Cabaret will end its New York run Oct. 19 after about 14 months on Broadway.
The closing notice comes after the production undertook a large-scale remodeling of the August Wilson Theatre and has mounted a costly, immersive production, with reports of the show being capitalized for up to $24 million. With the early closing notice, and bumpy grosses throughout its run, the show will likely exit Broadway without recouping.
In the final 13 weeks of the run, Billy Porter will take over as the Emcee and Marisha Wallace will take over as Sally Bowles starting July 22. The two reprise the roles they played in the production in London’s West End.
The musical opened on Broadway in April 2024, starring Gayle Rankin and Eddie Redmayne, who first played the role in the West End. Since then, the production has brought in several big-name replacements, including Adam Lambert and Auli’i Cravalho and Orville Peck and Eva Noblezada, who are currently starring in the musical.
While the musical started out with strong grosses, with Redmayne in the lead, grosses have since trended down. The musical revival is lead produced by ATG Productions. Redmayne is one of the many co-producers.
The renovation of the theater included changing the orientation of the stage, so that theatergoers are sitting surrounding the artists, including some at cafe tables, and outfitting the theater with three levels of bars, which are used for a pre-show. Audiences enter the theater through the side alley, rather than the typical front-of-house, to enter into the bars. Asked about the renovation, Redmayne said he hoped it makes audience members feel as if they’re in the Kit Kat Club at the center of the show.
“What our dream was for the play was that the conversion of the space means that once you step off 52nd street and you cross the threshold into the August Wilson, that you go down these alleyways and through these bars, past dancers and musicians and you get discombobulated and you really do leave whatever worries or what your day was out on 52nd street and get seduced into this world,” Redmayne told The Hollywood Reporter in May 2024.
