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‘Cats’ Closing: Is It Curtains for Broadway Musicals?
The Broadway revival Cats: The Jellicle Ball, which reimagined the 1980s musical as a queer ballroom competition, will close on 8 August after around five months, despite critical acclaim and strong takings of roughly $1 million a week before this year's Tony Awards. Producers told cast and crew on 13 July that the show could not generate enough revenue to cover its costs, and industry figures say the closure highlights a wider crisis in Broadway musicals, where rising expenses are outpacing what audiences are willing to pay.
Grosses dipped slightly after the Tonys, where the show won three awards but lost out on best revival, though the figures alone did not suggest an imminent closure. Producers say the problem was less about attracting audiences than persuading them to pay the higher ticket prices needed to cover sharply increased production costs, which have climbed since the pandemic due to supply-chain pressures, higher rent and utility bills, and rising wages for performers, musicians, stagehands and creative staff. Musicals are said to be especially vulnerable given their larger casts and orchestras, and composer Andrew Lloyd Webber has urged theatre owners, producers and unions to find a collective solution, warning that Broadway risks becoming as empty as "Hollywood's soundstages." Only a handful of post-pandemic musicals have recouped their investment, and just five new musicals are currently planned for next year.
In short
- Cats: The Jellicle Ball closes 8 August after five months on Broadway.
- Rising costs, not poor attendance, forced the closure despite strong reviews.
- Lloyd Webber warns rising costs threaten the future of Broadway musicals generally.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Post-pandemic production costs—wages, utilities, supply chains—have risen structurally and substantially, yet audiences will not pay the dramatically higher ticket prices needed to cover them. Shows with critical acclaim and strong box office still fail economically, suggesting the problem is systemic rather than about individual production quality. Without significant collective solutions—whether in cost management, union negotiation, or pricing approaches—the long-term viability of Broadway musicals as a major art form is genuinely at risk.
The case against
Rising production costs are real but represent normal market pressure rather than an exceptional crisis. Producers should respond through familiar adaptation: scaling down productions, accepting lower profit margins, restructuring business models to match new economic realities. The market's signal that large-scale musicals are economically challenging isn't systemic failure but rather healthy economic discipline pointing toward necessary adjustment. Rather than seeking external intervention, producers should adapt—potentially meaning fewer, smaller, or differently-structured musicals, but not the form's collapse.
Explained simply
Broadway is New York’s main theatre district, where long-running plays and musicals compete for audiences and investment. A musical usually costs more to stage than a play because it needs a larger cast, live musicians and elaborate sets.
The key players include producers, who finance shows and manage their costs, and theatre owners, who provide the venues. Performers, musicians, stagehands and creative staff are also part of the workforce behind a production.
Since the pandemic, higher rents, bills, wages and supply costs have made it harder for musicals to earn back their investment. This matters because ticket prices cannot always rise enough to cover those expenses, which may affect how many new shows producers are willing to stage.
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