Hugo 0.54.0 works fine but 0.55.x will not run

support
4

One of the new things in 0.55 was that it is compiled with the new Go 1.12:

libSystem is now used when making syscalls on Darwin, ensuring forward-compatibility with future versions of macOS and iOS.

Which is most likely the explanation. As it works for me and “most people”, I would guess that you have an older macOS installation?