Cats is heading to the Heaviside Layer.
Despite winning multiple Tony Awards and garnering a devoted following, the reimagined revival Cats: The Jellicle Ball will close its Broadway run on Saturday, August 8, per an announcement made across the show’s social media accounts on Monday evening.
“Come one, come all before our final Broadway performance,” the critically adored production wrote on Instagram, accompanied by a picture of Tony-winning Broadway legend André de Shields, nominated once again for this production, as Old Deuteronomy.
The production began preview performances on March 18, 2026, and opened on April 7.
Cats: The Jellicle Ball was first announced in August 2022 as the flagship production of the Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center, a Lower Manhattan venue that hadn’t yet opened when Jellicle was announced. Originally billed as a reimagining of Cats set in the world of queer ballroom, the production opened in 2024 and featured a runway’s worth of talent from the queer ballroom scene, both on stage and behind the scenes, including choreographers Omari Wiles and Arturo Lyons, who would eventually win a Tony for their work when Jellicle Ball transferred to Broadway.
Prior to the Ball opening its doors, video of the choreography went viral, sparking interest in the bold reimagining.
While the version that ran Off-Broadway was chock-full of ballroom talent, the production was invigorated with even more star power when ballroom legend Leiomy, who was a judge on the beloved short-lived reality competition series Legendary, joined the Broadway production as the thieving Macavity.
The announcement of Cats’ early closure was met with much sadness and anger from the community.
“This is heartbreaking news, but we must make sure to fill the houses until Aug 8th with as much love and support and care for the cast and crew of @catsjellicleball that have given life to so many people who have experienced it,” Tony winner Sara Ramirez commented on Cats’ post. “This production has made history, it’s well documented, and no one can take that away. THANK YOU to everyone involved with CATS: The Jellicle Ball for infusing our lives with one of the most generative and exciting productions I’ve ever seen and had the honor of being a part of.”
“What a travesty — genuinely spectacular and good for the world, not to mention the best revival in ages,” Tony winner Ben Platt wrote on Instagram.
After opening on Broadway, Cats was nominated for nine Tony Awards, winning three, including best choreography, best direction of a musical, and best costume design of a musical for Qween Jean, who became the first transgender woman to win a Tony.
“This experience has been monumental. We are here for the legacy of queer people, trans people,” she said during the telecast. “We are taking up space in ways we have to take up space. We have to shift the paradigm. So I just want to say, thank you all so much for this incredible honor. The world right now is deeply, deeply combating so many ailments, and we know as a society that when we come together, we can make real, permanent change.”
Prior to the Tony Awards, Jellicle Ball was grossing close to $1 million per week, per Variety, but following its loss of best revival of a musical to Ragtime, receipts floundered. During its most recent week of shows, the production made less than $700,000, grossing below Broadway mainstays such as Hadestown and Book of Mormon, per the Broadway League. The difference, per Variety, is that Cats’ large cast makes its bottom line much more difficult to maintain.
Cats also debuted in what has been a particularly hard season for Broadway. The cost of mounting a production has skyrocketed in recent years, per the New York Times; by September 2025, none of the musicals that opened on Broadway — including Smash, Boop! and Tammy Faye — had been able to dance their way into the black. Even big-name revivals such as Sunset Boulevard, Gypsy, and Cabaret couldn’t break even. Of the 46 musicals that opened between the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and September 2025, only three turned a profit, per the Times.
The production will be filmed by the Theatre on Film and Tape Archive at the New York Public Library later this month for preservation, per Variety. Its closing date, August 8, is also International Cat Day.
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