UPDATE:
Holler If Ya Hear Me, the rap musical inspired by the music of Tupac Shakur, will be ending its six-week run on Broadway on Sunday, July 20 as a result of poor reviews and low ticket sales.
“It saddens me that due to the financial burdens of Broadway, I was unable to sustain this production longer in order to give it time to bloom on Broadway,” producer Eric L. Gold said in a statement. “Tupac’s urgent socially important insights and the audiences’ nightly rousing standing ovations deserve to be experienced by the world.”
Previews for the show began June 2 at the Palace Theatre before officially opening on June 19. The show has been struggling to fill all 1,100 seats each night and never reached the $200,000 mark for any week during its six-week run. Last week it only earned $154,948 which is only 17% of what it could have grossed. Hit shows on Broadway typically make at least $1 million per week.
Critics of the show found it to be too clichéd in its plot about racism, poverty, crime,violence, and community. They also felt the lyrics of Tupac’s music do not work to drive the story of a musical.
When the show closes Sunday, it will have played 38 performances and 17 previews. There are currently no plans for a tour or a regional production.
Holler If Ya Hear Me, a new musical inspired by the songs of the late rapper Tupac Shakur, is coming to Broadway.
The musical will not be directly based off Tupac’s life or death, but instead the script will focus on two childhood friends living in a poverty-stricken Midwestern industrial city. The musical will use Tupac’s songs to tell the story of two friends struggling to fulfill their dreams, which include “California Love”, “Keep Ya Head Up”, “Me Against the World” and the show’s title song “Holler If Ya Hear Me.”
The show’s producers call Holler a tale of “friendship, family, revenge, change and hope.”
Kenny Leon is the production’s director, with Wayne Cliento from “Wicked” working as the choreographer. The producers of the musical are Tupac’s mother, Afeni Shakur, movie and television producer Eric L. Gold, and theater producer Chunsoo Shin.
Director Leon told Brodway.com, “Tupac was a prophet, and I want everyone to see that.”
Holler If Ya Hear Me opens on June 19th at the Palace Theater in New York.
