Rather Than Recasting, \'Evita\' Will Close on Jan. 26

Sara Krulwich/The New York Times Elena Roger and Ricky Martin in the Broadway revival of “Evita.”

The Broadway revival of “Evita” will close on Jan. 26 with the departure of Ricky Martin and his two co-stars, the producers announced on Tuesday, reversing their plans to re-cast the musical and continue running. Whether the producers will be able to earn back their investors' money with such a short run - 10-and-a-half months of performances when “Evita” closes - remains to be seen.

“Evita” often grosses more than $1 million a week but has yet to turn a profit; the producers said through a spokeswoman that they expected it to recoup after the traditionally lucra tive last half of December. The show's capitalization has never been disclosed.

Returning to Broadway for the first time since the original production, “Evita” will have had 26 preview performances and 337 regular performances at the Marquis Theater when it closes; by contrast, the original Broadway production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice musical ran 17 previews and 1,567 performances, and made stars of Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin.

The new closing date will help the producers make as much money as possible from ticket sales in the next seven weeks without facing the costs of rehearsing new actors and taking the risk that those replacements will prove less popular at the box office than Mr. Martin, who has been the main attraction of the revival, which itself received mixed reviews. In some of the weeks when Mr. Martin was on vacation, ticket sales fell sharply. His co-stars are the Broadway newcomer Elena Roger as Eva Peron and Michael Cerveris as Juan Peron.

Ever since announcing the departures of their trio of actors on Nov. 26, the lead producers of the revival have insisted that they would re-cast the show and continue performances, as a sign of their own faith that the production was not simply a vehicle for Mr. Martin. One of the producers, Hal Luftig, said in an interview in late November that the producers had been talking for months to many actors and were confident that they would find the right threesome to take over the main roles.

But as every day went by without a casting announcement, a growing number of Broadway figures - group sales ticket agents as well as producers and casting directors not involved with “Evita” - expressed skepticism that the producers would be able to attract top-flight actors whose names could turn the show into a hot ticket like Mr. Martin did.

In a statement Tuesday night, Hal Luftig, one of the producers, said: “Our extensive search for a new cast prese nted the significant challenges of not only replacing a high-caliber trio of stars but also synchronizing the schedules of potential replacements with that of the production. Despite going down the road with a variety of artists, the planets have simply not aligned for us to engage the right talent at the right time. Therefore, we have made the decision to end this incredible journey on a high note on January 26 with our original stars intact.”

Neither Mr. Luftig nor another lead producer, Scott Sanders, were available for interviews on Tuesday evening, according to the spokeswoman.