The struggling Broadway revival of “Cabaret” will close in two weeks, citing the unexpected illness of its current leading man, Billy Porter.
The producers announced Sunday that Porter, who had been in the role of the Emcee since July 22, “is recovering from a serious case of sepsis” that has kept him out of the production recently and will prevent him from returning. “His doctors are confident that he will make a full recovery,” they added, “but have advised him to maintain a restful schedule these next couple of weeks.”
The production opened to mixed reviews last year. (In The New York Times, the critic Jesse Green called the director Rebecca Frecknall’s staging “misguided.”) The show sold well at first, with Eddie Redmayne as the Emcee, but it was quite costly to capitalize and to run, and it has struggled since his departure. The grosses sank when Porter and his co-star Marisha Wallace, who is playing Sally Bowles, arrived in July and have been unsustainably low since. (Its weekly grosses peaked at $2 million in May 2024, but for the week ending Aug. 31 they were $505,142.) The show will now close, at a loss, on Sept. 21.
It had previously been slated to end its run Oct. 19, and even that date reflected a decision by the producers to stem the losses by closing sooner than hoped. The same production continues to run, more successfully, in London, where Porter and Wallace previously led the cast and where, in 2022, it swept the Olivier Awards.
The revival arrived in New York in the spring of 2024 at the August Wilson Theater, which was converted into a club-like setting with preshow performances in the lobby spaces and rings of seats, some with small cafe tables, around the stage. It was nominated for nine Tony Awards, and won one, for its scenic design.
Michael Paulson is the theater reporter for The Times.
The post With Billy Porter Sidelined by Illness, ‘Cabaret’ Moves Up Closing appeared first on New York Times.
