No Laughing Matter: Jackie Mason’s Broadway Show to Close on November 30

Jackie Mason’s Laughing Room Only, which received largely negative reviews following its opening on Wednesday, November 19, will almost definitely be closing on November 30. According to a production spokesperson, the cast was told that a closing notice will be posted this coming Tuesday unless there is a marked increase in ticket sales over the next few days. The show began previews on October 23; at the time of its closing, it will have played 31 previews and 13 regular performances.

Billed as a “comedy musical revue,” the show has a book by Dennis Blair and Digby Wolfe and songs by Doug Katsaros. Directed by Robert Johanson, it stars Mason and features Ruth Gottschall, Darrin Baker, Barry Finkel, Cheryl Stern, and Robert Creighton. Michael Lichtefeld provided choreography; the set was designed by Michael Anania, the costumes by Thom Heyer, and the lights by Paul D. Miller.

In his review of the production, TheaterMania’s David Finkle wrote: “Mason does occasionally make a genuinely funny topical comment — e.g., one about Lipitor. But jokes that play off of nouvelle cuisine (a thing of the past), Picasso, Puerto Ricans stealing hubcaps (Mason says he goes to Puerto Rico to visit his hub caps), Henry Kissinger, and Richard Simmons add up to a show that Mason could have been doing a decade ago.”