Opening Night, Rufus Wainwright’s divisive new musical, closing early in London

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Open this photo in gallery: Opening Night has been called a "travesty" among other things, writes J. Kelly Nestruck.Handout Opening Night, Canadian songsmith Rufus Wainwright’s new musical created with the avant-garde theatre director Ivo van Hove, is closing early in London’s West End. Based on John Cassavetes’ 1977 psychological drama of the same name about an alcoholic, aging actress, the show received some truly brutal reviews when it opened last month. The New York Times critic Houman Barekat called Opening Night, simply, “a travesty,” writing that the video-loving van Hove, who also wrote the book, “has transformed a taut, subtly...