André De Shields in Cats: The Jellicle Ball
(Photo: Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)
Cats: The Jellicle Ball, the drag and ball culture-inspired take on the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, will play Broadway’s Broadhurst Theatre in the spring. Previews will begin on March 18, 2026 with opening night set for April 7. The production, a reimagining of the 1981 musical, is an immersive competition with ballroom and club beats and runway-ready choreography. Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch direct, with choreography by Arturo Lyons and Omari Wiles.
The off-Broadway production, which played the Perelman Performing Arts Center in the summer of 2024, featured performers hailing from both Broadway and New York’s ball scene. Broadway performers included Tony winner André De Shields as Old Deuteronomy, Jonathan Burke as Mungojerrie, Emma Sofia Caymares as Skimbleshanks, Sydney James Harcourt as Rum Tum Tugger, Antwayn Hopper as Macavity, Shereen Pimentel as Jellylorum, Nora Schell as Bustopher Jones, Teddy Wilson Jr. as Sillabub and Garnet Williams as Bombalurina. Ball community members included Junior LaBeija, the MC in the ’80s ball-culture documentary Paris is Burning, as Gus, “Tempress” Chasity Moore as Grizabella, Baby as Victoria, Primo as Tumblebrutus, Dudney Joseph Jr. as Munkustrap, Capital Kaos as DJ and Robert “Silk” Mason as Mistoffelees.
Cats, based on Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot, has been adapted for the screen twice: a direct-to-video film in 1998 and a feature film, starring Jennifer Hudson, Judi Dench, Taylor Swift and James Corden, in 2019.
