Ta-Ta, Topdog: Parks Drama to Close August 11

There’s only four more weeks left–or 28 dog weeks–for you to catch Topdog/Underdog, Suzan-Lori Parks’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play, which began its Broadway run at the Ambassador Theatre on April 7.

A transfer from the Public Theater, the production was originally scheduled for a limited run ending July 28 but recently extended its closing date to August 11 due to “popular demand”, according to a recent press release.

Tickets had previously been on sale through September 1, causing speculation that the two-hander would replace its existing cast (Jeffrey Wright and Mos Def) and that the closing would be delayed further. But Topdog‘s representatives have since made the formal announcement that the show will, indeed, close on August 11.

In their review of the Public Theater’s original production (starring Wright and Don Cheadle as the rival brothers), TheaterMania reviewers Barbara & Scott Siegel wrote: “Everything about Topdog/Underdog…is first rate–except the play,” going on to cite the two leads as the show’s greatest assets. In his subsequent review of the Broadway engagement, TheaterMania’s David Finkle expressed similar sentiments, describing Topdog as “entertaining but ultimately insubstantial” and adding that “if it weren’t for the performances of Jeffrey Wright and Mos Def, Topdog/Underdog would be slight indeed.”