Producer Scott Rudin announced today that SHUFFLE ALONG Or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed, will play its final Broadway performance on Sunday, July 24, 2016. As was previously announcedAudra McDonald, the six-time Tony winning star of SHUFFLE ALONG, was already set to depart the production on July 24 for what was planned as a multi-month maternity leave.
“Audra McDonald is the biggest star on Broadway, and audiences have been clamoring to see her in this role since the first preview of Shuffle Along in March of this year,” said Mr. Rudin. “She is absolutely extraordinary in the show, and I am filled with gratitude for both her exemplary partnership on Shuffle Along and also for her remarkable resilience and fortitude in doing everything possible to play as many shows as she can, despite the circumstance of her pregnancy.”
“We are thrilled that she and her husband, Will Swenson, are experiencing the opportunity to expand their family — and we wish them all good things as they approach the birth of their child this fall,” Rudin continued, “It has, however, become clear that the need for Audra to take a prolonged and unexpected hiatus from the show has determined the unfortunate inevitability of our running at a loss for significantly longer than the show can responsibly absorb, and we have decided to close the show when she leaves on July 24. On behalf of myself and George C. Wolfe, I want to say how deeply grateful we are to her for everything she gave and continues to give the show. There is simply nobody like her.”
