THE much heralded musical drama JFK in the Olympia Theatre, Dublin, which was due to run until June 7th at an estimated cost of $1 million, is to close on Saturday after a 10 day run.
One of the American producers last night blamed the critics and the bad reviews for the collapse of the musical, which it was hoped would transfer to the West End and then on to Broadway.
Mr Stewart F. Lane said last night: "Naturally, I am very disappointed at the response from the critics. Audiences that came clearly enjoyed the show, giving standing ovations at the end. However, like Broadway and the West End, we could not beat the critics.
"We had a wonderful international cast and very high production values, of which we are very proud. Dublin is a terrific town. I look forward to bringing my next show here."
Tom Sawyer, who wrote the musical, said last week he had been inspired by Evita 14 years ago. "My wife and I went to see it in Los Angeles and when the lights went up I said: `It's time to do this about JFK'."
The closure has been a major blow to Mr Lane, who was one of the three producers. The other two are Isobel Robins Konecky and Max Weitzenhoffer. Asked before the show opened why he had chosen Dublin, he said there were three reasons. "It's steeped in the tradition of theatre going. You could open in some cities in the States and there would be no audience. Dublin has the talent pool that you need to do a full scale musical. And then there is the respect and admiration for the Kennedys as an Irish American family."
Gerry Colgan, in his review of the show for The Irish Times, said: "The making of a few bob aside, it is difficult to know just what the creators of JFK may have had in mind. Will Holt (music and libretto) and Tom Sawyer (libretto) say in a programme note they aim to tell the John F. Kennedy story in terms of personal drama, but their selection of material provides only a superficial look at their subject, and nothing that recreates the catharsis of real life.
Mr Colgan said he could remember nothing of the musical score. "It is not essential to leave the theatre whistling tunes; Stephen Sondheim has proved that, but then he is a genius, and none of that rare quality is manifest here. But the music should underpin or enlarge the action, and here it has a mechanical quality that fails to beguile, and is sprinkled with reprises of tunes hardly worth their keep in the first place. There is virtually no dialogue and the lyrics are an inadequate substitute."