Dirk Lumbard, Peter Marx,
Perry Ojeda, Jim Osorno, Susan Pellegrino, Karyn Quackenbush, and Melanie Vaughan.

In his review of the production, TheaterMania’s Marc Miller wrote that “Much of Imaginary Friends — the catfights, mainly, and the dueling protagonists’ tentative, ambivalent reaching out toward one another — is bracing stuff. But why not let it go at that? When you have Mary McCarthy and Lillian Hellman at center stage, and the great Cherry Jones and Swoosie Kurtz to play them, you needn’t drag in a stageful of supporting players, life-size dolls, and Brechtian song interludes to distract your audience.”

Tickets for Imaginary Friends may be purchased by calling Telecharge at 212-239-6200 or by visiting the Barrymore box office, 243 West 47th Street.