Sharp will play his final performance Sept. 13 as will Taylor Trensch, who played the lead at certain performances; Lea will step into the role of Christopher Sept. 15. Lea is a recent graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts.
Other original cast members who will leave the cast Sept. 13: Ian Barford, Helen Carey, Jocelyn Bioh, and Francesca Faridany.
Joining Lea in the cast that week Sept. 15 will be Rosie Benton (Stick Fly) as Siobhan, Andrew Long (The Iceman Cometh at BAM) as Ed and Nancy Robinette (“Louie”) as Mrs. Alexander. Benjamin Wheelwright will also make his Broadway debut as Christopher at certain performances.
Enid Graham will continue in the cast as Judy, along with current ensemble members Keren Dukes, Stephanie Roth Haberle, Mercedes Herrero,, Richard Hollis, Ben Horner, David Manis, Tom Patrick Stephens and Timothy Wright.
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Sharp took to Instagram with his Tony medallion and his dog to mark the end of his tenure in the show:
Curious Incident is on its way to becoming a member of an exclusive club on Broadway these days — a long-running non-musical play. Still selling an average of more than 95 percent of its tickets nearly ten months into its run, Simon Stephens' drama about a young man who sets out to solve a mystery has already run longer than eight of the 16 Tony-winning Best Plays of the past decade.
THE KING IS BORN! #curiousincident @curiousbroadway #lionking #simba #broadwaystar @thetonyawards #tonyawards ...this is what happens when my friends come into town ... @chelseygowenA video posted by Alex Sharp (@alexanderiansharp1) on
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Here is a comparison of the shows that won the Tony Award for Best Play each year since the beginning of the 21st century, along with the number of Broadway performances they played:
2015 – Curious Incident: 329 as of July 19, 2015, and counting
2014 – All the Way: 131
2013 – Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike: 189
2012 – Clybourne Park: 157
2011 – War Horse: 718
2010 – Red: 101
2009 – God of Carnage: 452
2008 – August: Osage County: 648
2007 – The Coast of Utopia: (combined total of three parts) 121
2006 – The History Boys: 185
2005 – Doubt: 525
2004 – I Am My Own Wife: 360
2003 – Take Me Out: 355
2002 – The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? 309
2001 – Proof: 917
2000 – Copenhagen: 326
The last non-musical play to run more than 1,000 performances on Broadway opened more than 30 years ago now: Harvey Fierstein's 1982 Torch Song Trilogy, which stayed for 1,222 performances.
It's been decades since non-musical "straight plays" routinely outran musicals. Life with Father opened in 1939 and ran 3,224 performances; Tobacco Road opened in 1933 and stayed for 3,182; Abie's Irish Rose bowed in 1922 and kept bowing 2,327 times. The two longest runs since 1970 were Gemini (1977) 1,819 performances, and Deathtrap (1978) 1,793 performances.
