“CATS: The Jellicle Ball” began previews on Broadway March 18 in advance of the show’s April 7 opening. It’s not to be confused with the production of “CATS” that is onstage at Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre through April 4.
The New York show features people performing on catwalks and runways, not actors portraying cats. Plus, the choreography is totally different. Locally, for “CATS,” Director Amy Marie McCleary infused feline agility and sudden movements into Andrew Lloyd Webber’s dance numbers. The Broadway show features ballroom, a type of dance that originated within the Black and Latino LGBTQ+ community in New York City that includes voguing, posing, runway walks and club beats.
The current production at Broadway Palm is true to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s original concept for the show.
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Both “CATS” and “CATS: The Jellicle Ball” are based on T.S. Eliot’s 1939 poetry collection “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.”
The original “CATS” musical features actors portraying actual cats competing for a chance to ascend to the Heaviside Layer.
“CATS: The Jellicle Ball” reframes the story through ballroom culture, a vibrant LGBTQ+ community tradition rooted in New York City. The new musical’s ballroom-inspired choreography includes voguing, runway walks and club beats, reflecting the energy and style of real-life ballroom competitions.
According to New York Theatre Guide, “’CATS: The Jellicle Ball’ emphasizes queer and BIPOC voices, celebrating resilience, creativity, and self-expression within the ballroom community. This contrasts with the original CATS, which primarily focuses on whimsical feline characters and their personalities without a specific cultural lens. The new production highlights community, competition, and identity, offering a fresh perspective on the classic story.”
Ballroom, or ball, culture as depicted in the show originated in New York City in the 1970s within the LGBTQ+ community, particularly among Black and Latino people excluded from earlier drag balls and other queer spaces. "Houses" of people act as chosen family units.
The ballroom scene is still thriving today.
To complement the ballroom aesthetic, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s arrangements have been updated with synthesizers and new beats. “Memory” is still performed, but within the context of the ball rather than as a feline lament.
The narrative still centers on the competition for a new life, but it is staged as a queer, immersive ball with the performers utilizing the entire theater, moving through the audience during the course of the show.
Though their names and personalities remain the same (e.g., Grizabella, Rum Tum Tugger, Old Deuteronomy, Mr. Mistoffelees, Macavity, Jennyanydots etc.), the characters in “CATS: The Jellicle Ball” are people competing on catwalks and runways rather than performers portraying real cats.
The Off-Broadway production in 2024 at the Perelman Performing Arts Center drew praise from theater critics and audiences alike. The Broadway show began previews on March 18 at the Broadhurst Theatre with much of the Off-Broadway cast intact.
The production team includes John Legend, Michael Harrison and Law Roach, who has a long history with ballroom.
“CATS: The Jellicle Ball” is directed by OBIE Award winners Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch and choreographed by Chita Rivera Award winners and New York City ballroom icons Omari Wiles (House of NiNa Oricci) and Arturo Lyons (House of Miyake-Mugler).
The creative team for "CATS: The Jellicle Ball" includes Tony Award winner Rachel Hauck (scenic design), OBIE Award winner and Drama Desk Award nominee Qween Jean (costume design), Drama Desk Award nominee Adam Honoré (lighting design), Tony Award winner Kai Harada (sound design), Brittany Bland (projection design), Special Tony Award recipient Nikiya Mathis (hair and wig design), Josie Kearns (dramaturg & gender consultant), William Waldrop (music supervisor and music director), Cooper Howell and N'yomi Allure Stewart (associate directors), X Casting: Victor Vazquez, CSA and Sujotta R. Pace, CSA (casting director), and Cody Renard Richard (production stage manager).
After attending a recent rehearsal, Andrew Lloyd Webber said, “"I just had the most joyous experience that anyone could have as a composer. Just listening to the wonderful cast of the ‘Jellicle Ball’ in such a different way but so much full of the joy that I know that T.S. Eliot, who wrote the wonderful words, the original poet, he just would have loved that. But it's just extraordinary for me to hear it like this, which is just a joy."
For a recap on what makes the Broadway Palm production of “CATS” special, visit “Broadway Palm and Cape Coral Animal Shelter join forces to draw attention to Lee County cat crisis.”
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.
