“To Kill A Mockingbird,” Aaron Sorkin’s stage adaptation of Harper Lee’s beloved coming-of-age novel, will not return to Broadway as previously announced, The New York Times reported.
The spokesperson for the production refused to comment on the cancellation. Variety.
The Shubert Theatre hosted the Shubert Theatre’s final performance of the stage play. It opened on Broadway in 2018 and was last seen on January 16. The Belasco Theater was expected to reopen the show in June. Later, the date was changed to Nov. 2. The venue for the show was now the Music Box Theater. According to the Times, the play will now be shut down completely.
In an email obtained by the Times sent Thursday night to the cast and crew of the show, playwright Sorkin and director Bartlett Sher blamed the decision on the show’s original lead producer Scott Rudin. According to Sorkin and Sher, Rudin was allegedly the one who quit the show’s active role last year following allegations of his abuse toward staff. “reinserted himself as producer and for reasons which are, frankly, incomprehensible to us both, he stopped the play from reopening.”
The Times also obtained an email that Rudin sent Sorkin and Sher on Friday, in which the producer credited his decision due to concerns regarding the show’s profitability should it open later this year.
“The reason I opted not to bring back ‘TKAM’ has to do with my lack of confidence in the climate for plays next winter,”Rudin made the comment in the email. “I do not believe that a remount of ‘Mockingbird’ would have been competitive in the marketplace.”
When “To Kill A Mockingbird”It premiered in 2018 and was a huge financial success. The show sold an average of $2 million per week in tickets, and it recouped its investment in just 19 weeks. It received mostly positive reviews. Celia Keenan Bolger won the award for her role in Scout Finch. It did end up at the center of controversy after Rudin’s lawyers shut down dozens of community and non-profit productions of a different adaptation of the novel by playwright Christopher Sergel that premiered in 1991, which the producer eventually apologized for.
After the Broadway shut down in March 2020, the Broadway play resumed its performances last October. Original star Jeff Daniels reprised the role of Atticus, and the show sold well. However, the show saw a significant drop in sales after Daniels left January 2 amid a decline in Broadway sales.
A production of the play opened on London’s West End this March, starring Rafe Spall and Gwyneth Keyworth as Atticus and Scout. A National U.S. tour opened in Boston this April. Both productions remain open until Broadway’s production closes.