Special Reports

Broadway Shockers 2017: Broadway's Longest-Running Play is The Play That Goes Wrong

More like ”The Play That Goes Long”.

As 2017 draws to a close, TheaterMania looks back on some of the most jaw-dropping stories of the year.

The Broadway cast of The Play That Goes Wrong.
The Broadway cast of The Play That Goes Wrong.
(© Jeremy Daniel)

The runaway success of the London transplant The Play That Goes Wrong is one of the biggest Broadway shocks of the past season, as the show's marketing team gleefully points out whenever the opportunity presents itself. "[The Play That Goes Wrong] has inexplicably become the longest-running play currently on Broadway," read one press release.

"It is a remarkable rags-to-riches story for a play which started its life at a London fringe venue with only four paying members of the public at the first performance," the same press release went on. And in fact, the show's Broadway achievements are only the beginning. The West End staging has been running for four years at the Duchess Theatre, and productions of the play have graced six continents. According to press materials, "the producers have avoided Antarctica for fear of a frosty reception."

For the 2018-19 season, producers will mount a North American tour of the play, including a five-week engagement at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. Now that's theater done Wrong.

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The Play That Goes Wrong

Closed: January 6, 2019