'Little Dog' to close

Broadway comedy ends performances on Feb. 18

By GORDON COX

"The Little Dog Laughed," the Douglas Carter Beane comedy that has struggled at the box office since it began performances on Broadway Oct. 26, will close Feb. 18.

Hollywood-set play, which originated in a hit Off Broadway run at Second Stage Theater last winter, earned generally strong reviews, particularly for thesp Julie White's turn as a ruthless talent agent.

But even with the good press and the successful Off Broadway pedigree, the show proved a tough sell on the Rialto.

Production's weekly gross cracked the $200,000 mark only rarely. Last week -- when all of Broadway benefited from a tourist-fueled bump -- marked its best frame ever at $296,650.

With plays on Broadway often overshadowed by tuner offerings, the Rialto can be a particularly inhospitable environment for non-musicals with no marquee names in the cast.

"Dog" is so far the only new American play to open on Broadway this season, with Terrence McNally's "Deuce," August Wilson's "Radio Golf," and the stage adaptation of Joan Didion's "The Year of Magical Thinking" waiting in the wings.

Plot of "Dog" follows a closeted movie star whose career is threatened when he falls in love with a hustler. White and Johnny Galecki, who appeared in the Second Stage incarnation, reprised their roles for the Rialto, where they were joined by Tom Everett Scott and Ari Graynor. Scott Ellis helmed.

Roy Gabay led the production team of "Little Dog," in association with Second Stage.