The cast of the Broadway musical Grease performs at the Tony Awards in New York earlier this year.

AP / Jeff Christensen

When one door closes another opens. As Grease launched its national tour at the Providence Performing Arts Center this week, producers of the New York production announced the 1950s-era musical will close on Jan. 4, the ninth Broadway show scheduled to fold next month.

The revival will have played 554 performances, compared with 3,388 for the original 1972 show. The new version, which like the original is set in and around the fictional Rydell High School, attracted national attention by casting its leads from a television program.

But the new national tour, headlining American Idol winner Taylor Hicks, is doing well at its first stop in Providence. Lynn Singleton, president of PPAC, said he expects the show to gross about $1.1 million this week, or about 10 percent better than Legally Blonde, which opened its national tour here in September.

“We’re very pleased,” said Singleton. “The market has responded well in a daunting time, and on top of that the crowds seem to love the show.”

Singleton said he expects the show to play to about 80 percent capacity before it closes in Providence tomorrow. From Providence the touring show leaves for stops in 13 other cities by the end of May.

Seven Broadway shows will close on Jan. 4, including Young Frankenstein, Hairspray, Boeing-Boeing, 13 and holiday engagements of White Christmas and Slava’s Snowshow.

“January historically is a terrible time for Broadway,” said Drew Cohen, president of Music Theatre International, a New York company that licenses musicals to theaters and schools. “The tourists go home. That’s when a show that’s on shaky ground takes the opportunity to close.”

Cohen said that given the recent suffering of investors, it’s not clear how many new productions will fill the vacant theaters.

From Bloomberg News and staff reports