Convention chill hits Broadway

Broadway is anticipating some real dog days at the box office, partly because of the arrival in New York of thousands of elephants. The Republican National Convention begins Aug. 30, and several struggling productions will close by then in anticipation of ghost-town conditions exacerbating Broadway’s traditional Labor Day slump.

The area around the site of the Republican convention -- near New York’s theater district -- could be locked down for blocks, with major avenues closed and nearby residents and workers required to show identification.

A spokesman for “The Lion King,” which opened on tour in Boston just before last month’s Democratic convention, said that “Boston was a ghost town” but the Disney musical did well because the show was sold before the convention dates were set.

“Caroline, or Change,” the Tony Kushner-Jeanine Tesori musical, “Frozen,” Bryony Lavery’s drama about a serial killer, and “Little Shop of Horrors” are closing before the GOP convention starts.

The Republicans will still get a taste of Broadway, courtesy of the New York City Host Committee, which is offering delegates 13,000 convention-eve tickets to eight shows, including “Phantom of the Opera,” “The Lion King” and “42nd Street.”