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has a fire closed THE BOOK OF MORMON? | details on the closure and future of the Broadway musical
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Mickey Jo
So for anyone who hasn't been following this story over the past week, the headline News is On the 4th of May, a three alarm fire broke out backstage at the Eugene O' Neill Theatre in New York, where the Book of Mormon was approaching its 15th anniversary. As a result of damage sustained during the fire, which was hastily put out by the emergency services, the show has had to temporarily pause performances. There are more specific details about the date through which the show's cancellation currently extends, which I will share with you in just a moment. And I've delayed covering this piece of news both because it's not the type of situation that I think it's responsible to speculate about, but also because I was waiting for the inevitable press release that would be shared by the show's producers as well as the owners of the theatre, ATG Entertainment. A few days ago they released a joint statement and we're going to talk what it means for the Book of Mormon on Broadway. But just before we do, the hastiest introduction to me for anyone who may be meeting me for the very first time. Oh My God. Hey, my name is Mickey Jo and I am obsessed with all things theatre. Clearly I am a content creator here on social media. Mostly I'm a critic, but today I am also a pundit. As we consider what the temporary closure of the Eugene o' Neill Theatre may mean for the open ended, long running Broadway musical, the Book of Mormon, one of Broadway's real staples, one of its hit shows. And while I would like to prioritize my extraordinary sympathy and concern for the cast, the crew, everyone whose work, whose lives will have been affected by this fire, by this unprecedented event, as well as tremendous praise and gratitude to the emergency services personnel who worked to resolve this fire speedily after it broke out, including the one member of that team who was injured in the process. I do think there are many questions arising in response to the Book of Mormon having to temporarily go dark on Broadway and what this could potentially mean for the show and the landscape of Broadway in a small way. Today I'm going to talk you through everything that's happened, everything we know so far, what might happen next, as well as some further ideas for consideration. I'm going to be sharing my insights and my opinions, and I would also, as always, love to hear yours in the comments section down below. If anyone from the Book of Mormon family is watching this, I sincerely hope that the situation is resolved as efficiently and as speedily as possible for the show and by extension, all of the people, the individuals working on it. As always, if you would like to hear more of what I have to say about Broadway and the theatre industry worldwide, make sure that you subscribe here on YouTube or follow me on podcast platforms. But in the meant time, let's talk about what has happened, what is happening now, and what might happen next for the Book of Mormon on Broadway. So the timeline of events is the fire broke out on May 4th at the Eugene O' Neill Theatre in New York. Thank goodness it was during the daytime, which means emergency services were able to respond to it, you would imagine, far quicker than they otherwise would have been. It was noticed sooner than it probably otherwise would have been. Also, it was a dark day for the show, meaning the occupancy of the building was far lower. Perhaps it may even have been empty. I don't know that the exact instigating cause of the fire has as of yet been ascertained, but this could be a very different conversation that we would be having if it had arisen during a performance. Subsequently, after the fire was resolved and the damage was assessed, two things have happened. The production and the theatre owners have in conjunction released a joint statement through two distinct New York PR companies and the New York City Department of Buildings has issued a full vacate order at the Eugene o' Neill Theatre one which provides details about the fire. So that is what we are going to read from first and here it is. The New York City Department of Buildings has issued a full vacate order at 230 West 49th street, the address of Broadway's Eugene O' Neill Theatre, named of course for the playwright following Monday's three alarm fire. The theatre is home to the long running production of the Book of Mormon. The show is this year celebrating its 15th anniversary with particular celebrations scheduled to have taken place over the coming weeks. This is unfortunate, particularly because the show's 10th anniversary, I believe was also disrupted by Covid and the Pandemic Continu. Continuing to read from Joshua Wright's coverage of this on Broadway World. In