{"id":145280,"date":"2025-09-10T00:04:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T00:04:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/145280\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T00:04:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T00:04:06","slug":"broadway-cabaret-producers-say-flop-show-cant-return-investments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/145280\/","title":{"rendered":"Broadway ‘Cabaret’ Producers Say Flop Show Can’t Return Investments"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAn investor in the Broadway<\/a> production of Cabaret At The Kit Kat Club<\/a> is suing that show\u2019s producers, claiming that despite the revival grossing more than $90 million he has seen no return on his $50,000 investment and has been \u201cdenied any meaningful review of partnership records or finances.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tJames Lorenzo Walker<\/a>, Jr., an Atlanta-based entertainment lawyer, filed the complaint September 4 in New York Supreme Court, writing, in part, that Cabaret producers have engaged in \u201ca deliberate scheme intended to strip him and other investors of their investments in, and partnership profits from, the Broadway production.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe suit \u2013 read it here<\/a> \u2013 states, \u201cDespite Cabaret grossing more than $90 million since opening on April 21, 2024, Plaintiff has not received a return of his investment or a share of profits from the Production. Plaintiff has requested and been denied access to records or an accounting and has been denied any meaningful review of partnership records or finances.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cDefendants\u2019 conduct,\u201d it continues, \u201cexemplifies an emerging scheme in theatrical financing whereby outside investors are induced to invest cash into multi-layered structures designed to conceal revenues, divert payments, and facilitate self-dealing among insiders and their affiliate entities, while depriving the outside investors of transparency, accountability and the financial benefits to which they are legally entitled.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe suit seeks, among other things, compensatory damages, punitive damages, attorneys\u2019 fees and an \u201caccounting of all Partnership revenues, expenses, and disbursements.\u201d The financial amounts, per the suit, would be determined at trial.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe producers, led by ATG Entertainment<\/a> (which also owns the August Wilson Theatre that was heavily revamped to provide the $24 million production its immersive \u201cKit Kat Club\u201d environment), strongly deny Walker\u2019s claims, saying it has no merit.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a statement obtained by Deadline, the producers said, \u201cWhile we are incredibly proud of the artistic success of Cabaret At The Kit Kat Club on Broadway and deeply saddened by the fact it has had to close early, the production has not been in a position fiscally to make any distribution to investors.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019ve offered,\u201d they continue, \u201cto engage in a constructive dialogue with Mr. Walker regarding his financial expectations and to give him access to our accounts, but unfortunately,\u00a0he has instead\u00a0decided to file a lawsuit that lacks any merit.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe revival is produced by Adam Speers for ATG Productions, Underbelly, Gavin Kalin Productions, Hunter Arnold, Smith & Brant Theatricals, and Wessex Grove.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe lawsuit comes at a gloomy time for Cabaret. Earlier this week, producer Speers announced<\/a> that the show will close a month early on Sunday, September 21, in part due to the star Billy Porter withdrawing from the show while he recovers from \u201ca serious case of sepsis\u201d (he is expected to make a full recovery).<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile Cabaret opened last year to strong numbers \u2013 original stars Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin certainly added to the hot-ticket aura, as did the impressive revamp of the venue \u2013 the weekly grosses have plummeted in recent weeks. Since July 20, when the gross for the week was $1.2 million \u2013 not uncommon in the production\u2019s initial months last spring \u2013 the figures have steadily declined. <\/p>\n

\n\tIn recent weeks, the weekly take was dropping to the $500,000 range, then $400,000 and then last week\u2019s gross was a minuscule $380,052. About 32% of the Wilson\u2019s seats went unoccupied. The show\u2019s estimated weekly running expenses are in excess of $1 million.<\/p>\n

\n\tDirected by Rebecca Frecknall, Cabaret was and is an Olivier-winning hit at London\u2019s West End, now in its fourth year. Grammy Award winner Reeve Carney and two-time Tony Award nominee Eva Noblezada will take over the roles of the Emcee and Sally Bowles in London on Monday, September 22.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Broadway production did not receive the glowing reviews of London critics nor the kind of long-term interest among audiences that keep expensive shows operating. Tony voters handed the show only one award, for Tom Scutt\u2019s scenic design. <\/p>\n

\n\tWalker invested the $50,000 into the show through KKC Productions NY Limited Partnership just a few days before Cabaret opened in April 2024. He was a co-producer on last season\u2019s acclaimed, early-closing Dead Outlaw and an investor in the hit August Wilson\u2019s The Piano Lesson and the ever-popular Michael Jackson musical MJ.<\/p>\n

\n\tNews of the lawsuit was first reported by Philip Boroff\u2019s Broadway Journal business subscription newsletter. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An investor in the Broadway production of Cabaret At The Kit Kat Club is suing that show\u2019s producers,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[90118,21540,90119,88,90120],"class_list":["post-145280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-atg-entertainment","tag-broadway","tag-cabaret-at-the-kit-kat-club","tag-entertainment","tag-james-lorenzo-walker"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}