The Jimmy Buffett musical ‘Escape to Margaritaville’ will end its Broadway run on July 1st:

The Jimmy Buffett jukebox musical Escape to Margaritaville has announced a July 1 closing date, ending its Broadway run after just four months.

Produced by Frank Marshall, Mindy Rich, Anita Waxman and Beth Williams, the romantic comedy set in a Caribbean island getaway threatened by an erupting volcano has been a modest earner at the box office since it began previews in February, suggesting that Manhattan is not a high-density Parrothead metropolis. Total grosses to date are $9.7 million.

While some had speculated that the production might hang on through the summer to attract the tourist crowd who are more likely to be Buffett fans, the box office in recent weeks indicated that the show was running at a significant loss, last week slipping to just 33 percent of its potential gross.

Producers have announced a road company kicking off in October 2019 at the Providence Performing Arts Center in Providence, Rhode Island.

Despite some love from the critics for guitar-strumming lead Paul Alexander Nolan, who makes an appealing Buffett stand-in, the production came away empty-handed in Tony Award nominations, which is frequently a sign that an under-performing show’s life on Broadway will be terminated. The fact that it hung on for more than a month after nominations were announced suggests producers are using Broadway as a branding opportunity in the hopes of recouping in the regions.

Escape to Margaritaville will have played 29 previews and 124 regular performances by the time it closes.

A third Latitude Margaritaville active adult community is being planned, this one in the Florida panhandle. The first two announced locations are Daytona Beach and Hilton Head.

From 55places:

Now, they’ve announced the location of the third Latitude Margaritaville, which will be built in Bay County near Panama City Beach in Florida’s Panhandle.

Latitude Margaritaville Watersound will be located in the St. Joe’s Bay-Walton Sector Plan close to the 30A corridor. Minto and Margaritaville Holdings are partnering with The St. Joe Company, which owns roughly 15 miles of frontage property on the Intracoastal Waterway that connects West Bay and Choctawhatchee Bay.

“Minto is proud to work with St. Joe and Margaritaville to bring Latitude Margaritaville Watersound to this beautiful part of Florida,” said Minto’s Latitude Margaritaville Division President William Bullock. “Our audience has been asking for a Gulf of Mexico location, and this is a perfect complement to our other coastal destinations in Daytona Beach and Hilton Head.”

The community is expected to open in early 2020.

Read the full article at 55places.

Jimmy Buffett kicked off his new 2018 Son of a Son of a Sailor Tour on Saturday night at the Sprint Center in Kansas City. (The previous 2018 shows have been billed as a continuation of 2017’s I Don’t Know Tour.

View the set list from the show here.

The Kansas City Star has a review of the show: Maiden voyage of sailor-themed Jimmy Buffett tour is a pleasure cruise in Kansas City

Jimmy Buffett’s nautical-themed concert at the Sprint Center in Kansas City took about 15,000 giddy passengers on a two-hour pleasure cruise on Saturday.

During the opening night of his Son of a Son of a Sailor tour, Buffett, 71, proudly proclaimed that “it’s actually true- I am the son of a son of a sailor.”

The added assurance wasn’t necessary. The storied singer-songwriter is beloved for his shaggy-dog stories, such as the woozy 1977 smash-hit “Margaritaville.”

His devotees are less like fans than members of a colorful cult of gregarious fun-lovers. Many enthusiasts in Saturday’s audience wore wacky costumes or Hawaiian shirts with leis.

Read the full article here.

In 2019, the Jimmy Buffett musical ‘Escape to Margaritaville’ will head out on a national tour:

Escape to Margaritaville, the new Broadway musical featuring the songs of Jimmy Buffett, will launch a national tour in October 2019. The traveling production will kick off at Rhode Island’s Providence Performing Arts Center, according to producer Frank Marshall.

The musical, featuring a book by Greg Garcia and Mike O’Malley and directed by Tony winner Christopher Ashley, opened at the Marquis Theatre in March after playing pre-Broadway engagements in La Jolla, Chicago, New Orleans, and Houston.

Casting and a full itinerary will be announced at a later date.

Jimmy Buffett and the star of Broadway’s ‘Escape to Margaritaville’ Paul Alexander Nolan stopped by ‘Watch What Happens Live’ this week:

On May 15, music mogul and singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett and the star of his Broadway musical, Paul Alexander Nolan, took to the stage on Watch What Happens Live to sing the hit song “Margaritaville.”

Buffett’s Escape to Margaritaville currently runs at the Marquis Theatre and incorporates signature Buffett tunes like ‘Margaritaville,“ “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” and “Tin Cup Chalice” into an original story by Greg Garcia and Mike O’Malley.

Though the show did not receive any Tony nominations, Parrotheads flock to the theatre to enjoy the high-energy production directed by Tony winner Christopher Ashley and choreographed by Kelly Devine.