Tonys Signals End To Vanessa Hudgens Broadway Show ‘Gigi’
Vanessa Hudgens and her Broadway show, “Gigi,” will be facing an early curtain call after she and her can-can dancers failed to win a Tony award Sunday night.
“Gigi” officially opened April 8 to mixed reviews as an open ended run, but failed to capture big box office sales, prompting producers to call for an early end to the show scheduled for Sunday, June 21, after about 100 performances.
First staged in 1973, the play was adapted from a 1958 film and features a classic musical score by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, according to Yahoo News.
The revival, however, failed to capture the imagination of modern audiences, despite Hudgens performance as the title character.
In her title role, Vanessa portrayed a young girl who lived in Paris at the beginning of the last century. She fought against her family’s desire to be a courtesan until she fell in love with a rich older man.
By altering the age gap between Gigi and her older suitor and hiring Hudgens to play the lead role, producers hoped to bring in a younger audience, but that appears not to have been enough to overcome an aged script.
The Neil Simon Theater, where the show is playing, was half empty last week. With the largest recorded audience filling only 60 percent of theater seats, the show has only earned $5.9 million so far, according to the Daily Mail.
Hudgens and the “Gigi” cast performed “The Night They Invented Champagne” during the Tony awards, in which the show was nominated once for featured actress Victoria Clark.
Although Vanessa looked stunning as she walked the red carpet in her floral flowing gown by Naeem Khan Sunday night, the backless number failed to bring in any much needed Tony’s.
See her and other celebrity dresses at the Inquisitr.
Vanessa, now 26-years-old, first made it big playing Gabriella Montez in the High School Musical series. She also appeared in various Disney Channel films and TV shows, with her debut taking place in 2003 with Thirteen.
Vanessa has also been in the news after dating co-star Zac Efron and The Hunger Games’ Josh Hutcherson.
After “Gigi” closes, Hudgens will be starring in a zombie and vampire horror comedy called “Kitchen Sink” along with Bob Odenkirk, Denis Leary, and Patton Oswalt.
Vanessa also plans to star in Grease: Live TV with Julianne Hough, Nick Jonas, and Martin Short, according to the Daily Mail.
[Photo by Mike Coppola / Dimitrios Kambouris / Stewart F. House / Getty Images]
