The hottest club in New York City right now is downtown Manhattan’s Perelman Performing Arts Center, home to a must-see musical revival you never knew you needed of the show you swore you’d never see again—especially after Tom Hooper’s legendary misfire of a movie: Cats.
Directed by Zhailon Levingston (Broadway’s Chicken and Biscuits) and Bill Rauch (former longtime artistic director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, now the Perelman’s AD), this high-energy, high-glam reimagining of the much-maligned Andrew Lloyd Webber–composed musical bears the title Cats: The Jellicle Ball. Emphasis on ball, as in the Ballroom culture portrayed in the 2018–2021 Ryan Murphy–created, Billy Porter–starring FX series Pose and the 1990 documentary Paris Is Burning. So instead of prowling around a garbage dump like they did in the Trevor Nunn–directed original, these cats are dancing down a massive runway, courtesy of choreographers Arturo Lyons and Omari Wiles (both veterans of the HBO Max voguing competition Legendary).
One more very important change from the Cats you know and (possibly) love: “In the context of our production,” the directors explain in a program note, “‘cat’ is slang for any queer person or ally who is part of the Ballroom scene.” In other words, there are no drawn-on whiskers or greasepaint noses, no flesh-toned leotards or tabby-striped legwarmers; instead, Qween Jean costumes the gorgeous cast of Ballroom and theater veterans in contemporary club wear: Think cut-out dresses, slinky corsets, satin booty shorts, belly-baring corsets, and body-hugging jeans. She’s created an appropriately diva-ish ensemble—a leopard-print kimono and matching headwrap, hot pink boa, stacks of pearl bracelets, and lengthy gold talons—for Gus the theater cat (played by Junior “Opulence” LaBeija, Paris Is Burning’s legendary M.C., a brilliant bit of casting), and suited Old Deuteronomy (André De Shields, lapping up the applause like milk) in head-to-toe purple as befits Jellicle and theatrical royalty. And when it comes to wigs, no one does it better than Nikiya Mathis (Jaja’s African Hair Braiding).
One thing that hasn’t changed from the 1982 musical, which now stands as the fifth-longest-running show in Broadway history: the “plot” (so to speak). Wise Old Deuteronomy will select one lucky cat to go “up up up past the Russell Hotel,/ Up up up to the Heaviside Layer,” to be reborn. If you’ve managed to make it this long without seeing Cats, we won’t spoil it for you…but we will tell you that she gets a fabulous new Marilyn Monroe-esque look for the curtain call.
The house-music beats and in-the-club vibe might be too much for some audience members (I spotted one person in my section plugging his ears). But this production demands reaction—the more vocal, the better. How can you not roar when Skimbleshanks the railway cat (Emma Sofia) breaks out a Noo Yawk accent, mumbling part of her lyrics in a hilarious nod to the MTA? And whatever you do, please don’t leave before the curtain call: M.C. Munkustrap (Dudney Joseph Jr.) calls out the cats one by one, and each takes one final spectacular spin down the runway. Jellicle cats come out!
Cats: The Jellicle Ball opened June 20, 2024, at the Perelman Performing Arts Center and runs through July 28. Tickets and information: pacnyc.org
