Andrew Lloyd Webber is speaking out against the untenable costs of Broadway after the early closure of Cats: The Jellicle Ball.
“The painful truth is that, with things as they are, bringing almost any new show to Broadway makes little financial sense,” the Cats composer wrote on X Tuesday. “The costs are immense. Creators, writers and directors are often forced to accept minimal royalties simply to get work staged.”
“Without action, Broadway risks rivalling Hollywood’s empty soundstages: increasingly dark theatres where bold new work once lived,” he warned.
Cats: The Jellicle Ball, a reimagined revival of Lloyd Webber’s ‘80s classic in the style of a ballroom competition, announced Monday that it would play its final performance Aug. 8, after only about five months on Broadway. The news has sparked outcry among cast and company members and across the industry, as the show was well-reviewed and appeared to be healthy on paper, with high attendance and weekly grosses around $1 million. But this could not compete with the high weekly running costs of Broadway musicals, which have been increasing in the past years.
“One of the last things the great Hal Prince said to me was that it broke his heart to see what Broadway was becoming,” Lloyd Webber wrote of the late ‘Phantom of the Opera’ and ‘Evita’ director. “Hal believed it had become almost impossible for genuinely new, daring work to originate on Broadway. I fear he was right.”
In his posts on social media, Lloyd Webber said the current Broadway financial landscape “breaks my heart.” He said that many creatives are reliant on a fixed weekly fee, rather than sharing in the profits, which he said he believes will hurt the next generation of writers and composers.
“How can the next generation build a life in theatre under those conditions? Young creatives cannot live on goodwill alone,” he wrote.
“The situation is scarcely better for investors. Many count themselves fortunate if they recover even part of their money. Without investors willing to take risks, and artists able to make a living, where will Broadway’s next generation of shows come from?” he continued.
Lloyd Webber has brought many shows to Broadway, including the original Cats, which opened in 1982 and ran for 18 years, as well as The Phantom of the Opera, which ran for 35 years, after opening in 1988, and closed in 2023. His work has continued on Broadway in recent years, in the case of the reimagined Cats: The Jellicle Ball, last season’s Sunset Blvd and the upcoming Evita, as well as Masquerade, the immersive version of Phantom that runs Off-Broadway. He pointed to the continued success of the “established hits,” such as The Lion King and Wicked, and the harsher financials for new works.
“Of course, Broadway’s established hits remain profitable. But Broadway cannot survive creatively or commercially on three old shows. New and daring work must have a future—whether on Broadway itself or in new forms such as Masquerade, now nearing a year in New York,” he wrote.
Lloyd Webber, who was also a big part of the West End’s reopening efforts after the pandemic, called on the industry to find a solution.
“I am still as in love with Broadway as I was as a teenager. I want future generations to experience that same sense of possibility. Theatre owners, unions and producers must come together urgently. Every part of the industry has a stake in finding a solution,” he continued.
