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Cats (musical)

Cats is a sung-through musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. It is based on the 1939 poetry collection Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot. The musical tells the story of a tribe of cats called the Jellicles and the night they make the "Jellicle choice" by deciding which cat will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new life. As of 2022, Cats remains the fifth-longest-running Broadway show and the seventh-longest-running West End show.

Cats

11 May 1981 (1981-05-11): New London Theatre, London, England, U.K.

  • 1981: London
  • 1982: Broadway
  • 1983: Shiki[1]
  • 2014: First London Revival
  • 2015: Second London Revival
  • 2016: First Broadway Revival

Lloyd Webber began setting Eliot's poems to music in 1977, and the compositions were first presented as a song cycle in 1980. Producer Cameron Mackintosh then recruited director Trevor Nunn and choreographer Gillian Lynne to turn the songs into a complete musical. Cats opened to positive reviews at the New London Theatre in the West End in 1981 and then to mixed reviews at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway in 1982. It won numerous awards including Best Musical at both the Laurence Olivier and Tony Awards. Despite its unusual premise that deterred investors initially, the musical turned out to be an unprecedented commercial success, with a worldwide gross of US$3.5 billion by 2012.


The London production ran for 21 years and 8,949 performances, while the Broadway production ran for 18 years and 7,485 performances, making Cats the longest-running musical in both theatre districts for a number of years. Cats has since been revived in the West End twice and on Broadway once. It has also been translated into multiple languages and performed around the world many times. Long-running foreign productions include a 15-year run at the Operettenhaus in Hamburg that played over 6,100 performances, as well as an ongoing run in a purpose-built theatre in Japan that has played over 10,000 performances since it opened in 1983.


Cats started the megamusical phenomenon, establishing a global market for musical theatre and directing the industry's focus to big-budget blockbusters, as well as family- and tourist-friendly shows. The musical's profound but polarising influence also reshaped the aesthetic, technology, and marketing of the medium. Cats was adapted into a direct-to-video film in 1998 and a feature film in 2019.

Creation[edit]

Inception[edit]

Lloyd Webber began composing the songs in late 1977 as a songwriting exercise, partly because Eliot's book had been a childhood favourite and partly to see if he could write music to predetermined lyrics. The compositions were performed privately for friends but Lloyd Webber had no further intentions for them at the time. After his song cycle Tell Me on a Sunday was televised by the BBC in early 1980, Lloyd Webber began to consider using his musicalization of Eliot's poems in the same vein for a televised concert anthology.[9] He approached producer Cameron Mackintosh to explore possible avenues for the songs.[10]


Practical Cats, as the show was then called, was first presented as a song cycle at the 1980 summer Sydmonton Festival. The concert was performed by Gemma Craven, Gary Bond and Paul Nicholas. Eliot's widow and literary executor, Valerie, was in attendance and brought along various unpublished cat-themed poems by Eliot. One of these was "Grizabella the Glamour Cat" which, although rejected from Eliot's book for being "too sad for children", gave Lloyd Webber the idea for a full-blown musical.[11] He explained:

a.k.a. the Theatre Cat – A frail elderly cat who used to be a famous stage actor.[36]

Asparagus (Gus)

– A flirty and confident red queen; she is best friends with Demeter and the two share an intense hatred for Macavity.[37]

Bombalurina

a.k.a. the Cat About Town – A fat upper-class cat with a "fastidious black coat and white spats". Respected by all, he is a man of leisure who frequents gentlemen's clubs for their fine dining.[38] In most productions, the actor playing Gus also plays Bustopher, though in early productions the part was handled by the actor playing Old Deuteronomy.

Bustopher Jones

– A troubled and skittish queen; she is best friends with Bombalurina and the two share an intense hatred for Macavity.[37]

Demeter

– A former Glamour Cat, ostracised by the Jellicles, who has lost her sparkle and now only wants to be accepted.[39]

Grizabella

– A motherly caretaker who watches out for the kittens and looks after Gus.

Jellylorum

– The youngest kitten. Idealistic and jovial, she is sympathetic to Grizabella's plight.[40]

Jemima/Sillabub

a.k.a. the Old Gumbie Cat – She sits around all day and is seemingly very lazy, but at night, she becomes very active as she rules the mice and cockroaches, forcing them to undertake helpful functions and creative projects to curb their naturally destructive habits.[41]

Jennyanydots

a.k.a. the Mystery Cat – A notorious criminal known as the "Napoleon of Crime".[42] Usually played by the actor playing Admetus/Plato.

