BROADWAY Frigid winter forces 2 musicals to close

One show's producers said the entire industry was affected by the extreme cold.
NEW YORK (AP) -- New York's chilly winter season has claimed two big Broadway musicals and hurt several long-running shows.
"Gypsy," starring Bernadette Peters, and "Never Gonna Dance," a homage to the 1936 Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers film "Swing Time," will both close before the end of the month, done in by declining box-office receipts and frigid weather.
In a statement, the producers of "Never Gonna Dance" said the show "has not been able to build an audience and survive the devastating industrywide impact of the current record-breaking cold weather." Broadway was particularly hard hit last week when a big snowstorm hit New York on Jan. 27, the evening before a two-performance day.
"The winter is always a difficult time for shows that don't come out of the Christmas season quite as strongly as they would like," Jed Bernstein, head of the League of American Theatres and Producers, said Monday. "The wet and cold weather has not helped anything in New York, whether it is the restaurants, the retailers or the theater."
Closing dates
The revival of "Gypsy," which features Peters as the domineering mother of stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, folds Feb. 28 at the Shubert Theatre after 347 performances, while "Never Gonna Dance" calls it quits Feb. 15 after only 84 performances.
The weather particularly staggered several veteran musicals, with "42nd Street," "Rent," "Beauty and the Beast" and "Aida," all playing to less than 50 percent capacity for the week ending Sunday.
There were a few bright spots. "The Producers," with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick headlining, sold out, doing its customary $1 million-plus business. "The Lion King" "Mamma Mia!" and "Hairspray" slipped a bit, but all three managed to reach more than 80 percent capacity.
"Gypsy," which has recouped a little more than 50 percent of its investment, opened last April to generally positive notices. For the week ending Sunday, it grossed $360,035, about $140,000 below its weekly break-even point.
"Dance" will close one week after "Taboo," the Boy George musical produced by Rosie O'Donnell, which had announced last month that it will fold Sunday.