CATS returns to Australia with new Jellicle life

Jellicle Cats, come one come all! Andrew Lloyd Webber’s record-breaking musical CATS is heading down under from 30 October this year in a new, reworked production.

Cats made it to Australia soon after the original production
A revamped production of CATS is heading down under

It’s been 5 years since the felines of CATS the Musical have danced the Jellicle Ball in Australia but a revamped revival of CATS the Musical will be touring to Sydney, Hobart, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth in 2015-16 and tickets are on sale this Friday 24 April.

Based on T. S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, the show is set amongst a larger-than-life junkyard playground and is alive characters including Rum Tum Tugger, Mr. Mistoffelees, Macavity, Jennyanydots, Old Deuteronomy, Grizabella and Skimbleshanks.

Following a season in London’s West End, the reworked production features Rum Tum Tugger as a a rapping, breakdancing ‘street-cat’, not the traditional Mick Jagger-style rock star cat of productions past, and includes a new tap routine for Jennyanydots as well as other small changes.

“I’ve come to the conclusion that having read Eliot again, maybe Eliot was the inventor of rap”, Lloyd Webber said.

CATS is one of the longest running shows in history and it is understood that much of the show will remain as it has since its London premiere in 1981 (a production which played on the West End for 21 record breaking years and almost 9000 performances).

Since its premiere, CATS has been presented in over 30 countries, has been translated into 15 languages and has been seen by more than 73 million people worldwide. Both the original London and Broadway cast recordings won Grammy Awards for Best Cast Album.

For more information, visit the official CATS website catsthemusical.com/australia

Erin James

Erin James is AussieTheatre.com's former Editor in Chief and a performer on both stage and screen. Credits include My Fair Lady, South Pacific and The King and I (Opera Australia), Love Never Dies and Cats (Really Useful Group), Blood Brothers (Enda Markey Presents), A Place To Call Home (Foxtel/Channel 7) and the feature film The Little Death (written and directed by Josh Lawson).

Erin James

One thought on “CATS returns to Australia with new Jellicle life

  • Have meowsy on us, Erin!

    Reply

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