War Paint, the new musical starring two-time Tony winners Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole, will play its final Broadway performance earlier than planned. The show will now end its run on November 5 at the Nederlander Theatre to allow LuPone to have necessary and immediate hip-replacement surgery. War Paint, which had initially announced an end date of December 30, began previews on March 7 and officially opened on April 6. By closing, War Paint will have played 33 previews and 236 regular performances.
"It is with great sadness that I must leave War Paint to undergo hip-replacement surgery. For several months I have been performing in a great deal of pain. My producers David Stone and Marc Platt have provided an incredible team who, through physical therapy, chiropractic and acupuncture, have enabled me to continue on stage," said LuPone. "But the pain has now become too intense and I have no other choice but to leave Christine, John, Doug and this wonderfully supportive company of actors, who I've had the great privilege to work with for over a year. I will miss them more than I can express."
"We had all hoped—no one more than Patti—that we would be able to continue until our scheduled final performance on December 30," said Stone and Platt. "We all know Patti is strong, and she has proven to have even more strength than we imagined. At this point, however, she needs to have hip-replacement surgery sooner rather than later. Therefore, we have to move up our final performance to November 5. On behalf of Christine and the entire company and crew, we wish her a speedy recovery."
Featuring a score by Scott Frankel and Michael Korie, a book by Doug Wright and directed by Michael Greif, War Paint follows the rivalry between cosmetics trailblazers Elizabeth Arden (Ebersole) and Helena Rubinstein (LuPone), who defined beauty standards for the first half of the 20th century.
In addition to Ebersole and LuPone, the cast of War Paint includes John Dossett as Tommy Lewis, Douglas Sills as Harry Fleming, Erik Liberman as Charles Revson, Broadway.com vlogger Steffanie Leigh as Dorian Leigh, with Mary Ernster, David Girolmo, Joanna Glushak, Chris Hoch, Mary Claire King, Barbara Marineau, Stephanie Jae Park, Barbara Jo Bednarczuk, Patti Cohenour, Tom Galantich, Angel Reda, Donna Migliaccio, Jennifer Rias and Tally Sessions.
The musical is inspired by Lindy Woodhead's book of the same name and Ann Carol Grossman and Arnie Reisman's documentary film The Powder & the Glory. War Paint received four 2017 Tony Award nominations, for Ebersole and LuPone's performances as well as David Korins' scenic design and Catherine Zuber's costume design.
Broadway.com customers with tickets to canceled performances will be contacted with information on refunds or exchanges.