Katie Holmes' Broadway Play Closes Early

Katie Holmes' return to Broadway is being cut short after the producers decided to close the play she is starring in early.

Despite the former Mrs Tom Cruise's appearance, ticket sales for Dead Accounts have been poor and that is being blamed on lukewarm reviews.

The play, which also stars Tony award-winning Norbert Leo Butz as Holmes' onstage brother, will close on January 6.

Its run at the Music Box Theatre was due to end on February 24 but instead it will shut after 27 previews and 44 performances.

Director Jack O’Brien, another Tony award winner, earlier declared writer Theresa Rebeck's play as "an extraordinary combination of morals, comedy, and money".

In the show, which opened on November 29, Butz's character returns to his Midwest family home with a secret.

Rebeck created the first season of NBC's Smash and several well-received plays including Seminar and Mauritius.

In an earlier publicity interview Holmes said: "We have such a good time doing the show. And I love working with everyone."

The actress, who became a star in the teen soap opera Dawson's Creek, made her Broadway debut in the 2008 production of All My Sons.

She was married to Mission Impossible and Jack Reacher star Cruise from 2006 until this year.

Holmes, 34, surprised Cruise in June when she filed for divorce. He was in Iceland shooting a movie at the time.

The divorce, due to "irreconcilable differences", was finalised in August when it was reported that Cruise will pay \$400,000 (£253,000) annually in child support for his daughter Suri, six, until she is 18.

Holmes reportedly receives nothing from the actor's fortune due to a pre-nupital agreement.

US media reports that Suri spent Christmas Day with her mother in Ohio and is spending time with her father after Holmes returned to New York for the play.