'Steel Magnolias' to close on the 31 Jul 2005

Steel Magnolias will play its final performance at the Lyceum Theatre on the 31 Jul 2005, the show had been booking to Sep 2005.

Steel Magnolias opened at the Lyceum on the 4 Apr 2005, following previews from the 15 Mar. When the show closes it will have played 23 previews and 136 regular performances.

The play follows the lives of six indomitable Southern women as they share their personal triumphs, tragedies, beauty tips, recipes, and more than the occasional piece of scandalous gossip in Truvy�s beauty shop in Chinquapin, Louisiana.

Written by Robert Harling and directed by Jason Moore, Steel Magnolias stars Delta Burke as Truvy, Christine Ebersole as M�Lynn, Rebecca Gayheart as Shelby, Marsha Mason as Ouiser, Lily Rabe as Annelle and Frances Sternhagen as Clairee.

The show opened to poor to luke-warm notices. Ben Brentley of the New York Times wrote "Sitting through 'Steel Magnolias' which is set in a beauty parlor..., is like watching nail polish dry.� and Clive Barnes of the New York Post said "Steel magnolias? Plastic daffodils are more like it." However, Howard Kissel of the New York Daily News liked the production writing, "�What a finely constructed piece of theater it is, as resilient, as funny, as moving and as bracing as its marvelous title characters.�

The show has set design by Anna Louizos, costume design by David Murin, lighting design by Howell Binkley, sound design by Ken Travis and hair design by Bobby H. Grayson.

Steel Magnolias is produced on Broadway by Roy Gabay, Robyn Goodman, Danzansky Partners, Ergo Entertainment, Ruth Hendel, Sharon Karmazin, Susan Dietz/Ina Meibach, Michael Galvis/Billy Huddleston, and Elsa Daspin Suisman/Martha R. Gasparian.