You better purr! Cats: The Jellicle Ball, the reimagined revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber's long-running musical, newly set in the underground world of Ballroom, has pulled back the curtain on what the show will look like when it comes to Broadway later this year. The musical is coming to the Broadhurst Theatre beginning March 18, ahead of an April 7 opening night.
The production, co-directed by Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch and featuring vogueing-infused choreography by Omari Wiles and Arturo Lyons, has its Jellicle cats convening for an annual ball to stomp the runway in fabulous duds, with Lloyd Webber's Tony-winning score (notably including the seminal "Memory") newly augmented by dance music-inspired beats. See what critics had to say about the production Off-Broadway at Perelman Performing Arts Center here.
The revival announced a Broadway bow earlier this year, an announcement that was notably lacking any mention of a re-configuration of the Broadhurst. The original Off-Broadway production was done in a thrust configuration (with audiences seated on three sides of the runway), while the Broadhurst is a more traditional proscenium-style theatre. Recent Broadway productions that took on the expense to transform their theatres with immersive seating—such as Here Lies Love, Cabaret, and Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812—were not financial successes, calling into question if Cats would bring any of its unique staging configuration to the Broadhurst.
But now we know the answer: kind of! The production has put onstage "Runway Seating" tickets on sale and released a seating chart that reveals the staging will bring a version of the Off-Broadway configuration to Broadway. A runway will be center stage and extend out to the audience edge of the orchestra pit with onstage audience seating on either side. The judges' table, placed on the audience side of the runway at PAC NYC, will be upstage for Broadway. This means far more audience members will have full view of Old Deuteronomy (André De Shields)'s facial reactions to the evening's activities than did Off-Broadway. In addition, the production is adding banquette seating at the front of the orchestra section. Both the onstage runway seats and banquette seats are being sold at premium prices in the $250-$320 range. You can buy tickets here.
See the newly revealed seating chart below:
'Electric': Andrew Lloyd Webber Officially Weighs In on Cats: 'The Jellicle Ball'
Much of the staging's original company are set to reprise their work on Broadway, including Tony winner André De Shields as Old Deuteronomy, "Tempress" Chasity Moore as Grizabella, Junior LeBeija as Gus, Sydney James Harcourt as Rum Tum Tugger, Jonathan Burke as Mungojerrie, Baby Byrne as Victoria, Dava Huesca as Rumpleteazer, Dudney Joseph Jr. as Munkustrap, Robert “Silk” Mason as Magical Mister Mistoffelees, Primo Thee Ballerino as Tumblebrutus, Xavier Reyes as Jennyanydots, Nora Schell as Bustopher Jones, Bebe Nicole Simpson as Demeter, Emma Sofia as Cassandra and Skimbleshanks, Garnet Williams as Bombalurina, Teddy Wilson, Jr. as Sillabub, and Tara Lashan Clinkscales. Additional casting—by X Casting's Victor Vazquez and Sujotta R. Pace—is to be announced.
Also back from the earlier staging will be Levingston and Rauch's full creative team, including scenic designer Rachel Hauck, costume designer Qween Jean, lighting designer Adam Honoré, sound designer Kai Harada, projection designer Brittany Bland, hair and wig designer Nikiya Mathis, dramaturg and gender consultant Josie Kearns, and music supervisor and director William Waldrop. Cooper Howell and N'yomi Allure Stewart will serve as associate directors, and Cody Renard Richard will be production stage manager. Baseline Theatrical is general managing.
READ: In This New Cats Revival, It's Jellicle Songs for Voguers and Femme Queens
Most recently brought somewhat mainstream by the FX series Pose, the Ballroom scene is an underground LGBTQIA+ subculture that arose in 1920s NYC, arguably reaching its zenith in the '80s. Home to runway walk categories that invited participants to dress in any number of themes ranging from the extravagant to the fabulously commonplace, the Ballroom scene is also where vogue dancing comes from—but real vogueing, not Madonna vogueing. Dominated specifically by the Black and Latino queer communities, the scene has become ingrained in much of queer and popular culture today, particularly the world of drag. Ball culture was most famously memorialized in the iconic 1990 documentary Paris Is Burning.
But the world of Ballroom is a new take on the Lloyd Webber musical, which debuted in London in 1979 as a dance musical adapted from T.S. Eliot's book of poetry, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Largely plotless, the musical follows a tribe of so-called "Jellicle" Cats who gather for an annual ball, presenting themselves for the chance to be reborn into a new life. The first act culminates in an all-dancing Jellicle Ball. While the connections to Ballroom culture might seem obvious now, the original production, choreographed by Gillian Lynne, featured quasi-modern ballet-inspired dance and cat costumes comprising '80s-appropriate leotards and leg warmers.
Michael Harrison and Mike Bosner are producing the Broadway bow.
