This is more like Broadway historically than the Broadway of recent times. Most shows fail. Sometimes shows that were well-received critically disappear within two or three weeks because they sound downbeat or challenging, there are no star names and consequently no advance, and even good reviews can't drive people to the box office. Sometimes even shows with big star names closed quickly in the past, as people like Jack Lemmon, Charlton Heston and Kirk Douglas could have attested. That is what Broadway was like for most of its history.
We have gotten used to it being fairly rare for shows to close quickly, but this used to be normal.
