'Cats: The Jellicle Ball' sets plans for Broadway transfer

The latest revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Cats, set in the queer ballroom scene, premiered off Broadway in summer 2024 to widespread critical acclaim.

Meow! Cats: The Jellicle Ball plans to transfer to Broadway in spring 2026, per an August 13 statement from creator Andrew Lloyd Webber's production company LW Entertainment. An official announcement of dates and a venue has yet to be made.

Cats: The Jellicle Ball is a reimagining of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Tony Award-winning musical Cats, the fifth-longest Broadway show of all time. This revival sets the action in the world of queer ballroom culture, which originated in New York more than 50 years ago and saw competitors battle it out in fashion, dance, and performance categories. Here, the "cats" compete in the Jellicle Ball to determine who will be granted a new life.

This production, co-directed by Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch and co-choreographed by Arturo Lyons and Omari Wiles, premiered in summer 2024 at the Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC). The show received widespread critical acclaim; New York Theatre Guide's critic raved, "Cats: The Jellicle Ball is one of the best musicals, revival or otherwise, to be staged in New York [...] it grounds the notion of the 'dance musical' in an expansive history of queer joy, full of potential for nine lives and beyond."

Cast and creative team members for Cats: The Jellicle Ball on Broadway have yet to be announced. The cast of the Off-Broadway production, which featured performers from NYC's theatre and ballroom scenes, included Hadestown Tony Award winner André De Shields as Old Deuteronomy, “Tempress” Chasity Moore as Grizabella, Baby as Victoria, Robert "Silk" Mason as Mistoffelees, Jonathan Burke as Mungojerrie, Shereen Pimentel as Jellylorum, Emma Sofia Caymares as Skimbleshanks, Sydney James Harcourt as Rum Tum Tugger, Antwayn Hopper as Macavity, Primo as Tumblebrutus, Dudney Joseph Jr. as Munkustrap, Junior LaBeija as Gus, Nora Schell as Bustopher Jones, Garnet Williams as Bombalurina, Teddy Wilson Jr. as Sillabub, and Capital Kaos as the DJ.

Lloyd Webber Harrison Musicals (the producing partnership between Webber and Michael Harrison) and Mike Bosner will produce Cats: The Jellicle Ball on Broadway.

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Photo credit: Cats: The Jellicle Ball off Broadway. (Photos by Matthew Murphy)