{"id":33954,"date":"2026-08-09T05:09:55","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T00:09:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=33954"},"modified":"2026-08-09T05:09:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T00:09:55","slug":"andrew-lloyd-webber-is-gutted-on-the-jellicle-ball-closing-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=33954","title":{"rendered":"Andrew Lloyd Webber Is &#8216;Gutted&#8217; on &#8216;The Jellicle Ball&#8217; Closing Night"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tAhead of tonight\u2019s final \u201cCats: The Jellicle Ball\u201d show, composer <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/andrew-lloyd-webber-2\/\" id=\"auto-tag_andrew-lloyd-webber-2\" data-tag=\"andrew-lloyd-webber-2\">Andrew Lloyd Webber<\/a> is speaking out about how producing on Broadway has become \u201cunsustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cI\u2019m gutted that the wonderful Broadway production of\u00a0\u2018Cats: The Jellicle Ball\u2019 is closing today,\u201d Lloyd Webber <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/andrewlloydwebber\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;ig_rid=Ao_c8nCebRKN9Pa10Ij-usF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">wrote on Instagram<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019m immensely proud to have been a part of an incredibly daring production whose cast and creative team broke new ground on Broadway and gave 17 actors their Broadway debut.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tHe also took the opportunity to call out the larger issues affecting the industry: \u201cMaybe the show\u2019s closing just might be remembered as the moment that caused everyone involved with Broadway to come to their senses and address the unsustainable cost of producing and running any new show now on The Great White Way, let alone doing new work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cThe Jellicle Ball\u201d breathed new life into \u201cCats\u201d by restaging the popular show as a fierce competition between drag performers. Webber\u2019s original show premiered on Broadway back in 1982 and ran through 2000, winning seven Tony awards. In 2019, it was infamously turned into a critically panned film from \u201cThe King\u2019s Speech\u201d director Tom Hooper.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tBut despite the Tonys awarding \u201cThe Jellicle Ball\u201d three awards for best costume design, best direction of a musical and best choreography, strong reviews and online buzz didn\u2019t stop the show from closing five months before planned at the Broadhurst Theatre.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cThe Jellicle Ball\u201d started as an off-Broadway production in June 2024. When it premiered on Broadway back in April, the show was initially earning between $900,000 to $1 million a week. But those <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2026\/film\/news\/cats-the-jellicle-ball-closes-andrew-lloyd-webber-responds-1236810776\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">numbers dropped sharply<\/a> after \u201cThe Jellicle Ball\u201d lost the best revival of a musical Tony Award to \u201cRagtime.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThis isn\u2019t the first time Lloyd Webber has spoken out about the show\u2019s premature end. In July, <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2026\/film\/news\/cats-the-jellicle-ball-closes-andrew-lloyd-webber-responds-1236810776\/\">he wrote on Instagram<\/a>: \u201cWithout action, Broadway risks rivaling Hollywood\u2019s empty soundstages: increasingly dark theatres where bold new work once lived.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cThe painful truth is that, with things as they are, bringing almost any new show to Broadway makes little financial sense,\u201d Lloyd Webber continued. \u201cThe costs are immense. Creators, writers and directors are often forced to accept minimal royalties simply to get work staged.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tNext up, Lloyd Webber and \u201cSunset Blvd.\u201d director Jamie Lloyd are working on bringing \u201cEvita\u201d with Rachel Zegler to Broadway after its successful West End run.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ahead of tonight\u2019s final \u201cCats: The Jellicle Ball\u201d show, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber is speaking out about how producing on Broadway has become \u201cunsustainable.\u201d \u201cI\u2019m gutted that the wonderful Broadway production of\u00a0\u2018Cats: The Jellicle Ball\u2019 is closing today,\u201d Lloyd Webber wrote on Instagram. \u201cI\u2019m immensely proud to have been a part of an incredibly daring&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Cats_-The-Jellicle-Ball_-Broadhurst-Theater-___.jpg?w=1000&h=563&crop=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}