a statement provided to Broadway World, the Department of Buildings confirmed that DOB inspectors were called to the theatre on May 4, 2026 to conduct a structural stability inspection in the wake of the fire. Inspectors observed heavy fire damage to the spotlight room and the building's roof, with roof hatches and small sections of roof material removed. No injuries were reported during the inspection. The fire damage was not contained to the theatre itself, according to the DOB. Inspectors found that damage had spread to the hot at 224 W. 49th St. Affecting multiple rooms on the building's fifth floor. As a result, the DOB issued a partial vacate order at the hotel affecting rooms 509 and 5 10. The full vacate order at Eugene O' Neill aligns with FDNY Fire Chief David Sims statement at Monday's press conference in which he noted the building would be out of service pending repairs. No specificity about how long, no indication really of how long that might be for the fire originated in an electrical room between the fourth and fifth floors before additional fire was discovered between the fifth floor and the roof. One firefighter was injured in the response. The Book of Mormon had at this time cancelled performances on Tuesday, May 5 and Wednesday, May 6 and they have also released a statement that we are going to read from now which was issued a few days ago on Wednesday, May 6. Now this was sent out, interestingly enough, from the PR representatives of the show, the Book of Mormon and its producers as well as those for ATG Entertainment who are not the producers on the production but who are the owners of the venue. Since the merger a couple of years ago with Drew Jamson Here it is. On the morning of Monday, May 4, a fire was reported at the Eugene O' Neill Theatre. FDNY was immediately contacted, were on site within minutes and quickly extinguished the fire. Good job City of New York. ATG Entertainment and the Book of Mormon extend their deepest thanks to the firefighters and emergency responders for their bravery and speedy response. The fire was limited to the follow spot booth of the o' Neill at this time. The exact cause of the fire is unknown. ATG Entertainment and the Book of Mormon are currently working with a team of industry professionals to begin repairs needed to the building. And here's the important and underlined note about Performance cancellations. Performances of the Book of Mormon are cancelled through Sunday, May 17. Ticket holders for impacted performances will be notified via their point of purchase to receive refunds or reschedule. And if you happen to be watching this and you are a ticket holder for the Book of Mormon on Broadway in New York City, specifically at the Eugene o' Neill Theatre and you have tickets for one of those affected performances, your best approach, as always, is to directly contact your point of sale next week. Which now means in the coming days ATG Entertainment and the Book of Mormon will provide an update regarding performances which are anticipated to resume at the Eugene o' Neill Theatre in the coming weeks. Which is very interesting because there was some quick speculation after this began to unfold that this could put the Book of Mormon out of action at the theatre and indeed any live performance at the venue for some time, I will do a hasty bit of journalism and just see when the Book of Mormon is currently back on sale. True to their word, the show is currently on sale from the 19th of May, that is Tuesday 19th of May 2026 and is selling through January 2027 at the Eugene O' Neill Theatre. Whether it transpires that the 19th actually will be their reopening date or whether they have to push that back a little remains to be seen. Obviously safety and security are going to be the top priorities in this instance. And not to sound like a broken record, but again, it is incredibly fortunate that this fire was as restricted as it was broke out. Where it it did wasn't more consuming, wasn't more damaging to the show, to the venue, to other nearby buildings. I say this is a London theater goer where historic lessons about hugely damaging fires have been very well learned. And once more with nothing but deference to all involved, including the cast and crew of the Book of Mormon, let's talk a little bit more about the timing of all of this and what it might mean for the show. So crass though it may be, almost as soon as news of this began to emerge on social media, people were talking about the possibility of this putting the Book of Mormon out of action on Broadway permanently, with the conversation quickly becoming Is this actually going to close the show? And it's not an unfounded question, not least of all because within the last decade we have seen examples of shows having to shut down and pause performances for a prolonged amount of time and closing as a result not being able to financially actually recover. Look