Lead: The immersive Broadway revival of Cabaret will end its run earlier than planned, with the final performance now set for September 21 at the Kit Kat Club (the former August Wilson Theatre). The production, which opened earlier this season, will have completed 18 previews and 592 regular performances; Tony winner Billy Porter has withdrawn from the remainder of the run while recovering from sepsis.
Key Takeaways
- Cabaret’s Broadway run has been moved up to September 21 from an announced October 19 closing.
- The production will conclude after 18 previews and 592 regular performances.
- Billy Porter withdrew for health reasons (sepsis); alternates Marty Lauter and David Merino will perform as Emcee for the final dates.
- Marisha Wallace, who joined the cast after a West End run, will continue as Sally Bowles for the closing performances.
- The Kit Kat Club staging replicates the immersive in-the-round concept used in the West End and includes a pre-show prologue about 75 minutes before curtain.
- Producers cited lower-than-needed ticket sales and high running costs as factors in the revised closing schedule.
Verified Facts
The production announced in June that its closing would be October 19; producers revised that schedule and set the new final performance for September 21. By that date, the Broadway run will have logged 18 previews and 592 regular performances.
Billy Porter, who transferred to the Broadway company after performing the role in London, has withdrawn to recover from sepsis. Producers have said Porter is expected to make a full recovery. Alternates Marty Lauter and David Merino are scheduled to cover the Emcee for the remaining performances.
Marisha Wallace — also reprising her West End role as Sally Bowles — will remain in the cast through the final performances. The principal company also includes Calvin Leon Smith (Clifford Bradshaw), Steven Skybell (Herr Schultz), Ellen Harvey (Fraulein Schneider), Henry Gottfried (Ernst Ludwig), and Michelle Aravena (Fritzie/Kost).
The show reproduces the West End’s immersive Kit Kat Club environment: the auditorium was reconfigured into an in-the-round nightclub, and ticket holders receive a timed “club entry” that allows attendance at a prologue performance roughly 75 minutes before curtain. Certain ticket levels include a full dinner as part of the experience.
Context & Impact
Cabaret is based on Christopher Isherwood’s Goodbye to Berlin and John Van Druten’s stage adaptation I Am a Camera; John Kander and Fred Ebb’s score underscores a story set in Weimar-era Berlin as Nazism rises. The Broadway staging has mirrored the West End’s immersive design, where this version continues to run in its fourth year.
Producers cited financial pressures: the Broadway production faced substantial running costs and has not sold enough tickets to meet the budget required for continued operation at this scale. As a result, the team opted to end the run about four weeks earlier than previously announced.
Creative and production credits for the Broadway revival include choreographer Julia Cheng; club, set, and costume designer Tom Scutt; lighting designer Isabella Byrd; sound designer Nick Lidster (for Autograph); music supervisor and director Jennifer Whyte; hair and wig design by Sam Cox; makeup design by Guy Common; prologue composition and music direction by Angus MacRae; prologue director Jordan Fein; casting by Bernard Telsey and Kristian Charbonier; and production stage manager Thomas Recktenwald.
Official Statements
“It is with a heavy heart that we have made the painful decision to end our Broadway run on September 21,” said producer Adam Speers. “We’re honored to have brought this version of Cabaret to New York.”
Adam Speers / Producers
Unconfirmed
- Exact figures for the production’s financial shortfall have not been released publicly.
- Reports describing the specific cost of converting the August Wilson Theatre into the Kit Kat Club remain unverified.
Bottom Line
The immersive Cabaret revival that mirrored its successful West End incarnation will conclude its Broadway engagement on September 21 amid ticketing and cost pressures. The company will finish performances without Billy Porter, who is recuperating from sepsis; alternates and Marisha Wallace will lead the final shows. The production’s early closure underlines the commercial challenges of large-scale, immersive stagings on Broadway despite critical or artistic success.