Off-B'way's Woman Before a Glass to Shutter on June 12

Lanie Robertson's Woman Before a Glass, starring Mercedes Ruehl, will end its run at the Promenade Theatre on June 12. At the time it closes, the solo show will have played, 23 previews and 109 regular performances.

In Woman Before A Glass, Ruehl plays Peggy Guggenheim, a woman who spent her life supporting and loving the greatest artists of the 20th century. Set from 1963 to 1968 in Peggy's home in Venice, the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, the play follows the great triumphs and supreme disappointments of the legendary grande dame of the art world. Guggenheim never bought a work of art for profit and never by chance, assembling a piece-by-piece collection that included major works by Klee, Pollock, Ernst, Miro, Chagall, DeKooning, Dali, Leger, Picasso, Duchamp, Braque, Rothko, Motherwell and Man Ray among many others.

Woman Before A Glass, directed by Casey Childs, opened on March 10 to mixed reviews. In his Broadway.com Review of the piece, William Stevenson wrote: "Wearing a curly brown wig and a stylish white gown, Ruehl is almost unrecognizable. Her performance is so convincing that she truly seems to be channeling the insecure yet formidable, generous but demanding Guggenheim… It seems that Guggenheim's life was never boring, and neither is Woman Before a Glass. Some of the credit goes to Robertson and director Casey Childs, but Ruehl lifts the play to a higher level."

Ruehl recently won an Obie Award for her work in Woman Before a Glass. The show's entire design team was honored with Obies as well.