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Broadway’s ‘Ain’t No Mo’ in desperate fight to save show from closing
Producers and celeb fans of the critically acclaimed new Broadway show “Ain’t No Mo” are fighting hard to prevent it from being — quite literally — ain’t no mo.
The show’s creator and star, Jordan E. Cooper, informed his followers on Instagram last week that the show must close Dec. 18, after premiering less than two weeks ago.
“Ain’t No Mo’ needs your help! It’s a new original play that’s BLACK AF, which are both things that make it hard to sell on Broadway,” he wrote.
“We need all hands on deck with urgency. In the name of art, in the name of resistance, in the name of we belong here too, in the name of every storytelling ancestor who ever graced a Broadway stage or was told they never could,” he wrote.
Cooper noted that they’ve “even worked hard to make [the show] accessible with an average ticket price of $50.” And for those who can’t even afford it, he urged others to “sponsor someone” to keep the seats filled.
Power couple Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith supported the show by buying out a performance over the weekend.
Lena Waithe, who recently signed on as a producer, is also doing her part to keep it alive. She’ll host a Q&A on Tuesday immediately following the show.
“We won’t go down without a fight, this show means too much to us to let it close,” she wrote after the celebrity Smiths bought out a show.
Cooper’s biggest supporter, Lee Daniels backed vowed to “embrace him and push him forward” after catching the show off-Broadway in 2019. On Monday, Daniels announced that producer RuPaul will host a special performance of the show on Thursday night.
Meanwhile, Cooper seems to be coping with the disappointing news with humor.
On Sunday, he posted a clip as his drag queen character, “Peaches,” from the show, and told followers they can’t let the show shut, “because I just got this job. I can’t go back to McDonald’s… ain’t nothing wrong with working at McDonalds, but I just don’t have a McDouble spirit… I need your help to help a bad bitch keep a job.”
Fans have also heard the call and have been gathering outside of the theater to chant: “Save ‘Ain’t No Mo!'”
A spokesperson for the show told us “the support is being felt at the box office.”
The rep added: “The audiences, which have already been wild, are the most extraordinary we have ever experienced in a Broadway house. We adore the production and want it to live on!”
