{"id":975872,"date":"2026-08-02T14:51:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T14:51:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/975872\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T14:51:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T14:51:17","slug":"cats-phantom-and-les-miz-musicals-briefly-reunite-in-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/975872\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Cats,\u2019 \u2018Phantom\u2019 and \u2018Les Miz\u2019 musicals briefly reunite in New York"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three musicals that once ruled Broadway<\/a> are briefly sharing New York again, though none has returned in its original form.<\/p>\n

Since \u201cLes Mis\u00e9rables: The Arena Concert Spectacular\u201d opened at Radio City Music Hall on July 23, it has played alongside \u201cCats: The Jellicle Ball\u201d on Broadway and \u201cMasquerade,\u201d the immersive Off-Broadway adaptation of \u201cThe Phantom of the Opera.\u201d<\/p>\n

The overlap ends Saturday, Aug. 8, when \u201cThe Jellicle Ball\u201d closes. \u201cLes Miz\u201d concludes the following day, while \u201cMasquerade\u201d continues Off-Broadway.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cCats,\u201d \u201cLes Miz\u201d and \u201cPhantom\u201d defined musical theater in the 1980s. Cameron Mackintosh produced the original Broadway productions of all three, spectacles built for long runs and worldwide replication. He also produces the current Radio City \u201cLes Miz.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"actorLes Mis\u00e9rables The Arena Concert Spectacular, Alfie Boe as Jean Valjean.Photo by Danny Kaan<\/p>\n

All three were on Broadway in the 1990s, when I saw them with my family. We bought orchestra seats at TKTS<\/a> for less than $40 each. They were major attractions and dependable fixtures.<\/p>\n

\u201cMiss Saigon,\u201d considered the fourth British mega-musical, may be less likely to return because of longstanding criticism of its treatment of Vietnamese women and children.\n<\/p>\n

The other three have proved more adaptable, but are now revivals rather than new sensations. \u201cCats\u201d is receiving its second Broadway revival, \u201cLes Miz\u201d has had two, and \u201cPhantom\u201d closed only in 2023. Each must offer audiences more than the same show again.<\/p>\n

\u201cCats: The Jellicle Ball\u201d makes the strongest artistic case for reinvention and offers the clearest example of how difficult it is to sustain an expensive Broadway revival.\n<\/p>\n

Directors Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch replace the junkyard with a runway and queer Ballroom competition. The concept feels less imposed upon \u201cCats\u201d than uncovered within it. A plot-light musical becomes a celebration of performance, identity and community.<\/p>\n

The production received rave reviews and three Tony Awards, yet it will close four months after opening. Seemingly respectable grosses reportedly failed to cover its weekly running costs.\n<\/p>\n

Its fate shows that reinvention alone may not be enough. \u201cThe Jellicle Ball\u201d offered an unmistakably new \u201cCats,\u201d but it still had to overcome Broadway\u2019s costs and persuade people to pay premium prices for a musical they may feel they have already seen.<\/p>\n

Following the announcement, Andrew Lloyd Webber warned that Broadway was in \u201cdire danger\u201d and implored theater owners, unions and producers to \u201ccome together urgently.\u201d His warning captured the anxiety: If an acclaimed, award-winning revival with a brilliant original concept of what was once the long-running show in Broadway history cannot survive, what can?<\/p>\n

\u201cMasquerade\u201d takes a different route by selling something other than a conventional revival.\n<\/p>\n

Director Diane Paulus and producer Randy Weiner have placed \u201cPhantom\u201d inside an immersive environment on West 57th Street, combining fragments of the musical with formal attire, champagne and a journey through multiple rooms.<\/p>\n

\"actorsKaley Ann Voorhees and Nik Walker in MASQUERADE.Photo by Oscar Ouk<\/p>\n

The results are mixed. The prerecorded score cannot match the original orchestra, and the narrative does not naturally fit the format. Commercially, however, \u201cMasquerade\u201d is revealing. It turns \u201cPhantom\u201d into a branded experience with a dedicated venue, staggered admissions and a nightclub atmosphere.<\/p>\n

Weiner has expressed interest in finding a similar future for \u201cThe Jellicle Ball,\u201d perhaps in a club built around it. Its runway and Ballroom atmosphere may be better suited to a nightclub than a Broadway theater.<\/p>\n

\u201cLes Miz\u201d takes a third route: scarcity.\n<\/p>\n

Rather than mount another Broadway revival, Mackintosh has brought an existing international arena concert to Radio City for just over two weeks. It minimizes scenery and movement while emphasizing the cast, orchestra and score.<\/p>\n

That approach plays to the musical\u2019s strengths. \u201cLes Miz\u201d is sung through and built around impassioned solos and ensemble climaxes. The engagement feels like an event, with a landmark venue, rotating stars, a 40th-anniversary celebration and a firm closing date.<\/p>\n

Seeing all three in New York again underscores the durability of the British mega-musical. Their original runs may be over, but the memory remains, the music of the night plays on, and there is always one day more. The challenge is finding a new theatrical form and a workable business model for the next life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three musicals that once ruled Broadway are briefly sharing New York again, though none has returned in its…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":975873,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,4653,127327,7762,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,171112,1148,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-975872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-cats","tag-les-miserables","tag-musicals","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-the-phantom-of-the-opera","tag-theater","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117026482586552851","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/975872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=975872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/975872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/975873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=975872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=975872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=975872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}