The Ritz plays final performance on Broadway

The Roundabout's Broadway revival of Terrence McNally�s comedy The Ritz, plays its final performance on Broadway on 9 Dec 2007. When the show closes it will have played 30 previews and 69 regular performances.

The farce, which opened at Studio 54, on the 11 Oct 2007, following previews from 15 Sep, was originally scheduled to close on 2 Dec 2007, then had its run extended through to 9 Dec 2007.

The Ritz is an over-the-top comedy that takes place in a bathhouse in Manhattan. When Gaetano Proclo needs to hide from mobster Carmine Vespucci, he escapes to the Ritz. When Gaetano realizes the Ritz is a gay bathhouse and not a Turkish bath, he pretends to be a big-time Broadway producer to keep suspicions low. When Carmine locates Gaetano what transpires is wild, manic mayhem.

The show opened to mostly luke warm reviews: "Cute, cuddly and often oddly inert." (New York Times); "What should be airy ends up a cement souffl�." (New York Daily News); "If you need just one reason to visit "The Ritz," I can give it to you in two words: Rosie Perez" (New York Post); "Squeezes its laughs from caricatures well past their sell-by date." (NewsDay); "May have been fresh and funny 30 years ago." (New York Theatre Guide).

Directed by Joe Mantello, The Ritz features Rosie Perez as Googie Gomez, Kevin Chamberlin as Gaetano Proclo, Brooks Ashmanskas as Chris, Ashlie Atkinson as Vivian Proclo, Patrick Kerr as Claude Perkins, Lucas Near-Verbrugghe as Tiger, Terrence Riordan as Michael Brick, Seth Rudetsky as Sheldon, Adam Sietz as Abe, David Turner as Duff and Lenny Venito as Carmine Vespucci.

Ensemble members: Ryan Idol, Teddy Coluca, Billy Magnussen, Mark Leydorf, Matthew Montelongo, Angela Pietropinto, Jeffrey Evan Thomas, Josh Breckenridge, Justin Clynes, Andrew Cooksey, Lukas Hassel, Nick Mayo and Dillon Porter (Patron).

The ensemble play patrons of the Bath House, notable amongst them is Ryan Idol, a gay porn film star of the 1990's, who is making his Broadway debut. Idol has previously appeared off-Broadway as a replacement cast member in the comedy 'Making Porn'(1996).

The design team includes Christopher Gattelli (Choreography), Scott Pask (Sets), William Ivey Long (Costumes), Peggy Eisenhauer and Jules Fisher (lighting) and Tony Meola (sound).

The Ritz premiered on Broadway in 1975 at the Longacre Theatre. In 1976, the play was made into a feature film starring Jack Weston, Rita Moreno and Jerry Stiller.