Her Broadway debut bombs before she’s even on stage, so husband Tom Cruise wins again

Friday, 18 July 2008

Katie Holmes’ attempts to restart her career with a stint on Broadway is turning out to be disastrous.

Ticket sales for the 29-year-old’s appearance in Arthur Miller’s play All My Sons. starting in September, have so far been a resounding flop.

They were expected to have hit the £500,000 mark by now, but they’ve barely reached £150,000. Tickets that cost £150 are now down to £50.

Miserable Katie battled hard to get the role of Ann Deever, but critics are blaming the ‘Tom Cruise effect’ for destroying any chance she had of success.

Just two weeks ago, Now reported that Katie was hoping a stint alone in New York would be revitalising, but Scientologist Tom demanded that the whole family uproot from Los Angeles to join her.

Influential theatre critic Michael Riedel, of the New York Post, says: ‘Ticket brokers and group sales agents who thought that Katie would be this season’s Julia Roberts – who pretty much sold out Three Days Of Rain overnight – say interest in Katie’s show is nil. I bought 1,000 tickets for the show and I still have them.

‘It also doesn’t help that Katie’s husband isn’t nearly as popular as he was in the 90s, when he was touted as being the biggest movie star in the world.’

To rub salt into Katie’s wounds, Tom’s ex-wife Nicole Kidman had pre-show sales of £2 million when she starred in The Blue Room in 1999 – although her nude scene might’ve had something to do with that.

She said: “I find that as I get older I am excited to get older. There are more things for me to learn. I realise that I don’t know as much as I thought I did. I like looking back and seeing pictures of the past because that is ‘who’ I created for me.

That is what I was doing. I appreciate it more and more. Every day I try to find out more things about myself. I love changing.” Katie – who has a two-year-old daughter Suri with Tom – also denied claims she’s stolen her friend, former Spice Girls star, Victoria Beckham’s style, insisting hers is a lot more laidback.

She said: “We are great friends and she is such a lovely woman. Yes, Victoria has a strong sense of style but I feel my style is different. She always looks great, whereas my style is very easy and laid-back.”