Enron The Play Follows The Lead Of Its Namesake And Implodes

By Richard Connelly Tue., May 4 2010 at 6:07 PM

Categories: Stage

Jeff Skilling, Andy Fastow, a character based on Sherron Watkins, and Ken Lay, as portrayed on Broadway

Enron, the semi-musical that became a hit in London but opened to not much acclaim on Broadway, is closing.

The show's Facebook page announced the last performance will be this Sunday.

The show opened April 27 to decidedly mixed reviews. The producers apparently kept their fingers crossed for a lot of help from the Tony nominations, but Enron nabbed only four relatively minor nods this morning.

One of them was surprising: a nomination for Best Score. New York Times critic Ben Brantley wasn't happy with that, seeing it as an indictment of a weak year in musicals.

"How sad and telling that two of the nominations for best score go to what is essentially background or incidental music for the plays Enron and Fences," he wrote.

The tepid reaction by Broadway makes it doubtful a production of Enron will show up here in Houston anytime soon. There certainly won't be a tour, so it will be up to some local company to mount its own production.

It'll be interesting to see if there are any takers.

Update: The New York Post reports Enron investors took a $4 million loss on the production.