'Hour' recoups before run times out

Show earns its $2.6 million investment back

By GORDON COX

'The Vertical Hour,' starring Julianne Moore and directed by David Hare, took a beating from critics.

It may have taken a beating from several Gotham critics, and it may be shuttering three weeks ahead of schedule, but "The Vertical Hour" has still managed to move into the "hit" column.

The limited run of the David Hare play, with Sam Mendes directing Julianne Moore and Bill Nighy, recouped its $2.6 million capitalization last week. Producers are ensuring the show will stay in the black with the early closing, avoiding additional weeks of running costs by ending its run March 11 instead of the originally skedded April 1.

"We had a couple of rocky weeks coming up, and we decided we'd accomplished what we'd set out to do with the play," said Scott Rudin, who produces the show along with Robert Fox and Mendes' Neal Street Prods., among others.

Rudin and Fox have been involved in a string of commercial productions of Hare plays on Broadway (including "Amy's View" and "The Blue Room") and all of them recouped, according to Rudin.

"Hour," which began perfs Nov. 9, started out strong at the box office. But without the upbeat reviews that would keep sales brisk, Broadway's annual post-holiday slump hit "Hour" hard. Weekly grosses dipped below the $300,000 mark at the end of January and have remained there since.

The play was one of the rare works by Hare to preem in New York over London. Plot follows an encounter between an American war journalist-turned-academic (Moore) and her British boyfriend's father (Nighy), who clash over the war in Iraq and U.S. foreign policy.

Nighy received high marks for his performance, but many critics were less enthused about Moore and the play itself.

Rudin attributed the recoupment in the face of lackluster press to the draw of the cast and creative team. "I think the pedigree of it meant a lot," he said.

Nighy won a Golden Globe (for the telepic "Gideon's Daughter") during the run of the production, and Moore's pic "Children of Men" opened in the U.S. during the engagement.

"Hour" is the first of three new Broadway plays this season for Rudin. Next up is "The Year of Magical Thinking," Joan Didion's legit adaptation of her own memoir starring Vanessa Redgrave and directed by Hare. After that show's March 29 opening comes Terrence McNally's "Deuce," starring Angela Lansbury and opening in May.