Altar Boyz to close on 10 Jan

Altar Boyz has announced that it will close on Sun 10 Jan 2010 after playing 2032 performances, making it the 9th longest running Off-Broadway musical ever!

Producer Ken Davenport said, "While this is a difficult day for everyone involved in the show, we couldn't be more proud of what our Boyz have accomplished. For the past several years, people have been ringing the death knell for commercial Off-Broadway theater. Altar Boyz has proven that a fantastic show and a passionate group of people behind it can overcome any odds."

Altar Boyz, now in its fifth year, opened at New World Stages / Stage 4 on 1 Mar 2005, following previews from 15 Feb 2010. The musical had been selling tickets through to 5 Sep 2010.

Altar Boyz is a musical comedy about a struggling Christian boy-band riding the wave of America's latest fascination with religion. Armed with catchy melodies, freaky moves and product in their hair, the self-anointed apostles of pop (Matthew, Mark, Luke, Juan . . . and Abraham (He's Jewish) bring their soul-saving tour to New York City, with their heavenly hits like "Girl, You Make Me Wanna Wait" and "Jesus Called Me On My Cell Phone".

The show stars Lee Markham (Luke), Michael Kadin Craig (Matthew), Mauricio Perez (Juan), Travis Nesbitt (Mark) and Ravi Roth (Abraham).

Conceived by Marc Kessler and Ken Davenport, Altar Boyz has a score by Gary Adler and Michael Patrick Walker with book by Kevin Del Aguila.

The musical is directed by Stafford Arima and choreographed by Christopher Gattelli, with set designs by Anna Louizos, lighting design by Natasha Katz, and sound design by Peter Hylenski. Lynne Shankel is the music director and Co-Orchestrator.

The show received mostly Good to luke-warm reviews from the popular press. Click here to read Polly Wittenberg's review and what the other critcs said about the musical.

Altar Boyz received the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical Off-Broadway and earned Christopher Gattelli the 2005 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Choreographer.