Cats
Cats, award-winning stage musical by the English composer and theatrical producer Andrew Lloyd Webber, adapted from Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats (1939), a book of poems for children by the Nobel Prize-winning American English poet and playwright T.S. Eliot. An enormously popular, flashy spectacle of a show, Cats premiered in London’s West End on May 11, 1981, at the New London Theatre (now the Gillian Lynne Theatre) and began its Broadway run on October 7, 1982, at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York City. The musical was performed nearly 9,000 times over 21 years in the West End and nearly 7,500 times over 18 years on Broadway. It is one of the longest-running and highest-grossing West End and Broadway shows of all time. The musical’s iconic all-black poster features yellow-green cat eyes, with pupils fashioned from the black silhouettes of dancers. Cats has been translated into 15 languages, and touring productions have performed it in more than 30 countries. More than 73 million people worldwide have seen it.
Cats is a sung-through extravaganza set in a junkyard, the stage (the original London production featured a revolving one) littered with oversized trash cans, tires, abandoned cars, and other discards. The actors—wearing elaborate costumes of leotards, furs, and leg warmers and sporting spiky hair and feline makeup—alternate strenuously athletic dancing with songs based on Eliot’s whimsical poems. Before and during the show, the actors in their cat personas prowl among the audience with glowing green eyes.
- Grizabella, the glamor cat
- Macavity, the “Napoleon of crime”
- Rum Tum Tugger, a hard-to-please cat
- Jennyanydots, the old Gumbie cat
- Bustopher Jones, the cat about town
- Mr. Mistoffelees, the conjuring cat
- Old Deuteronomy, leader of the Jellicle Cats
Plot
The musical has a loose plot centered on the tribe of Jellicle Cats, who gather once a year for the Jellicle Ball. After the ball the cats’ leader, Old Deuteronomy, chooses one cat to be reborn into a new life in the Heaviside Layer, a fictional feline afterlife. Throughout the musical, cats with names such as Jennyanydots, Rum Tum Tugger, and Bustopher Jones introduce themselves and explain why Old Deuteronomy should choose them. Macavity, also known as the “Napoleon of crime,” kidnaps Old Deuteronomy, but Mr. Mistoffelees, the conjuring cat, uses magic to bring him back. Grizabella the glamor cat, who left the tribe years ago, visits the junkyard. She wants to rejoin the tribe, but the Jellicle Cats shun her. Near the end of the musical, Grizabella sings the showstopping “Memory”—one of the best-known songs in musical theater history—and the Jellicle Cats finally accept her. Old Deuteronomy chooses Grizabella to be reborn, and she ascends to the Heaviside Layer on the musical’s central prop, a hydraulic tire.
Notable cast members
Some of musical theater’s most celebrated performers have been associated with one or more roles in Cats. The original West End cast starred Elaine Paige as Grizabella, Brian Blessed as both Old Deuteronomy and Bustopher Jones, Sarah Brightman as a cat named Jemima, and Paul Nicholas as Rum Tum Tugger. Betty Buckley played Grizabella in the original Broadway production with Terrence Mann as Rum Tum Tugger and Ken Page as Old Deuteronomy. Grizabella was played in subsequent revivals by singers Nicole Scherzinger, Beverley Knight, and Leona Lewis.
Awards
The original West End production earned an Olivier Award and an Evening Standard Award for best musical, and choreographer Gillian Lynne earned an Olivier Award for outstanding achievement of the year in a musical. The show’s sets and costumes were designed by John Napier, and the production was directed by Trevor Nunn, who also adapted several of Eliot’s poems into the lyrics of “Memory.” Paige’s recording of “Memory” was a top 10 hit on the Official UK Singles Chart. The song has been covered hundreds of times by artists ranging from Barbra Streisand to Barry Manilow.
The 1982 Broadway production won seven Tony Awards: best musical, best actress in a featured role in a musical (Buckley), best director of a musical (Nunn), best costume designer (Napier), best lighting designer (David Hersey), best book of a musical, and best original musical score. The Broadway cast recording won a Grammy Award for best cast album.
Revivals and film adaptations
The later revivals of Cats were performed in the West End in 2014–16 and on Broadway in 2015–17. The West End revival was nominated for an Olivier Award, as was Scherzinger in the role of Grizabella. Two film adaptations of Cats have been released—a direct-to-video filming of the stage musical in 1998 and a high-profile Hollywood adaptation in 2019. Directed by Tom Hooper, the latter starred Jennifer Hudson (Grizabella), Judi Dench (Old Deuteronomy), Ian McKellen (Gus the theater cat), Taylor Swift (Bombalurina), Idris Elba (Macavity), James Corden (Bustopher Jones), and Jason Derulo (Rum Tum Tugger). The film received poor reviews despite its celebrated cast.
