Howard Crabtree’s When Pigs Fly, the 1996 musical created by late costume designer-playwright Crabtree and Mark Waldrop, has been canceled just days ahead of its Off-Broadway return at Stage 42. The show’s producers, Joshua Goodman, Louise Hall Beard, Gene Fisch Jr., in association with NewYorkRep, stated that “a shortfall in the show’s investment has made it impossible for the production to continue.”
The sudden cancellation comes days after producers announced that they were delaying the start of previews by a week in order to complete necessary production elements. Performances were originally scheduled to begin October 6 ahead of an October 20 opening night.
Read: OFF-BROADWAY RETURN OF GAY MUSICAL REVUE WHEN PIGS FLY DELAYS FIRST PREVIEW
Waldrop, who wrote the show’s book and lyrics, was to direct the revival, which had choreography by Denis Jones. Joshua Goodman produces.
The revue, which features music by the late Dick Gallagher, was praised for its wit and irreverent humor as it skewered gay culture and American politics in the late 1990s—including references to Newt Gingrich and legislation that proposed curtailing gay rights.
The humor carried over into Crabtree’s outlandish and dazzling costume designs; he was called a “mad genius” in a rave review in the New York Times. Crabtree died of AIDS days after completing work on the original designs for When Pigs Fly.
