An Open Letter To Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber

An Open Letter To Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber

Dear Sir Lloyd Webber,



Cats: The Jellicle Ball will close on August 8, 2026 after roughly 150 total performances. What happened inside that theater over the past several months was not a revival. It was a reclamation. A generation of artists, many of them queer, Black, and Brown performers who rarely see themselves centered in your work, took Cats and turned it into something that felt urgent, alive, and unmistakably theirs, all while staying true to the score and the world you built decades ago. Three Tony Awards later, the industry has confirmed what audiences already knew: this production mattered.

Read The Entire Letter: https://c.org/fY5HYVYs4M

Jay Lerner-Z said: "He's a Lord, not a Sir. Or a Baron. Sir is lowly, he was in the House of Lords. As a conservative, who don’t respond favorably to pleas like this."


The letter is a bit bossy and entitled. Straight white men hate that lol

I do hope he’ll fund a cast recording so it doesn’t disappear into the ether.

With the major revival losses on Sunset Blvd and Jellice Ball Cats, I wonder if the Andrew Lloyd Webber brand no longer has the "golden touch" it once did when his early shows were a sung-thru novelty. People forget that Starlight Express lost tons of money in its original production, as did many other shows - Bad Cinderella, Love Never Dies, Aspects of Love, and surprise surprise the original Sunset Blvd which dumped a ton of money. His only really big hits have been JC Superstar, Evita, Phantom and Cats, two of which became hits as much for Hal Prince's direction.

There just may not be a market for these concert style sung-thru shows to cover productions expenses that require at least a year and half at capacity. Even with cut down concert versions, the revivals of his shows just are not able to make profits. That has also happened with the last two Gypsy revivals. A revival lacks the "newness" feel even when re-conceived ((or mis-conceived). Also I wonder how much people think the revivals are "cut down" versions after years of talk about the chandelier, the junk yard with the rising tire, the rising Hollywood mansion living room. Maybe the era of spectacle has a limited shelf life?

For what it's worth there (re preserving the show) there is a slime tutorial out there publicly available to easily find.

uncageg said: "Who's to say they haven't already been discussing this but just aren't ready to make an official announcement. I think I read a post that it was reported that there will not be one, but maybe they changed their minds or that source was wrong. Or maybe not. JMO"

I have been in touch with the producing team. It was originally a hard no. But seeing how the initial social campaign got their attention, they are now working towards finding a solution to preserve or extend the life of the show (elsewhere) because of the demand.

I wouldn’t be working with others to keep the pressure campaign up if I didn’t have knowledge that it was starting to work

Updated On: 7/20/26 at 10:37 AM

Thanks Quiz……. Signed, as well as encouraging others to

merle57 said: "With the major revival losses on Sunset Blvd and Jellice Ball Cats, I wonder if the Andrew Lloyd Webber brand no longer has the "golden touch" it once did when his early shows were a sung-thru novelty."

In terms of Broadway commercial potential, I think it's pretty clear things fizzled out for ALW by 1990. Among his new shows, he's had only one modest hit since then, and several others never even made it to NYC, much less Broadway. I don't think the revivals have fared much better, financially speaking.

Nonetheless, I do think we're seeing an ALW mini-renaissance in terms of artistic reappraisal of his work, with Evita arriving soon as the third buzzy, "reimagined" revival in as many seasons. Despite the financial losses, I'd be very happy with that if I were him. It's not like he needs the money.

For the record, I'm an ALW fan, though my favorite scores of his (Aspects of Love, Whistle Down the Wind, The Beautiful Game) are among his biggest NYC flops or no-shows.

Listen all,

I’ve been around here for a long time. I understand this might not work, but I love this production with such a burning passion that, if the feedback I’ve gotten from those affiliated didn’t even seem remotely hopeful, I wouldn’t be so dogged about it.

Its not crowdfunding, its not looking for money, its to just push for the preservation of a historically important revival that could be an invaluable piece of theater history for the LGBTQ+ community for generations to come.

I understand the fellow old guard of the board is keen to naysay and nitpick, and that’s fine, but the negative responses aren’t really helpful, especially to those who are looking for some glimmer of hope here. Whatever opinion you have, we have to try, and if we don’t succeed, at least we won’t walk away feeling like we didn’t do enough to try and force some hands into sometimes uncomfortable positions.

Just as a fellow Old Guard member of this board, I am not naysaying or nitpicking. I am just saying to give ALW and the production time to figure it out before demanding it and jumping all over ALW. If it was a hard no when you first asked about it and now, with this campaign, they are looking into it then people should have patience. I am hoping for a recording also as I loved the vocal performances in the show and agree they should be preserved.