My Variety Review: 'Cats: The Jellicle Ball'

By FRANK RIZZO

Broadway is burning — and that’s something to celebrate.

“Cats: The Jellicle Ball,” a refreshed version of the downtown 2024 hit, blazes anew, having made the trek uptown with its extravagance, pride and sense of joy intact.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s now-and-forever musical adaptation of T.S. Eliot’s “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats” has been transposed to the world of Harlem’s Black and Latino queer ballroom culture — the same scene as the 1990 documentary “Paris Is Burning” and television’s “Pose.” But here, “Jellicle Ball” has a different human breed of cool cats across the binary spectrum. They are part of the underground community of drag houses whose members compete for trophies in runway categories such as realness, fashion and opulence.

What resonates in this production is not just a vibrant twist on a legendary musical but the power of transformation. As the kitty-littered junkyard of the long-running 1982 original is re-set into a new world of wonder, so too reimagined are the music, choreography, design and characters. Even the audience seems to be fresh and fierce, with a diverse mix of theatergoers continually engaged in the strutting on stage as they flutter their oversized fans to signal their gleeful approval.

But there’s a subtext to the spectacle. The queer predecessors of the characters on stage lived through a devastating epidemic, amid racism, poverty, and violence and discrimination in their gay and trans community. But these defiant drag houses offered safety, acceptance and glamour which were celebrated in these urban spaces. Outside, the world may be raging but inside, it’s raving.

The show begins with DJ Jen Ard thumbing through a box of old LPs and taking out the original cast album of the musical with its classic cat-eyes logo. Bringing it to his deejay deck in one of the theater’s box seats, he places the disc reverently on the turntable. The first iconic notes from the score — now played live — sweep over the theater. Though the tune is familiar, the sound is something else.

Over the years Lloyd Webber has embraced new generations of artists reinventing his works in dramatic and dark ways, such as “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Sunset Boulevard” and “Evita.” However with “Cats,” the immersive reimagining is bright with its score rearranged to reflect the percussive and synthesized heart of house music. (The dynamic orchestrations are by Lloyd Webber and David Wilson under the music supervision and direction of William Waldrop.)

Because the show’s text is largely limited to Eliot’s 1939 volume of light verse, it remains essentially a long revue overlaid with thin narratives. This new queer concept could easily wear out its initial welcome — as its previous concept did for many in 1984. But here it’s rooted in a real — rather than feline — community and its humanness is essential.

In Rachel Hauck’s magnificent design of an industrial space repurposed as a makeshift ballroom, a catwalk extends from center stage into the orchestra (and shortened from its previous run to accommodate Broadway balcony sight lines.) But the vibrancy and hearts of these characters whose new identities and senses of self are on the line is just as thrilling.

Co-directors Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch keep things in a constant state of fabulousness, presenting entertaining design diversions, creating a bit of drama from the outside world, and introducing a few glittering special effects, too. (A giant swirling disco ball descends mid-show from the rafters above the audience, bringing to mind the grand chandelier effect from another Lloyd-Webber show.)

Another fun sideshow: At this performance, comic Billy Eichner and comedian, actress, and jazz singer Lea DeLaria were the “guest judges.” But their roles were playfully incidental with the focus on the zhuzhing more than judging — and the dazzling sights, moves and performances. Choreographers Arturo Lyons and Omari Wiles have these confident contestants shine with struts, sashays, splits, dips, duckwalks, vogueing and death-drops, each trying to outdo the other, urged on by a rapturous crowd.

In a show where style becomes substance, Qween Jean’s costume designs offer one splendiferous fashion after another, topped by stunning hair and wig designs by Nikiya Mathis.

Unencumbered with cat makeup, the cast of very human characters — all excellent — is in a constant state of motion — and emotion, too.

Dudney Joseph Jr. as Munkustrap, presides assuredly as the show’s regal emcee. There’s also the charismatic and studly Sydney James Harcourt as Rum Tum Tugger; Emma Sofia as Skimbleshanks the railway cat is wittily presented as an MTA conductor and is as electrifying as the third rail; Robert Silk Mason as Magical Mystical Mistoffelees and Baby Byrne as Victoria are both visions of breathtaking style, grace and limberness; Teddy Wilson is endearing as Grizabella’s fanboy Sillabub, who represents a generational connection, as the show honors a continuing drag lineage.