Macavity

– A young black-and-white tuxedo tom learning to control his magical powers.[43] He is a featured dancer, performing his signature "Conjuring Turn" (twenty-four consecutive fouettés en tournant) during his number.[44] Mistoffelees' chorus identity is sometimes known as Quaxo.

Mr. Mistoffelees

– A mischievous troublemaker, he is one-half of a notorious duo of cat-burglars along with Rumpleteazer.[45]

Mungojerrie

– A grey tabby tomcat who is the storyteller and protector of the Jellicle tribe. He is Old Deuteronomy's second-in-command and the show's main narrator.[46]

Munkustrap

– The wise and benevolent elderly Jellicle leader who is beloved by his tribe.[47]

Old Deuteronomy

– A mischievous troublemaker, she is one half of a notorious duo of cat-burglars along with Mungojerrie.[45]

Rumpleteazer

– A flashy and unappeasable cat who loves to be the centre of attention.[48]

Rum Tum Tugger

a.k.a. the Railway Cat – An upbeat and active orange tabby cat, who lives on the mail trains and acts as an unofficial chaperone to such an extent he is considered rather indispensable to the train and station employees.[49]

Skimbleshanks

– A demure and graceful white kitten. She is a featured dancer, opening with a ballet solo after "The Naming of the Cats" and is the first character to touch Grizabella.[50]

Victoria

Admetus/Macavity: (1994–1995)[64]

Richard Armitage

Alonzo: (1992), Steven Houghton (1993), Jason Gardiner (1997), Chris Jarvis (2001–2002)[64][65]

Warren Carlyle

Asparagus/Growltiger: (1988), Mark Wynter (1990–1992), Peter Polycarpou (2001–2002)[64][65]

Paul Bentley

Bill Bailey: (1982)[64]

Michael Sundin

Bombalurina: (1984–1985), Janie Dee (1990), Donna King (1992), Heather Douglas (1999)[64]

Femi Taylor

Coricopat: (1983)[64]

Danny John-Jules

Demeter: (1985), Louise Fribo (1994–1995)[64]

Erin Lordan

Electra: (1993–1994)[64]

Sarah-Jane Honeywell

Etcetera: (2001–2002)[64][65]

Sarah-Jane Honeywell

Grizabella: (1982), Marti Webb (1983), Carol Nielsson (1984–1985), Anita Harris (1985–1986), Clare Burt (1993), Rosemarie Ford (1995), Diane Langton (1996), Stephanie Lawrence (1997), Sally Ann Triplett (1998), Chrissie Hammond (1999–2002),[64][65] Kerry Ellis (revival; 2015),[66] Madalena Alberto (revival; 2015–2016)[67]

Angela Richards

Jellylorum/Griddlebone: (2000–2001)[64][68]

Rebecca Lock

Jemima: (1987–1989), Louise Fribo (1996), Veerle Casteleyn (1998–1999)[64]

Ruthie Henshall

Jennyanydots: (1983–1986)[64]

Ann Emery

Mistoffelees: (1998), Louie Spence (1999),[69] Jacob Brent (2001)[64]

Gen Horiuchi

Munkustrap: (1982), Gary Martin (1987–1990), Steven Houghton (1994)[64]

David Burt

Old Deuteronomy: (1983–1985), John Rawnsley (1995–1997), Dave Willetts (2001), Junix Inocian (2001–2002)[64][65]

John Turner

Rum Tum Tugger: (1995, 2001–2002),[65] Tommie Earl Jenkins (1997–1998)[64]

John Partridge

Rumpleteazer: (1988–1990), Jo Gibb (1996–1997)[64]

Anna-Jane Casey

Skimbleshanks: (1984–1985)[64]

Neil Fitzwiliam

Victoria: (1992–1993)[64] Kirsten Smith Grove (2002–2003) {Off Broadway}

Phyllida Crowley Smith

Reception[edit]

Box office[edit]

Cats is a commercial blockbuster. Its worldwide box office gross of over US$2 billion by 1994 made it the highest grossing musical in history at the time.[297]

Official website

at the Internet Broadway Database

​Cats​

Interview with Andrew Lloyd Webber in International Songwriters Association's "Songwriter Magazine"