{"id":8849,"date":"2026-07-14T23:45:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T23:45:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/andrew-lloyd-webber-warns-broadway-is-in-dire-danger-after-early-closing-of-cats-the-jellicle-ball\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T23:45:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T23:45:22","slug":"andrew-lloyd-webber-warns-broadway-is-in-dire-danger-after-early-closing-of-cats-the-jellicle-ball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/andrew-lloyd-webber-warns-broadway-is-in-dire-danger-after-early-closing-of-cats-the-jellicle-ball\/","title":{"rendered":"Andrew Lloyd Webber warns Broadway is in &#8216;dire danger&#8217; after early closing of &#8216;Cats: The Jellicle Ball&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F3%2F2026%2F07%2F134388629.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Broadway is on life support, warns Andrew Lloyd Webber.<\/p>\n<p>After news broke that <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/08\/opinion\/cats-is-back-on-broadway-and-this-rendition-is-sexier-than-ever\/\">\u201cCats: The Jellicle Ball\u201d \u2014 a reimagined version of his global phenomenon \u201cCats\u201d \u2014<\/a> will be closig after just four months, the musical theater impresario made a desperate plea online.<\/p>\n<p>He urged \u201ctheatre owners, unions and producers\u201d to work together to save the Great White Way.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBroadway is in danger of rivaling Hollywood\u2019s empty soundstages,\u201d he said, \u201c[It] breaks my heart,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Andrew Lloyd Webber warns Broadway is in danger after early closing of \u201cCats: The Jellicle Ball.\u201d <span class=\"credit\">PA Images via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>\u201cCats: The Jellicle Ball\u201d opened to rave reviews when it debuted on Broadway in April. <span class=\"credit\">Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cOne of the last things [musical wizard] Hal Prince said to me was that it broke his heart that it was impossible for new or daring work to be originated on Broadway anymore,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe truth is that, for any show, it makes practically no financial sense to come to Broadway with things as they are,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWould a show like West Side Story, a musical which changed musical theatre forever, have a remote chance to premiere on Broadway today?,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Webber penned a lengthy Instagram post urging Broadway to take action.  <span class=\"credit\">Andrew Lloyd Webber\/Instagram<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Webber\u2019s latest iteration of his \u201clove-it-or-hate-it \u2018Cats,&#8217;\u201d as <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/07\/entertainment\/cats-the-jellicle-ball-review-a-euphoric-nyc-reinvention-of-a-broadway-classic\/\">The Post\u2019s theatre critic Johnny Oleksinski put it<\/a>, started the season with rave reviews. (Oleksinski even gave it four stars and described it as a \u201ceuphoric NYC reinvention of a Broadway classic\u201d).<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>The show won three Tony Awards last month.  <span class=\"credit\">ABC via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>This version of Webber\u2019s \u201cCats\u2019 mirrors the 1980s underground NYC ballroom scene.  <span class=\"credit\">Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The musical took home <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/05\/05\/entertainment\/tony-awards-2026-nominations-the-full-list-of-nominees\/\">three Tony Awards out of its nine nominations<\/a> last month. <\/p>\n<p>Webber celebrated the nominations <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/06\/01\/society\/rihanna-grabs-late-night-pizza-at-west-village-joint-andrew-lloyd-webber-djs-and-more-nyc-sightings\/\">spinning a post-show set as his musical alter ego, DJ Webz,<\/a> outside of the Broadhurst Theatre. (The moniker even followed him to the wedding of Taylor Swift \u2014 who starred in 2019 film adaption of \u201cCats\u201d \u2014 and Travis Kelce, wedding earlier this month. We hear paparazzi were calling him by his disco-spinning alter ego, as he exited <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/07\/10\/entertainment\/taylor-swift-and-travis-kelce-make-first-appearance-post-wedding\/\">the Madison Square Garden<\/a> at nearly\u00a01:00 a.m.).<\/p>\n<p>Buzz alone, however, wasn\u2019t enough to keep the history-making musical on Broadway. \u00a0\u201cCreators, writers and directors have been forced to take minimal royalties from new shows, often surviving on a fixed weekly fee rather than a royalty,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Taylor Swift starred in the 2019 film version of \u201cCats.\u201d <span class=\"credit\">Bruce Glikas\/FilmMagic<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Webber celebrated the musical\u2019s Tony nominations spinning as DJ Webz.  <span class=\"credit\">Bruce Glikas\/Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>The musical\u2019s final show is on Aug. 8.  <span class=\"credit\">Bruce Glikas\/Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cIt makes it impossible for young creatives to make a living from theatre alone\u2026 Of course, the established big hits are still profitable. But Broadway can\u2019t survive because of three old shows,\u201d Webber said.<\/p>\n<p>He concluded by begging \u201ctheatre owners, unions and producers to come together urgently to address what is a crisis coming to a head.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBroadway is in dire danger of rivaling Hollywood\u2019s empty soundstages with incresingly dark theatres,\u201d he signed off. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/07\/14\/society\/andrew-lloyd-webber-warns-broadway-is-in-dire-danger-after-early-closing-of-cats-the-jellicle-ball\/\" target=\"_blank\">Source link<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Broadway is on life support, warns Andrew Lloyd Webber. After news broke that \u201cCats: The<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8850,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/134388629.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}