You Better Work; Cats: The Jellicle Ball Walks Broadway Runway Beginning March 18

Category is: Broadway. Cats: The Jellicle Ball, a reimagined revival of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical that makes its Jellicle cats into drag ball contestants walking sickening looks down the runway, begins its Broadway transfer at the Broadhurst Theatre March 18. Opening night will be April 7.

The production comes to the Main Stem after a premiere at Off-Broadway's Perelman Performing Arts Center last year. Much of the cast from that bow is back to reprise their work, including Tony winner André De Shields as Old Deuteronomy, "Tempress" Chasity Moore as Grizabella, Junior LaBeija 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, Bebé Nicole Simpson as Demeter, Emma Sofia as Cassandra and Skimbleshanks, Garnet Williams as Bombalurina, Teddy Wilson, Jr. as Sillabub, and Tara Lashan Clinkscales. 

The cast also includes Legendary head judge Leiomy as Mavacity; Kya Azeen (Pose) as Etcetera; Bryson Battle (The Voice) as Jellylorum; and Ken Ard, who created the role of Macavity in the 1982 original Broadway production, as DJ Griddlebone; along with Sherrod T. Brown, Bryce Farris, Phumzile Sojola (Masquerade), Kendall Grayson Stroud, B. Noel Thomas (Saturday Church), Kalyn West (The Prom), and Donté Nadir Wilder. Casting is by X Casting's Victor Vazquez and Sujotta R. Pace.

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 (by beats arranger and producer Trevor Holder). The Broadway bow's theatre configuration includes onstage seating on either side of a ballroom runway. See what critics had to say about the production Off-Broadway here.

The creative team also includes 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, make-up designer Rani Zohny, magic designer Paul Kieve, sensitivity specialist Ann James, dramaturg and gender consultant Josephine Kearns, and music supervisor and director William Waldrop. Cooper Howell and N'yomi Allure Stewart serve as associate directors, and Cody Renard Richard is production stage manager. Baseline Theatrical's Nick Lugo, Jessica Fried, and James Hickey are general managing. Orchestrations are by Lloyd Webber and David Wilson.

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.

The original Broadway production of Cats won seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Score for Lloyd Webber, and two posthumous Tonys for Eliot (for Best Book and Score). It ran on Broadway from 1982 to 2000, making it the fifth longest-running show on the Main Stem. It enjoyed a brief revival from 2016 to 2017, in a production that largely replicated the original. Cats: The Jellicle Ball is the second Broadway revival of the musical.

Michael Harrison and Mike Bosner are producing.