A Broadway show featuring Bill and Hillary Clinton as main characters is set to end a month early because of low ticket sales. “Hillary and Clinton” will end June 23, producer Scott Rudin announced Monday.
The show starred Laurie Metcalf as Hillary Clinton and John Lithgow as Bill Clinton. It was set in an alternate universe during Hillary’s primary run in 2008, with the action taking place in a New Hampshire hotel.
Written by Lucas Hnath, the show ran for 37 preview performances and 77 regular ones. Over the last two weeks, only 36 percent of ticket capacity was reached, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Playing at the John Golden Theater, it has earned $4.7 million so far — but cost $4.2 million to produce.
In another disappointment, Metcalf was nominated for a Tony Award for her portrayal of Clinton but lost to Elaine May in “The Waverly Gallery.”
Continued Unpopularity for the Clintons
The lackluster box office performance follows the early cancellation of the “An Evening with the Clintons” speaking tour, which was offering tickets for under $10 by the time it ended mid-May.
The speaking tour featured gems such as this from Bill Clinton, who said without a trace of intended irony about Republicans, “These people, they don’t believe the same set of rules apply to them that apply to everyone else.”
The public may just be losing interest in these two political has-beens. Bill has been tainted by his Oval Office affair, and more information continues to come out about Hillary Clinton’s illegal private email server and campaign activities that involved Russia.
Why Did the Show Fall Apart?
In spite of A-list talent both in front of and behind the curtain, the show lasted only two months before collapsing under its own weight. Producer Rubin has had mixed success of late — two of his other recent plays closed early while the Aaron Sorkin adaptation of “To Kill a Mockingbird” was the top-performing non-musical production of the season,
“Mockingbird” has made over $50 million and broken all-time records. “Hillary and Clinton,” on the other hand, is a tired, depressing story that nobody wants to hear anymore, and few believe anyway.
After all, the 2008 primary is ancient history now. Hillary lost then, to Barack Obama, and lost even bigger in 2016 after becoming the Democratic nominee. Maybe if she stopped blaming everyone else for her failures, people might be interested in her again.
Or maybe we got enough lies and spin from her husband in the 90s to last us a lifetime.
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