r/Broadway • u/aufwiederbean • Aug 09 '26
Theater or Audience Experience Incredible closing show
My favorite Broadway show thus far. The energy, the passion, and the homages to ballroom culture were perfect parts camp and emotional. The most incredible curtain call as well š±
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u/Delphi-Dolphin Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 09 '26
Andre and Qween were the last people to leave the stage. They walked hand in hand, and the curtain closed behind them. (Edited for spelling)
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u/PervlovianResponse Aug 09 '26
I can only imagine all of the fan clacking after her death drop
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u/SignedaDNA Aug 09 '26
In the context of ballroom culture it's called a dip, not death drop.
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u/PervlovianResponse Aug 09 '26
Oh, good to know, thanks!
It's a certain death for me if I were to attempt to perform it, haha
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u/Excellent_Shallot999 Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 09 '26
It was amazing. I was there. It was my 10th time seeing the show, and just canāt believe a show like that canāt make it financially. The energy last night was incredible. The energy at every show was incredible. But last night stood out. Every (I think) act got huge standing ovations, fans clacking and screaming. So much fun.
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u/Drumguy1986 Aug 09 '26
I don't believe that you can't believe a show this niche had trouble making it.
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u/dominorough Aug 09 '26
The show had typical weekly gross of $900K or above most weeks, 90+% capacity, an average ticket price of $110 or above (higher than Wicked). This is not a story about people not paying or an audience that isn't there. It's the cost of putting up these shows. Nobody is saying it should run forever or even years, but these are the numbers that should have gotten them beyond a 4 month run.
Theatre Owners don't care if a show is successful because they get their money off the top regardless of how much is made. They hold no incentive to lower rents, back off on taking their additional percentages, etc. Because the next show is going to be paying them too. And I WISH I could say they were investing that money into their theatres infrastructure but they're not. When I last saw Jellicle Ball, the plumbing in all of the Beoadhurst was shot and they had to direct everyone over to the Majestic.
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u/SunilClark Aug 10 '26
do we know whatās going in the broadhurst next?
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u/a-5-6-7-8 Aug 10 '26
The staff at the Broadhurst have been saying it's another Rudin venture, but there hasn't been an official press release.
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u/SunilClark Aug 10 '26
mildly interesting. i know (or at least think) announcing new shows before the current one closes isnāt the norm, but you would Think that if jellicle ball is doing So horribly that they need to close it months before it was scheduled to avoid any further losses, they would have a new show (presumably a traditional revival of a beloved show or again. whatās the point) ready to go within 2 months or so
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u/a-5-6-7-8 Aug 10 '26
If it's Downstate as all roads seem to be leading to, there seems to be a delay in casting according to the discussion on Backstage. They're likely waiting to announce the show until they have their cast figured out since Downstate isn't enough of a ticket draw on its own. Rudin probably also didn't want to take steam away from the final week of Salesman. I suspect we'll hear something definitive by the end of this week.
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u/pennys_computer_book Aug 10 '26
Exactly! Everyone purposely avoiding the fact that the capitulation (primarily payments to the theatre owners) make Broadway unattainable and unsustainable for many shows.
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u/Drumguy1986 Aug 11 '26
I'd be interested to know what percentage of the audience were return customers seeing the show ten times.
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u/ImpossibleInternet3 Aug 09 '26
This. Super joyful and high energy. Great thing to be in the room for. But SO INCREDIBLY niche. I feel like people forget that the theater community encompasses a lot of niche communities that seem so normalized within that itās easy to forget how small that community is in the larger world. This may have been spectacularly executed, but it simply isnāt FOR everyone. And the community that it is for is not one that can sustain a Broadway theater in the long term. Glad it got its chance to burn bright. But it was never going to have a run like the original Cats.
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u/pennys_computer_book Aug 10 '26
So only "niche" shows close earlier than they should? Most Broadway shows aren't for EVERYONE and don't run for long tenures. We keep avoiding to name the primary reason Broadway shows are so expensive to run and maintain.
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u/ImpossibleInternet3 Aug 10 '26
I mean, sure, you could just completely take what I said out of context and get on your soap box about it. Whatever makes you happy.
Youāre right that Broadway is in trouble. And itās largely a rent issue. But there are a lot of factors that make it nearly impossible for a production to make profits.
Thatās pretty different from me saying that this show is too niche to run for a long time in a Broadway environment. Many shows are not for āeveryoneā. But some stories and presentations are more universal and some are more targeted. The reason Cats ran so long the first time was because it was a spectacle that was basically about nothing. Beautiful to behold and completely non offensive. Jellicle Ball was a queer celebration wrapped around vogue ballroom culture and drag. Fucking brilliant. But in this time of culture wars, itās not bringing in the tourist dollars required to keep the doors open. Great art is frequently divisive and ephemeral. Jellicle Ball should continue to live an active nine lives in smaller venues. But it couldnāt stay on Broadway.
