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The Kit Kat Club is closing its Broadway doors early on Sept. 21, as current “Emcee” Billy Porter battles a “serious case of sepsis,” according to the production team.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is with a heavy heart that we have made the painful decision to end our Broadway run,” said producer Adam Speers in a statement. “On behalf of all the producers, we\u2019re so honored to have been able to bring this version of John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Joe Masteroff\u2019s important masterpiece, ‘Cabaret,’ to New York and to have opened the doors to our own Kit Kat Club for the year and a half we have been here.”<\/p>\n
“Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club” \u2014 as this revival is titled \u2014 opened on Broadway in April 2024, with Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin in the lead roles. Following their September 2024 departure, duos Adam Lambert and Auli’i Cravalho, and Orville Peck and Eva Noblezada played the titular roles.<\/p>\n
Porter stepped into the role of the Emcee, alongside co-star Marisha Wallace as Sally Bowles, in July. The duo was expected to lead the production’s final 13 weeks \u2014 originally scheduled to end on Oct. 19 \u2014 before Porter’s illness sidelined him.<\/p>\n
\u201cBilly was an extraordinary \u2018Emcee,\u2019 bringing his signature passion and remarkable talent,” said Speers. “We wish Billy a speedy recovery, and I look forward to working with him again in the very near future.”<\/p>\n
As of Sept. 21, the production will have played 18 preview performances and 592 regular performances. Marty Lauter\u00a0and David Merino, the production\u2019s longtime alternates for Emcee, will share the role for the final two weeks of performances. Their exact performance schedules \u2014 opposite Wallace as Bowles \u2014 are forthcoming.<\/p>\n