at all of the shows that weren't able to reopen after the pandemic shutdown. We have learned at this point the financial impact that closure has on a show. It is not a passive neutral state. They are losing money if they are not actively in performances. This because expenses aren't being offset by ticket proceeds, part of these being rent due to the building owners and another hopefully being wages paid to the cast, crew and everyone else working on the production who may also at this time, and I'm just speculating here, be being supported by the wonderful folks over at Broadway Cares. Those red buckets are very wide reaching and obviously the Book of Mormon is not one of the shows that wasn't able to reopen after that initial period of closure. I also wonder whether there might be a key financial difference this time around, and I'm really speculating here because this moves beyond my particular insight. But I'm wondering whether the nature of the closure of this building as a result of a fire versus a society altering pandemic may have different implications for what the producers and the building owners are able to claim on insurance and whether that offsets some of the costs and expenses that they're now facing. If anyone does have any particular insight on that and technicalities around it, I would be very intrigued to hear them in the comments section down below. Of course, we would also be having a very different conversation if this were to have affected one of the newly opened shows in this fairly precarious Broadway season. If anyone's been paying attention to grosses these past few few weeks, there are a whole handful of new productions, particularly brand new musicals, that aren't sitting in the most comfortable place financially, especially given how expensive all of these shows are to run these days. If a fire had taken place at the St. James, the Majestic, the Longacre, the palace, the Nederlander, we again may be having a very different conversation about the likelihood of the show coming back at all. The Book of Mormon, however, is Firmly established as one of Broadway's recent biggest hits, having opened in the years since Wicked, but before Hamilton. And because of that, another conversation that has been had is about the feasibility of the show moving to a different Broadway house. Now at this time, with the Tony nominations having just been announced, as we approach the Tony Awards ceremony, there are minimal, dark available theaters. But in the weeks after the Tony Awards, more may become available, as is usually the case. Certainly as we head towards the fall, more limited runs will end, more houses will become available, if they aren't already spoken for. One slightly tongue in cheek notion that occurred to me amidst an otherwise very serious story is that for some time the church, I believe it's called the Times Square Church, which was formerly a theater, has been in negotiation. There have been many attempts to acquire this building and turn it back into a Broadway house. It's on West 51st street, formerly the Mark Hellinger Theatre. I believe it's Sir Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber, who for some time had been very committed, or it might have been Mackintosh, to trying to restore that to the Broadway theatre that it once was. And obviously the Book of Mormon the show affected in this instance makes for a very interesting and specific kind of optics. I was reminded of when Notre Dame was consumed by a blaze in Paris and Disney contributed to its restoration. And utterly mixed as your feelings may justifiably be about the Church of Latter Day Saints. I do think it would be fascinating if you know pro Book of Mormon the musical, as they have puzzlingly been in the past, they decide to help boost the show during this time of challenge. On that front we will have to wait and see. And given sense of a timeline that has now been conveyed in that joint statement from the show and ATG Entertainment, it would seem as though we're not entertaining a conversation about Mormon moving to a different house. But there is, we should remember, a precedent for this having happened. Previously. There was a theatre in the West End, the Apollo Theatre, which experienced a structural collapse during a performance of the play the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. The play closed at the venue and did not reopen there. The venue itself eventually reopened with renovations made to the ceiling structure, but the play reopened in the interim at the Gielgud Theatre just down the street. And certainly there are several Broadway shows that have within their lifetimes moved from one theatre to another. It's not straightforward, but it's doable. However, it has transpired that that seems not to be the conversation that we are having here. It would seem as though the ambition is for the Book of Mormon to reopen at the U.
