Book of Mormon closes through May 17 after Broadway fire damage
A fire in an electrical room forced the 1,108-seat Eugene O’Neill Theatre to close The Book of Mormon through May 17, cutting off a long Broadway run and triggering refunds.
An electrical-room fire at the 1,108-seat Eugene O’Neill Theatre forced The Book of Mormon off Broadway through May 17, halting one of the district’s most durable productions and disrupting a venue that has housed the musical since 2011.
The blaze began May 4 at 230 W. 49th St. in Manhattan and left substantial damage inside the theater, prompting the New York City Department of Buildings to issue a full vacate order. The fire damaged the spotlight room and roof, while a nearby hotel also reported fire damage on the fifth floor, where three rooms were affected.
The shutdown has already wiped out performances on May 5 and May 6, and the cancellation now extends through Sunday, May 17. Ticket holders are being notified through the point of purchase and will be offered refunds or exchanges, a logistical reset that reaches far beyond the theater itself and into the tight Broadway calendar.
FDNY officials said the fire started in an electrical room between the fourth and fifth floors and escalated into a three-alarm emergency. One firefighter suffered minor injuries. The cause remains under investigation, and ATG Entertainment said everyone was safely removed from the theater as the situation unfolded.
The interruption is especially notable because The Book of Mormon has logged more than 5,000 performances at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre, which opened in 1925 under the name Forrest Theatre. The current cast includes Kevin Clay, Diego Enrico, Sydney Quildon, Charlie Franklin and Jacques C. Smith, all now caught in the same production standstill as crews assess damage and the theater’s repair timeline comes into focus.
For Broadway, the episode is a reminder of how vulnerable a packed entertainment corridor can be to a single infrastructure failure. A fire that began in one electrical room rippled outward to a full building evacuation, a hotel disturbance, canceled performances, and a temporary halt for a show that has become one of the street’s most recognizable long-runners.
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