Cats: The Jellicle Ball will play its final performance on Aug. 8, after about five months on Broadway.
The musical revival opened at the Broadhurst Theatre April 7, after a sold-out Off-Broadway run in 2024. While the revival was also critically acclaimed on Broadway and attendance has been relatively high, its $1 million or so weekly box office tally has not been able to compete with the high running costs for a large musical.
The musical also took home Tony Awards for best direction of a musical, choreography and costume design, but did not win the Tony for best revival of a musical, which went to Ragtime (a limited run, which has seen its box office soar pre-and post-Tony wins). This is the first nominated show to announce an early closing after this year’s June 7 Tony Awards ceremony.
The revival of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical reimagines the ‘80s classic in the style of the Harlem ballroom scene, where each cat is now a human competitor walking the runway and competing in categories like voguing and beauty. The cast and creative team are made up of members from the ballroom scene and from Broadway.
The musical was capitalized for up to $18 million, according to securities filings, and has not announced recoupment. Michael Harrison and Mike Bosner are the lead producers of the show, which also includes celebrity coproducers including Cynthia Erivo, Law Roach and Lena Waithe. Throughout the run, the show has also welcomed celebrity guest judges, who have included Lin-Manuel Miranda, Lloyd Webber, Anna Wintour, Marc Jacobs, Bowen Yang and more.
“Three years ago, Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch began the remarkable process of reimagining Cats for a new generation. They assembled a visionary creative team that fused their passions for ballroom and theater to create something thrillingly new. With a truly superhuman cast bringing this vision to life, New York has once again discovered the phenomenon that has become Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats: The Jellicle Ball. The joy that radiates from the stage each night is unlike anything we’ve experienced in our careers. It has been a true honor to help bring ballroom to Broadway,” Harrison and Bosner said in a statement.
The production will be filmed by the Theatre on Film and Tape Archive at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts later this month and added to its collection.
Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch direct the musical, which features choreography by Omari Wiles and Arturo Lyons. The 30-person cast features a mix of stars from Broadway and the ballroom scene, including André De Shields as Old Deuteronomy, Junior LaBeija as Gus, “Tempress” Chasity Moore as Grizabella, Sydney Harcourt as Rum Tum Tugger, Emma Sofia as Skimbleshanks and Robert “Silk” Mason as Magical Mister Mistoffles.
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