Cats musical returning to Broadway, this time with heels instead of paws

NEW YORK – Cats, the loved-and-loathed Andrew Lloyd Webber musical about, well, cats, is returning to Broadway with an all-new taxonomy.

The show, originally set in a junkyard and featuring actors padding around in cat costumes, now has human characters who are cats only in the slang sense. This version is set in the underground ballroom scene, a queer subculture built around dance competitions.

The show, with the full title of Cats: The Jellicle Ball, was a hit in 2024 at the Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC) in Lower Manhattan. Its Broadway transfer is scheduled to begin previews on March 18 and open on April 7 at the Broadhurst Theatre.

The musical, based on American poet T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book Of Practical Cats, features music by English composer Lloyd Webber. Most of the lyrics come from Eliot’s poems.

The original ran from 1982 to 2000, and for a time was the longest-running show on Broadway. A 2016 revival was far less successful, and a star-studded 2019 film adaptation featuring Taylor Swift, Idris Elba and Jennifer Hudson bombed.

Cats: The Jellicle Ball is directed by Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch and choreographed by Omari Wiles and Arturo Lyons. The show features Tony winner Andre De Shields reprising his role as Old Deuteronomy, an elder statesman figure.

The lead producers of the Broadway run are Michael Harrison, who has a partnership with Lloyd Webber to develop new productions of the composer’s musicals, and Mike Bosner, who produced Beautiful and Shucked.

The downtown staging of the show featured a central runway surrounded by audience members. The Broadway version will be different, given the building’s more traditional layout.

A publicist said that set designer Rachel Hauck “has taken the runway that was so successful at PAC and reimagined it for Broadway audiences” and that “there will be some upgrades, enhancements and a few surprises for the proscenium architecture”. NYTIMES