The sun will go down on “Annie” on January 5, the producers of the current Broadway revival said this week.
The latest version of the musical about a red-headed orphan who brims over with optimism will have played for 487 performances and 38 previews. Producers said they are planning a national tour for the 2014-15 season.
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This version of “Annie” faced stiff competition from a series of better-reviewed musicals like “Matilda,” “Kinky Boots” and an acclaimed revival of “Pippin.” Ticket sales were respectable, but despite a well-received summer stint by Jane Lynch as the villainous Miss Hannigan, the play never caught fire at the box office.
It also lacked the kind of awards attention that can help generate excitement. The show earned a Tony nomination for Best Revival of a Musical but was shut out in all of the other categories and lost the prize to “Pippin.”
It fared better than a 1997 revival featuring Nell Carter, which as Playbill notes, closed after seven months, but it could not match the success of the original production. The first version of “Annie” opened in 1977 and ran for nearly six years.