The Aug. 8 closing announcement for Cats: The Jellicle Ball on Broadway sent shock waves through the industry, not just because of the closure itself but because of what it says about the future of the musical genre. The revival, which reimagined the ’80s classic as a queer ballroom competition, was critically acclaimed and had been seeing high attendance, with grosses hovering around $1 million a week pre-Tonys. Grosses did slip slightly after the Tony Awards, where the show won three awards but missed out on the key trophy for best revival. Still, these numbers, on paper, did not appear to point to an impending closure for the show.
However, cast and company members were gathered for a meeting July 13 and told that the show had been unable to generate enough revenue to cover expenses, The Hollywood Reporter has learned, leading to a decision to close after about five months on Broadway rather than continue operating at a loss. It wasn’t an issue of getting audience members in, per se, but also bringing up the average ticket price and bringing in theatergoers willing to pay the higher prices necessary to cover the now-elevated costs of producing on Broadway.
“We’re in this environment where I’m watching a lot of shows not quite find the audience that can sustain them at the level that they need to be sustained because the costs have gone up so much,” says Mara Isaacs, lead producer on the Broadway musical Hadestown. “There have always been more shows that fail than succeed. I think the proportion right now feels distorted, and that’s the thing that feels so bad.”