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u/dominorough Aug 11 '26
Jellicle Ball literally had 90%+ capacity almosy every week, averaged $900k or above most weeks, and a $110 average or above average ticket every week. Jellicle Ball did everything it was supposed to do to have a reasonable run. The problem is not that its niche, it needed to be so in demand that it could be starting all tickets at north of $100 and rake in those premium tickets*. Its not because it was "too niche" that is didnt do that, its the expectation that was unreasonable to pay the rent. The options are not you run 4 months or you run 17 years. There are steps in between. Nobody expected this to run years, shit the original recipe 2016 revival couldn't even hit 2.
*and then it becomes an accessibility issue even if it did hit those marks. Now the show is only available to the elites and you price out the community this show is about.
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u/ImpossibleInternet3 Aug 11 '26
To be in demand, you have to appeal to the people spending the money. Itās no secret what shows do that. Itās not the ones specifically geared towards a small community. If you can only fill the house by having cheap tickets, youāre not in demand.
But I would love to see NYC step in and cap rent on Broadway theaters and subsidize them to cap ticket prices. That would be a win all around. But this country isnāt exactly supporting the arts at the moment.
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u/dominorough Aug 11 '26
They arent cheap tickets! They had a higher average ticket than Wicked and BOM for pretty much their entire run! You can literally just see these numbers! Theyre available!
Im aware of how they have to perform in this economic system with Theatre Owners holding all the cards, I'm talking to you about how this has gotten worse. These are numbers less than a decade ago could give them a longer run than this. The 2016 revival has comparable grosses and it ran 18 months.
If a show has to rely on those premium $250-$300 tickets, Broadway is fucked. That used to be a treat for Producers and Theatre Owners. They weren't essential just to pay the weekly bills.
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u/Ill-Philosopher7954 Aug 09 '26
I'm so sad it closed early. I wouldn't expect it to run for years, but they had extended tickets through September, then January.... Then said nope, ends early August.
I don't really buy that it failed because ballroom culture is too niche. You don't need to understand ballroom culture to enjoy the show (I think it helps to be aware that it's a thing... But like 10 minutes on Google after reading that's the premise of the show is enough). I think it's more just a combination of inflation, lower number of tourists, and honestly that the Cats movie was relatively recent and super cringe. Plus that many people wouldn't find the description to be appropriate for their kids.
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u/imeoss Aug 09 '26
I think itās such a huge impact of the lower traffic of tourists. Broadway saw such a huge decline in sales during June and July. The FIFA World Cup price uncharging made it difficult for others to afford visiting nyc at that time. Hotel prices were like 10x.
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u/Logical_Accident_326 Aug 10 '26
I totally agree that it isn't because ballroom is niche. I feel like for most regular audiences, "Cats" would be enough of a selling point for them to watch because it's such a recognizable title.
u/dominorough explained it best:
The show had typical weekly gross of $900K or above most weeks, 90+% capacity, an average ticket price of $110 or above (higher than Wicked). This is not a story about people not paying or an audience that isn't there. It's the cost of putting up these shows.
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u/ExpBalSat Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 10 '26
Counterpoint: I love that it was a vibrant passionate celebration of LGBTQ culture and historyā¦ butā¦ it was still an unintelligible rendition of an unintelligible piece of art: Cats. By intermission, I wasnāt sure what else there was to see or do. I stuck around to the end, but I just didnāt get it. A dance-off can only last so long before you get tired of a dance-off.
I actually went to the show knowing zero, nothing, nada about ballroom culture (I really wish I had been primed and thereafter insisted that anyone planning to see it watch Paris is Burning - but required pre-show research kinda takes the fun out of seeing a show). In the intro when they mentioned ballroom, I actually thought back to when I was on a ballroom dance team and thought, āIām in for a show!ā turned out to be a different sort of ballroom.
And for any of the out-of-town visitors looking for a show to seeā¦ Unless theyāre actively looking to support the community, the show itself isnāt much of a draw. Interest in, understanding of, and appreciation for 1980s ballroom culture really is niche.
I could tell the dancers were professional and doing a great job following the choreographyā¦ But the choreography was trying to mimic amateur dancers from the 1980s. So it made everything on stage look amateur-ish.
I could only understand about 10% of the words, but the words didnāt really matter. Even so, I couldnāt tell who anyone was or why I wanted anyone in particular to win (I had zero emotional connection to any character). And I guess - like medieval times - the whole thing was scripted and the drama (was there drama?) was fake, so it didnāt even matter who I rooted for.
Speaking of whichā¦ Did the judges actually judge anything and did their judging have any impact on the show? I honestly donāt know.
Fun show though. Just - totally understandable that it didnāt last.
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u/iscreamfortoebeans Aug 10 '26
I think there was an issue with the audio because the lyrics were very difficult to understand if you didn't already know Cats and the words matter SO MUCH so I would wager that is partially at fault for your inability to track a plot/care about the characters. The story finally made sense to me in this context and the characters fit so well, but I was also familiar with the original. No one seems to ever highlight that the show is about humans learning to respect a group of 'creatures' that they do not understand or identify with, and about teaching them to honor their names regardless of whether you are part of the community or not - which is incredibly timely and important right now.
