Joan Rivers' West End return cancelled
Story by Lizzie Guilfoyle
JOAN Rivers’ return to the West End in the self-penned autobiographical play, Joan Rivers: A Work in Progress By a Life in Progress, has been cancelled after a US TV pilot she was working on has unexpectedly been commissioned for a full series.
Rivers made her West End acting debut when the four-handed, part-confession, part-performance comedy drama based on her own life opened at the 420-seat newly refurbished and re-named Leicester Square Theatre (formerly The Venue) in August 2008.
It previously sold-out a 4-week preview run at the Edinburgh Festival where six extra performances were arranged to cope with demand. In total, almost 8,000 tickets were sold at the Festival.
The show, directed by Olivier Award-winner Sean Foley (The Play What I Wrote), was originally scheduled for a total of 75 performances, one for every year of Rivers’ life.
More than £50,000 of tickets have already been purchased for the December/January performances. Ticket holders will get a full refund and should contact their point of sale.
Martin Witts, who produced the play, said: “It is with great sadness that I have to announce that Joan Rivers: A Work in Progress by a Life in Progress will not have its full London run. Audiences and critics have been unanimous in their praise and Joan and the cast never failed to get nightly standing ovations. We had initially hoped to just postpone the rest of the performances but can’t get a commitment on exactly when this could be so we have decided to refund all tickets sold.”