WATCH: Meet the Cast of ‘CATS: The Jellicle Ball’ on Broadway
After a fabulous sneak peek at this upcoming Broadway revival, the stars shared why inclusive joy is so important right now
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TDF is proud to be partnering with CATS: The Jellicle Ball on a slate of accessibility initiatives that will bring more than 3,000 of our community members to the show at low or no cost. To celebrate our collaboration, we’re sharing an advance look at this radical revival.
The CAT-egory is reinvention! Beloved by critics and audiences alike during its sold-out run at the Perelman Performing Arts Center in summer 2024, this inspired revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats resets the musical on the LGBTQ Harlem Ballroom scene as fierce dancers compete to be top dog. TDF recently got a preview of the fabulous production, which begins previews on March 18 at the Broadhurst Theatre.
In addition to gagging at the jaw-dropping choreography, which you can see in the video below, we spoke with some of the show’s stars, including Tony winner André De Shields, about why this radically diverse and inclusive reimagining of CATS is so necessary during this divisive moment.
“We are experiencing such challenging times, times that should not be existing now because it means we are traveling in reverse,” observes De Shields, who plays Old Deuteronomy, the cool cat presiding over The Jellicle Ball. “We are here to remind people that we should be looking to the future. There is a paradigm sitting on the horizon waiting to be discovered by not just those of us who have been marginalized to the edges of society for so many years, but by everyone who claims that this is the greatest country on the planet, the home of the free and the brave. It is up to those of us who want to create meaningful art, who want to take a mirror and hold it up to society to see where the wounds are, because we have the medicine to heal.”
Ken Ard played multiple roles in the original Broadway production of Cats. Now he returns to the re-envisioned musical as DJ Griddlebone. “This just took my spirit and lifted it,” he says. “I think that’s what it’s going to do for audiences that are seeing it for the first time. They are coming to get a spiritual lift. It is a beautiful, all-encompassing” show.
Dudney Joseph Jr., who plays Munkustrap, believes the production is empowering. “For people who are particularly under attack right now in this current climate, I think it is even more important that we show up,” he says. “I think everything happens for a reason, and that’s why CATS is happening now, so those people can come in and feel whole and seen and know that they are worthy.”
“This show is really, truly a revolution—it shows representation across race, sexuality and gender,” says Jonathan Burke, who plays Mungojerrie. “It brings people together. It is celebrating who we are as Black and brown people, as queer people, as trans people, as nonbinary people.”
“It is important for people to see that our community is human,” says Leiomy, a trans Ballroom icon making her Broadway debut as Macavity. The production also shows “that there is so much talent and so many flavors to Ballroom, and the way that they have chosen to mesh Ballroom and CATS is so special. We are able to showcase our own lived experiences and what we’ve gone through. The world needs to see that.”
Another trans Ballroom legend, “Tempress” Chasity Moore, who’s making her Broadway debut as the “Memory”-belting Grizabella, agrees. “TGNC [transgender and gender nonconforming folks] are being villainized, so the show definitely humanizes us,” she says. “When you see a free world, you begin to fight for it. I feel like when you come to see CATS, there is so much joy and happiness, and it’s a redemption story. I believe that one day, we will all get our redemption story.”
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