On Golden Pond Faces Closing With Absence of James Earl Jones

The Broadway revival of Ernest Thompson's On Golden Pond may close on Sunday, June 26. Star James Earl Jones has been out of the show since Wednesday, June 15 with pneumonia and is now, on doctors' orders, not expected to be able to return at all this week. The show will close unless it becomes clear that Jones will definitely be able to come back next week, a production spokesperson told Broadway.com.

Jones, a well known stage and screen actor who earned mostly rave reviews for his portrayal of Normal Thayer Jr. in On Golden Pond, has been the prime draw of this revival. Without his presence, the show took a significant hit at the box office. Last week when Jones missed seven of eight performances the production was down $54,642 as compared to the previous week when Jones missed only one performance to come in at $162,053.

In Jones' absence standby Charles Turner has been starring opposite Leslie Uggams in On Golden Pond. If Jones is unable to return in a timely manner and the show closes on Sunday, it will have played a total of 19 previews and 93 regular performances at the Cort Theatre.