Few Broadway premieres have been anticipated with as much fervor as this one. In New York, a new staging of the musical Cats is opening this week—and it shifts the spotlight from felines to queer culture. In Cats: The Jellicle Ball, dazzling performers take the place of the animals, a junkyard is swapped for a catwalk, and all of it unfolds with the blessing of Andrew Lloyd Webber, the musical mastermind behind the show.
The production has reimagined the cult classic as a celebration of ballroom culture—a vibrant, queer subculture that emerged in New York in the 1960s within the Afro- and Latino-LGBTQI community. In balls, contestants judge each other by their outfits and dance moves, competing for trophies. The balls were originally spaces for people who were not welcome elsewhere. The parallel to the plot of the original, in which street cats compete in a contest for a chance to be reborn into a new, better life, is unmistakable.
From the Original, More Than Fur, Ears, Claws, and Tails Remain
The original scripts were kept intact as they were—and would have fit perfectly into ballroom culture, said Chasity Moore, who plays the glamorous Grizabella, in an interview on a podcast. The characters have stayed the same, even when the costumes now merely nod to the original—ears of fur, claws, and a few tails appear as references. The text is still drawn from the poems of T. S. Eliot in Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.
Cats first hit Broadway in 1982. Back then, the ballroom scene was thriving—near the Broadway corridor, yet far from any recognition in the so-called high arts. The piece is not only a tribute to the original but also a statement that ballroom deserves its place as an art form alongside everything else, said Zhailon Levingston, the director, in an interview with NPR.
Popularizing a Subculture
In recent years, ballroom culture has been increasingly recognized by a broader audience—thanks in part to its portrayal in film and television, including the series Pose, which brought ballroom to a global audience and reframed its cultural significance. The voguing dance style associated with the scene has likewise gained mainstream notoriety. The documentary Paris Is Burning immortalized the subculture in the early 1990s, and the Broadway production continues to honor its milieu through numerous references to its iconic figures.
The Show Is One Big Party
The piece breaks ground in many ways, including its propensity to erupt into spontaneous party moments during performances. Audiences arrive ready for celebration, some arriving in outrageous outfits and bringing various party accessories, such as fans that snap open and shut with loud clacks. Fan-clacking—a staple of ballroom and rave culture—forms a core part of the experience, inviting the crowd to become part of the spectacle.
Traumatic Cats Flop for Webber
The Cats adaptation slots into a string of revivals of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s prolific catalog. Webber, whose work also includes Jesus Christ Superstar, Starlight Express, and The Phantom of the Opera, has for decades filled Broadway and London’s West End with his shows. Yet the Cats film in 2019 briefly cast a shadow over the longtime hit’s reputation. In a recent interview, Webber quipped that he had even bought a dog to help cope with the flop of the cat musical.
The new staging, however, may not need such coping strategies. It has already enjoyed Off-Broadway success and was billed by Webber as a crowd-pleaser. “Rarely have I seen an audience respond with so much joy and affection,” he said in a statement cited by multiple outlets. “The atmosphere was simply electric.” He noted that Cats and ballroom culture emerged in the same era, and he’s thrilled that their paths are crossing again, all these years later.
The piece, directed by Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch, officially opened on Broadway on April 7 at the Broadhurst Theatre.
