and Ben Wright as Margy and Wayne, the production also starred Donna McKechnie as Emily and Scott Wise as Pat. When McArdle was sidelined by a foot injury incurred onstage June 5, she was replaced by Susan Egan who had played Margy in the 1992 tryout tour of State Fair. The 1996 production received 1996 Tony Award nominations for Best Score and Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Scott Wise. It also received three Drama Desk nominations for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Scott Wise and Ben Wright and Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Donna McKechnie. A box-office disappointment, the Broadway production of State Fair closed June 20, 1996, after 118 performances at the Music Box. On September 7, 1997, a second tour of the production had its premiere engagement at the Eisenhower Auditorium a Pennsylvania State University. Headlined by John Davidson as Abel Frake, this reportedly scaled-down production toured for eight months. The Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia hosted a production of State Fair September 10-October 19, 2008, which starred Mark Jacoby and Dee Hoty as Abel and Melissa Frake. Tim Dunleavy of TalkinBroadway.com rated the production as "good [and] consistently enjoyable. [This version of State Fair] may not be a classic [but] proves to be a real charmer [with] a tone that is sweet, but not too sugary. There may not be much depth to [this] production… but there's nothing cloying or embarrassing about it either. It's got great songs, some funny lines, a terrific cast and a gently nostalgic look at a bygone era. On August 3, 2010, the Finborough Theatre production opened at London's West End Trafalgar Studios 2, directed by Thom Southerland and starring Philip Rham, Karl Clarkson, Laura Main and Susan Travers, in a transfer from the 2009 Finborough production. The show opened to generally positive reviews with The Guardian quoting "It's a great night out, and as exhilarating as a hoedown". Due to demand the run was extended two weeks to September 11, 2010. The musical had initially opened at the Finborough Theatre in August 2009, with Magnus Gilljam as musical director and pianist. The Guardian reviewer wrote of the 2009 production: "It may not be one of the great musicals, but, in its melodic paean to middle America, I found this infinitely more enjoyable than some of Rodgers and Hammerstein's later, tendentious excursions into east-west politics." Plot