The Hungarian State Opera has axed 15 performances of the hit musical Billy Elliot after poor ticket sales, blamed by the management on a homophobic campaign that claimed the show would “transform boys into homosexuals”.

The management of the Budapest theatre pulled the plug on the 15 shows following a number of articles lambasting the musical in Magyor Idok, a leading newspaper allied to the Hungarian government.

In a letter to staff, Szilveszter Okovacs, the director of the opera, said: “As you know, the negative campaign against the Billy Elliot production has led to a big drop in ticket sales, and for this reason we are cancelling 15 performances in line with a decision by our management.”

One Magyar Idok article claimed the show could weaken Hungary’s birth rate at a time when thousands of immigrants wanted to come to the country.

“The propagation of homosexuality cannot be a national goal when the population is getting older and smaller and our country is threatened by invasion,” the paper wrote, despite the fact that the character of Michael, a friend of Billy’s who is gay, had been written out of the Hungarian version of the show.