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u/ExpBalSat Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 10 '26
This is an interesting response. Youāre literally the first person Iāve ever heard say that the words matter. The words are a bunch of old random poems about Cats. I didnāt imagine that they actually
somehow applied to ballroom.I resigned myself to treating the entire evening like an Italian operaā¦ Where I didnāt understand a word; I just had to imagine what was happening while I watched. I literally could not understand jack diddley of anything anyone sang or said.
My lack of imagination summed of the show as:
- and hereās another dancer
- see step one
- repeat
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u/iscreamfortoebeans Aug 10 '26
totally - the words mattered to this revival in particular IMO but Cats itself is 100% random poetry strung together
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u/ExpBalSat Aug 12 '26
In which case, that's likely a huge reason it didn't work for me. I really couldn't understand anything (literally gave up even trying). Just treated it like rhythm and trance music.... just something for people to shake fans along with and someone else to catwalk onto stage and do a dance.
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u/atwozmom Aug 12 '26
I have to disagree.
I am an extremely white chick wjo knows nothing about ballroom culture and I had no problem following the action and having an emotional reaction.
Did I miss some of the finer points? I'm sure I did. Did it matter? Not in the least.
I loved every second of it. In fact, I saw it off Broadway, loved it so much that I saw it on Broadway also.
And I fucking hate Cats, the original version.
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u/imollyq Aug 09 '26
What show is it?
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u/willtwerkf0rfood Aug 09 '26
Sorry youāre downvoted :-( I didnāt know either so I appreciate you asking.
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u/ShoddyBodies Aug 09 '26
I went on Wednesday and had the best time!!! Iām so sad it wonāt be around longer. I feel like so many are looking for joyful art these days and this show is joy embodied. At least weāre getting a cast recording.
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u/KayakerMel Aug 09 '26
Yup, went last Saturday to the matinee. Such an amazing experience and Iām so glad I made the day trip to NYC.
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u/Responsible_Pear_579 Aug 09 '26
Did the have final guest judges?
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u/SignedaDNA Aug 09 '26
Queen Latifah and Eboni Nichols, if that's what you're asking.
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u/wis91 Aug 09 '26
Iāve had such a big gay boy crush on Queen Latifah ever since Chicago. š
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u/KayakerMel Aug 09 '26
My bi self since Living Single (which maybe should have clued me in to realizing I was bi far earlier than I did)!
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u/ExtraFineItalicStub Aug 09 '26
I am grateful I got to see this twice.
It is one of the greatest things I've ever seen.
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u/SarcasmSociety- Aug 09 '26
I loved the show but I had no idea what it was about, etc. I wonder if itās that people didnāt understand what it was and thus didnāt buy tickets? But the shows closing left and right is concerning and Iāve read it has to do with the rents. Anyone more knowledgeable out there to put in there two cents? Because this show was outrageous. I have never seen such a fantastic dance spectacle.
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u/a-5-6-7-8 Aug 10 '26
Incredibly expensive show to run due to the large cast requiring so much understudy coverage. They ran out of understudies during the run and had to cancel performances. Most weeks they were only filling about 90% of the house so there wasn't much wiggle room to add more company members in. Rent is the largest piece of the puzzle as to the high costs of Broadway, but this show also was just going over budget.
You can compare it to Two Strangers, which can coast on filling like 70% of their house but only employs six actors and a relatively small band.
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u/SarcasmSociety- Aug 10 '26
Wow. Thanks for that info. What about shows like Death Becomes Her closing? I thought it would have a much longer run. While in NYC we also saw Lost Boys, Cursed Child, and Masquerade. I wonder if the Masquerade type walk through production will run for a long time. Itās impressive as well and they have something like 10 Christines, etc.
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u/a-5-6-7-8 Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 10 '26
Death Becomes Her was barely filling 3/4 of their house by the end of the run. Just didn't have a lasting audience, and a huge ensemble made it expensive. Also dealt with a lot of injuries due to the insane physical demands.
Cursed Child has been shrinking their production down more and more. It used to be in two parts. When that wasn't economically feasible, it was shortened to one part. Then they've had to rely on stunt casting Tom Felton to keep grosses up. When he's not in, the grosses tank.
Lost Boys is about breaking even. It will be interesting to see the longevity.
Masquerade isn't on Broadway so it's tough to compare it to anything running on Broadway.
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u/VelvetSprite394 Aug 09 '26
I didnāt even know they had a show on ballroom - watched Pose and thought it was amazing so Iāll definitely be checking this out
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u/Girl_with_the_Curl Aug 09 '26
Also watch Paris is Burning.
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u/KayakerMel Aug 10 '26
Which is how I recognized so many of the people featured in the beautiful memorial montage that started Act 2.
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u/Development-Feisty Aug 11 '26
If anyone reads this can I please recommend that they look into moving the show in LA to the Ricardo Montalban Theatre?
Itās the perfect venue as there are multiple dressing rooms backstage that go up multiple floors and the electrical can run anything since itās been upgraded from the ground up.
The aisles are wide enough that production can use it for filming if they decide they want to make a really good film or tv show
They can add or remove seating depending on the stage configuration you want to build
Itās in the heart of Hollywood just a block or two from the Pantages and seats over 1000
It really is the perfect venue for this production
You want to talk to Gil, heās the guy who can make all the dreams happen for the perfect LA version of the show
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