‘Kinky Boots’ to End Broadway Run After 6 Years

It’s finally curtains for Kinky Boots.

After 2,507 performances and 34 previews, the long-running hit production will stage its final performance on April 7, 2019, producers Hal Luftig and Daryl Roth announced Friday. By the time the cast takes its final bow, the musical is set to be the 25th longest-running production in Broadway history.

The production, directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell, began previews March 3, 2013, at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre and officially opened that year on April 4. The closing will come within days of its sixth anniversary.

“We are so grateful to have given millions of theatergoers all over the world the powerful message and infectious spirit of Kinky Boots,” said Roth and Luftig in a statement. “So many talented and dedicated individuals — both on stage and behind the scenes — have contributed to its tremendous success, and we are forever grateful to each and every one of them.”

Based on the 2005 film directed by Julian Jarrold and starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Joel Edgerton, Kinky Boots follows a man who reluctantly takes control of the shoe factory he inherits from his father, and whose lack of interest tanks the business until he meets a drag queen who inspires him to diversify into producing flamboyant footwear.

The production will still continue to play on international stages: A London production is currently in its fourth year; the North American tour is in its fifth; a U.K. and Northern Ireland tour just began; and a German and Japanese production will be returning for a second season this spring.

In 2013, Kinky Boots received six Tony Awards including best musical, original score, actor in a musical, sound design of a musical, choreography and orchestrations.

The show has been a steady earner through most of its lengthy run, grossing north of $1 million a week in its early years and frequently returning to those heights later in the run when star performers joined the cast in limited engagements, such as Brendon Urie, Wayne Brady and Jake Shears.

“When we first set out to make this show, we never could have imagined the success it would have here on Broadway and around the world,” co-creators Harvey Fierstein and Cyndi Lauper said in a statement. “We speak on behalf of the entire company when we say how grateful we are to the fans who have embraced our work across four continents, and counting!”

The flagship New York production long ago earned back its investment and entered into profit, grossing a robust $297.5 million to date, but weekly box office has been slipping in recent months. For the week ending Sept. 23, the show made $658,509, or 51 percent of its gross potential.

By announcing a closing date more than five months in advance, producers stand to goose business for the remainder of the run, particularly over the lucrative Thanksgiving period and end-of-year holidays, which are traditionally the busiest periods of the Broadway calendar. 

The closing date near the end of the 2018-19 Broadway season, presumably too late for a new production to open in time for Tony eligibility, suggests the Al Hirschfeld is being cleared for a summer 2019 opening, possibly the eagerly anticipated stage musical adaptation of Moulin Rouge. 

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