"Hairspray" Dances To Its Final Beat On Broadway
To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.
Then come back here and refresh the page.
Dancing to their final beat, the cast of "Hairspray" put its all into every song and every line in Sunday's performance.
After 2,641 performances, the eight-time Tony Award-winning musical has sung its last tune.
"I've seen it seven times in the last six and a half years and the moment I saw in the New York Times that this was going to be the last production, I bought two tickets," said one fan.
While a packed house cheered on the cast one last time, turnout had taken a dive in recent months.
"Unfortunately it has to do with the bottom line," said producer Margo Lion. "We've been here more than six years. That's a long time and the economy is such that we're a family show and I think it really affected us and made it hard to run."
The faltering economy has been hard not just on "Hairspray" – 12 other shows are closing their curtains, including "Grease," "Spamalot" and "Gypsy."
Marissa Jaret Winokur, Broadway's original Tracy Turnblad, reprised her role for "Hairspray's" last show. She said she worries what these shutdowns will mean for her colleagues.
"Four hundred wardrobe people are out of jobs tomorrow," she said. "That's a lot. It's really heartbreaking."
"I understand times are hard and people can't afford to come and see shows now, but I think 'Hairspray' lasted long enough for enough people to see it and know how great it is," said Tevin Campbell, who played the character Seaweed.
Theater-goer Leslie Malone did not know that Sunday's show would be the last when she bough tickets.
"I'm sad because now I can't even tell my friends and family members to go see it," she said. "It's phenomenal."
The cast said farewell to a roaring standing ovation and the knowledge that it still plays in the hearts of the thousands who fell in love with the show.
"Hopefully Broadway will come back and thrive again because we need theater; we need happiness," said Winokur.
The Broadway League says, unlike "Hairspray," a number of the shows which closed Sunday were limited runs and a dozen new shows will be opening this spring with tickets available in all price ranges.
Still, at a time when New Yorkers and tourists are looking to cut costs, even cheap tickets could be a tough sell.