Well, its taken over 40 years but Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ubiquitous musical CATS has finally been queered up. The Award Winning Show that opened to critical acclaim in London, and then mixed reviews on Broadway became the fifth-longest-running Broadway show and the seventh-longest-running West End show. That’s a lot of coach parties of tourists in any ones language..
When you think about the whole concept of a full length musical about a bunch of overdressed felines, it’ quite’s quite difficult to comprehend that this was the work of two heterosexual men. (Well author T.S. Eliot‘s sexuality has never been settled, historically. In fact, he publicly denied being gay, then burned nearly all letters that might have contradicted this.)
There have been attempts to revive/adapt the show before but those efforts have been less than overwhelming: ‘Time Out Magazine‘ decribed them as a taxidermic 2016 revival, and widely mocked 2019 film.
But that has all changed with a thrilling reconception at the Perelman Performing Arts Center in NY that not only rescues Cats from the oversize junkyard but lifts it, like Grizabella herself, to unexpected heights. The co-directors of Cats: The Jellicle have embraced the musical’s very obvious queerness. and have been rewarded with critical acclaim. Both kitsch and camp and with stars of the ilk of legendary André De Shields, there probably won’t be room for any straight men in this audience
Cats: The Jellicle Ball. Perelman Performing Arts Center (Off Broadway). https://pacnyc.org/whats-on/cats-the-jellicle-ball/
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Labels: 2024, Andre Shields, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Cats The Jellicle Ball, Perleman Center NY, preview, TS Eliot