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Mickey Jo
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- [15:38]
Mickey Jo
Gene o' Neill. And while I asserted that the financial position for the Book of Mormon is different to that of the newly opened show that arrived over the spring. And that is true, it isn't necessarily the case that the Book of Mormon is in quite as solid a position as some of those other long runners like the Lion King or Wicked or Hamilton Hamilton, which recently made a big splash Celebrating its 10 year anniversary and welcomed back returning cast member Leslie Odom Jr. To Astounding Business at the box office Wicked, which recently entertained a demonstrable boost in audiences as a result of the two part hit film adaptation and the Lion King, which occupies such a specific and necessitated space within the Broadway ecosystem that it's going to run forever. And there are, I think, in the world of long running musicals, two different things. The shows that are going to run forever and the shows that are simply going to run for a very long time. Every now and again, something does close after more than a decade or two of ongoing performances, and everyone is very shocked by the announcement. And while I have always said that the Book of Mormon occupies its own very specific cultural niche within both the Broadway and the West End landscape, it's still running in London's West End as well, at the Prince of Wales Theatre, by virtue of the fact that it's a Broadway or a West End show that boyfriends and husbands and dads may have been more willing to go to than a Wicked or a Lion King or a Death Becomes her, etc, or a Moulin Rouge. No shade to any of the other shows mentioned, but you absolutely know what I mean. You do start to wonder, even given the extraordinary ignition of its opening and how hugely popular it was, exactly how far that will propel the show through the years. And you look back on the huge Broadway hits of yesteryear, particularly in the comedy realm. You recall the Producers, you recall Hairspray, these monster hits of the early 2000s shows that eventually closed, and you start to wonder exactly how much fuel the Book of Mormon has left in the tank. And as a general rule, one of the proverbial singing canaries of the theatre industry, which is to say indicators that a show is struggling, is when you can perceive the marketing team really pushing, really beginning to push in a way that they haven't for some time. And there has been a big marketing push. Around the Book of Mormon's 15th anniversary, there was a huge change to their aesthetic. They reworked the artwork on the advertising throughout Times Square. It was no longer the familiar image of these funny, cartoonish Mormon characters waving on a white background. Instead, it was glossy and prestige. It was black and gold with these candid backstage photography moments. There have also been talk show appearances. Andrew Rannells, original star of the show, original Elder Price, of course, went on TV and promoted the musical and sang the song, I Believe, reprising his performance in the original key, I believe. Kudos to Andrew Rannells. And they had major celebrations and surprises planned over the coming weeks, which possibly they will be able to reschedule and may still take place as and when the show eventually recommences performances at the Eugene o'. Neill. But it is another unfortunate component of the timing of all of this. And when we consider all of this marketing, one wonders whether they were trying to use the 15th anniversary as a way of pushing the show forwards for another year and kind of gaining some more enthusiasm and interest and excitement, or whether it was a big, splashy celebration before elegantly landing the plane, as I like to say, because if you do take a look at the publicly available grosses throughout the show's 15 year history on Broadway. They do for the last decade at least. Least paint a picture of steady decline. At the same time, the show's expenses will have shifted as it recouped its initial investment. However, we have to consider if rising costs are affecting these newly opening shows to such a destabilizing extent. There may be other factors and other economic realities that also make the ongoing running of long running shows more expensive than they were even this time last year. Year in which context the Book of Mormon posting some of their lowest grosses in years this past January is not great for the show. Admittedly, there was adverse weather. There's also the ongoing political situation, which is metaphorically the most adverse weather of all. There was dangerous ice in New York this last winter and there continues to be dangerous ice throughout the rest of the country year round. And culturally speaking, because we have to consider this from all angles, you may also assume that the Book of Mormon would be a show that people would want to go to in order to laugh and distract themselves and escape from the crushing reality of living in an increasingly fascist state. At the same time, and in the background of all of this, there's also, I think, an evolving intergenerational dialogue about what good, meaningful, honest comedy looks like and what it is that people want to enjoy on stage and on screen. And you wonder from that perspective, finances notwithstanding, fires notwithstanding, what the lifespan of a show like the Book of Mormon is is given the way that society is changing. All of which is intended to be food for thought and a provocation for discussion in the comments. Please share all of your thoughts down below. For now, that is all of the information currently available about performances of the Book of Mormon on Broadway. As this story continues to evolve, I will do my best to bring you updates either in full videos here or in short form content across my other social media platforms. Make sure you're following me to keep up to date with the this and other Broadway stories with regards to what I imagine the title of this might be. Yes, the Book of Mormon is temporarily having to close as a result of the fire that took place at the Eugene o' Neill Theatre. No, it is not currently anticipated that this will close the show for good. It is, however, one which I think over the next year or so will be worth watching carefully. For now, thank you for listening to this theatre news recap and to all of my thoughts. Please, as always, share all of yours in the comments section down below and stay tuned for more Broadway and theatre news news coming very soon, I hope that everyone is staying safe and that you have a stagey day. For 10 more seconds, I'm Mickey Jo Theatre. Oh my God. Hey, thanks for watching. Have a stagey day. Subscribe.
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