'Electric': Andrew Lloyd Webber Officially Weighs In on Ballroom-Inspired Cats: 'The Jellicle Ball'

Kitties, Andrew Lloyd Webber has finally weighed in on the drastically reimagined revival of his musical Cats, now playing at Perelman Performing Arts Center. Co-directed by Bill Rauch and Zhailon Levingston, the production (titled Cats: "The Jellicle Ball") takes inspiration from drag and ballroom culture.

The Tony and Olivier-winning composer caught a performance earlier this month. “I have rarely seen an audience respond with as much joy and love as I saw recently at Cats: 'The Jellicle Ball,'" says Lloyd Webber in the newly released statement. "The atmosphere was, quite simply, electric. Cats and Ballroom culture both emerged in the same era and I am delighted that, all these years later, they are intersecting once again. I want to congratulate the entire team behind this special show!"

The statement releases as the hit production reveals a third extension, with performances now set to continue at the downtown Off-Broadway venue through September 8. The production will take a brief hiatus August 12–21. Read what critics had to say about the show here.

READ: In This New Cats Revival, It's Jellicle Songs for Voguers and Femme Queens

The current cast, comprising a mix of both ballroom and musical theatre favorites, includes Baby as Victoria, Jonathan Burke as Mungojerrie, André De Shields as Old Deuteronomy, Sydney James Harcourt as Rum Tum Tugger, Antwayn Hopper as Macavity, Dava Huesca as Rumpleteaser, Dudney Joseph Jr. as Munkustrap, Capital Kaos as DJ, Junior LaBeija as Gus, Robert "Silk" Mason as Mistoffelees, "Tempress" Chasity Moore as Grizabella, Shereen Pimentel as Jellylorum, Primo as Tumblebrutus, Xavier Reyes as Jennyanydots, Nora Schell as Bustopher Jones, Bebe Nicole Simpson as Demeter, Emma Sofia as Skimbleshanks, Garnet Williams as Bombalurina, and Teddy Wilson, Jr. as Sillabub. The ensemble includes Tara lashan Clinkscales, Phumzile Sojola, and Kendall Grayson Stroud, with understudies Bryce Farris, Shelby Griswoldm and Dominique Lee rounding out the company.

Additional casting for the new performances is to be announced. Casting is by X Casting's Victor Vazquez and Sujotta R. Pace.

The creative team includes co-choreographers Legendary season two winner Arturo Lyons and vogue dancer Omari Wiles, dramaturg and gender consultant Josephine Kearns, scenic designer Rachel Hauck, costume designer Qween Jean, lighting designer Adam Honoré, sound designer Kai Harada, projection designer Brittany Bland, and hair and wig designer and 2024 Special Tony Award recipient Nikiya Mathis. Company member Capital Kaos is also serving as ballroom consultant.

Also on the creative team is beats arranger Trevor Holder, with William Waldrop serving as music supervisor and music director and David Lai as music coordinator.

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 will be 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 production is being presented by arrangement with The Really Useful Group. Lloyd Webber has previously announced that he will donate his royalties from the production to the American Theatre Wing's Andrew Lloyd Webber Initiative and PAC NYC.

Visit PACNYC.org.