Cats: The Jellicle Ball, the critically acclaimed ballroom-inspired reimagining of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s iconic musical, will play its final performance at the Broadhurst Theatre on August 8, producers announced Tuesday, five months before its previously announced extension through January 17, 2027.
The news sent shockwaves through the Broadway community. Sara Ramirez called it heartbreaking, Ben Platt called it a travesty and Rachel Zegler offered a succinct WTF. Perhaps no one reacted more passionately than Lloyd Webber himself, who took to Instagram to lament the closing and issue a broader warning about the state of Broadway.
“What is happening in front of all who care about the Great White Way breaks my heart,” Lloyd Webber wrote. “One of the last things Hal Prince said to me was that it broke his heart that it was impossible for new or daring work to be originated on Broadway anymore.” He went on to warn that “Broadway is in dire danger of rivalling Hollywood’s empty soundstages with increasingly dark theatres,” and called on theater owners, unions and producers to come together urgently to address what he described as a crisis.
The revival, which opened April 7 after a sold-out Off-Broadway run in 2024, reimagines the ’80s classic through the lens of Harlem’s ballroom scene, transforming its Jellicle cats into drag ball contestants walking the runway and competing in categories like voguing and beauty. Directed by Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch, the production earned nine Tony Award nominations and won three, for Best Direction of a Musical, Best Choreography and Best Costume Design. It did not, however, win the coveted Best Revival of a Musical, which went to Ragtime, a loss that proved pivotal.
Grosses peaked at just over $1 million during the final week of May and the week of the Tony ceremony on June 7, but the show never broke that threshold again. After steadily declining through the summer, the production hit an engagement low of $691,071 during the July 4 week and rebounded only to $766,808 the following week, with roughly 18 percent of the Broadhurst’s seats empty. The production was capitalized for up to $18 million and has not announced recoupment.
The cast features André De Shields as Old Deuteronomy, Tempress Chasity Moore as Grizabella, Junior LaBeija as Gus, Sydney James Harcourt as Rum Tum Tugger, Leiomy as Macavity, Robert “Silk” Mason as Magical Mister Mistoffelees and Emma Sofia as Cassandra and Skimbleshanks, alongside a 30-person ensemble drawn from both Broadway and the ballroom scene. Celebrity co-producers include Cynthia Erivo, Law Roach and Lena Waithe. Guest judges throughout the run have included Lin-Manuel Miranda, Lloyd Webber himself, Anna Wintour, Marc Jacobs and Bowen Yang.
The conversation around the closing quickly expanded beyond the production itself into a broader debate about Broadway’s financial model. Broadway actor Neil Haskell argued that theater owners, not unions, are the root cause of the crisis. “The landlords who own the Broadway theaters are the problem,” he wrote. “They will blame the unions, tourists, and anything other than the fact that they have a monopoly on Broadway.”
The Broadway production will be filmed by the Theatre on Film and Tape Archive at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and added to its collection. No future stagings have been announced.
“It has been a true honor to help bring ballroom to Broadway,” producers Michael Harrison and Mike Bosner said in a statement. “The joy that radiates from the stage each night is unlike anything we’ve experienced in our careers.”
Cats: The Jellicle Ball plays its final performance August 8 at the Broadhurst Theatre.