Following a touching second act slide show tribute to the founders of the drag houses of that earlier era, Junior LaBeija arrives as Gus, the elder theater cat nostalgically recalling his great stage moments. Giving the scene even more poignancy is that the gender-nonconforming LaBeija, dressed in full fur and long bejeweled fingernails that could double as cat claws, is a ballroom icon who was featured in the documentary “Paris Is Burning.”

Another elder presence with his own renown theatrical history is the 80-year-old André De Shields as Old Deuteronomy, the evening’s grand patriarch. De Shields is, as always, a commanding presence, owning any room he is in with dignified stillness and innate magnificence, and yet barely able to contain his youthful spirit, which finally emerges in full in “The Ad-Dressing of Cats.”

The epitome of ancestral drag and gender rebirth is transgender actress and ballroom mother “Tempress” Chasity Moore. Her Grizabella is presented here as a former ballroom winner who is now a disheveled-but-still-proud street person who finds transcendental radiance with a soulful “Memories.” In this moment the show all at once connects to its past, present and future — and once again rises to Heaviside heights.

Prospects are also promising down the line for something the road hasn’t seen in a long time: “Cats: The Jellicle Ball” just might become the next much-needed, must-see touring show from the House of Broadway.

‘Cats: The Jellicle Ball’ Broadway Review: Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Musical Gets Fresh and Fierce Update as an Ode to Queer Ballroom Culture

Reviewed at the Broadhurst Theater; 1,157 seats; $299 top. Opened April 7, 2026. Reviewed April 3. Running time: TWO HOURS 35 MINS.

Production: Produced by Michael Harrison, Mike Bosner, Lloyd Webber Harrison Musicals, Cynthia Erivo, Get Lifted, LaChanze, Jeremy Pope, Law Roach, Lena Waithe, Origin Story Productions, Miranda Gohh, George Strus, William Berlind, Timothy Bloom / Martinez Grimmett Productions / Drama Club Productions, Adam Kantor & Charly Jaffe, Alex Levy & Shari Redstone, Kevin Cahoon, AEG Presents / Jay Marciano, D'Angora Padgett Productions / Open Horizon, Gavin Kalin Productions, Jake Hine, Nederlander Presentations, Nelson & Tao, Scott Mauro Entertainment / Leachman Feigelson Productions, Lindsay Holmes, Sean Nyberg, MeoWZ Productions, TFLO Productions, artEquity Acton, Bob Boyett, Chimney Town, Cloth Fair Productions, Crooked Letter, DJD Productions, DudaMarcus, EK Productions, Lian Bloch Gill, Grace Street Creative, Lisa Hane, Harris LaneDo Productions, Hill Steinfast, John Gore Organization, Key to the City Productions, Willette Klausner, Klive Entertainment, L + E + N + Z Entertainment, LBH Productions, Christina Liceaga, LTJOF Productions, Lucky Tea Productions, Gates McCaffrey, Mount Caperton Productions, Mumby Foung, Mark Musico, Debbie Ohanian, Ryan R. Ratelle, Adam Riemer, Second Set, The Shubert Organization, The Brians, Theatre Producers of Color and Andy Jones of the production by The Perelman Performing Arts Center / PAC NYC; produced by arrangement with LW Entertainment Limited and produced by arrangement with LW Entertainment.

Crew: Directed by Zhailon Levingston & Bill Rauch; lyrics by T.S. Eliot, based on "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" by T.S. Eliot with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Choreography by Omari Wiles and Arturo Lyons; sets by Rachel Hauck; costume design by Qween Jean; lighting design by Adam Honoré; sound design by Kai Harada; projections by Brittany Bland; hair and wig design by Nikiya Mathis; make-up by Rania Zohny; magic by Paul Kieve; music coordination by David Lai.

Cast: André De Shields, "Tempress" Chasity Moore, Nora Schell, Jonathan Burke, Sydney James Harcourt, Dudney Joseph Jr., Junior LaBeija, Leiomy, Robert "Silk" Mason, Xavier Reyes, Emma Sofia, Primo Thee Ballerino, Dava Huesca, Bebe Nicole Simpson, Garnet Williams, Teddy Wilson Jr., Ken Ard, Kya Azeen, Bryson Battle, Baby Byrne, Tara Lashan Clinkscales, Phumzile Sojola, Kalyn West, Sherrod T. Brown, Bryce Farris, KendLL Grayson Stroud, B. Noel Thomas, Donte Nadir Wilder.