Broadway PR fixture The Hartman Group said it will close down on Jan. 5, ending a four-year run representing some of the Great White Way's long-running hits like "Wicked" and "Rock of Ages."

michael hartmanCEO Michael Hartman said he is returning to Texas with his husband to run chain eatery Amy's Ice Creams, started by his Univ. of Texas classmate Amy Simmons.

"It has been a privilege to work in an industry that I love and I owe a debt of gratitude to my clients and colleagues over the past 21 years for an absurdly vibrant life as a Broadway press agent in New York City," he said in a statement. "I am a very lucky man."

Hartman, 48, co-founded Barlow Hartman PR in 1999 with John Barlow, another veteran Broadway publicist now in entertainment consulting. The two shuttered that firm in 2009 with Hartman forming The Hartman Group, one of only a handful of top Broadway PR shops alongside firms like O+M and Boneau/Bryan-Brown.

Hartman, who started out in PR in 1993, reps upcoming shows "Romeo & Juliet," "Rocky" and "Little Miss Sunshine," and the Chicago run of "Big Fish," among others. His Broadway credits include hits like "The Producers," "A Chorus Line," "The Graduate," and "Little Shop of Horrors," among others.

The firm closes up with about a dozen staffers.