Nearly 35 years after their first performance, more than 30 former cast members from the third national tour of Cats (spawned from the 1982 original Broadway production) will reunite for a streaming event benefiting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
With Love, Now and Forever! CATS4COVIDRELIEF premieres October 23 at 8 PM ET at BroadwayCares.org, where it will be available to view through October 27.
Along with anecdotes about the production, the event will feature a contemporary take on "Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats," a new performance of "Memory" from Leslie Ellis and Christine Toy Johnson, and a version of "The Naming of Cats" featuring a Halloween surprise.
Appearing from the national touring cast will be Mark Agnes, Jay Alger, Deborah Geneviere Athens, Joanna Beck, Anthony Vincent Bova, Lisa Dawn Cave, Jonathan Cerullo, Leslie Ellis, Robert Barry Fleming, Jack Gaughan, David Geist, Adrea Gibbs, JoAnn Hunter, Austin Jetton, Christine Toy Johnson, Aja Kane, BK Kennelly, Deidre Lang, Brian Liddicoat, Charmaine Liddicoat, Karen Longwell, Kari Nicolaisen, Bill Nolte, Donna Pompei, Cathy Sue Pyles, Rachelle Rak, Arminae Reames, Edward G. Robinson, Randy Slovacek, Julie Stiel, Beth Swearingen, Fred Tallaksen, Amiee Turner, James Walski, and Matt Zarley.
The creative team for With Love, Now and Forever! includes director Jonathan Cerullo, who conceived and produces the event; writer Christine Toy Johnson; choreographers JoAnn M. Hunter and James Walski; and entrepreneur Austin Jetton.
The company previously came together in 1987, a year after the tour launched, to hold a one-night-only event in memory of Tony-winning director-choreographer Michael Bennett, who had recently passed away due to complications of AIDS. One Singular Sensation: A Tribute to Michael Bennett raised nearly $40,000 for the Kansas City Good Samaritan Project in a time before Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS had been formed.
