CATS is Officially Aiming for Broadway Return in 2016; Fall or Spring?

The return to London of CATS has been considered a big hit, with the show extending multiple times, and already planning a limited run return for next year. Currently starring in the UK production is Kerry Ellis, through the end of April. Now it sounds like we'll be seeing the Jellicle Ball back on Broadway next year!

Today, talking to the UK Telegraph, Andrew Lloyd Webber notes that SCHOOL OF ROCK will open (on Broadway) in December, and "So should CATS follow on there in April or in the autumn?" Webber responds "The question is how quickly can the company be expected to move from one big show to the other. It's a big ask for my small company to go straight in. I think we will lean towards the Fall. But it's a lovely problem to have."

Since the London production opened, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber has been bullish on Broadway being next, with hopes for Nicole Scherzinger to star. In a recent interview with the Daily Mail, Webber said he plans to bring the show (and his new star) to Broadway. He told DM: "CATS will now definitely go to Broadway again. It's very exciting." On Scherzinger's future involvement, he added: "I would very greatly hope she would do it. To do something like that in America would open up a billion doors for her."

He continued: "She is what you might call an American theatre babe. I do believe she is the most exciting musical theatre artist I have found - well, that I have worked with - in very, very many years. I really do."

On just one special night of the year, all Jellicle cats meet at the Jellicle Ball where Old Deuteronomy, their wise and benevolent leader, makes the Jellicle choice and announces which of them will go up to The Heaviside Layer and be reborn into a whole new Jellicle life.

Cats, one of the longest-running shows in West End and on Broadway, received its world premiere at the New London Theatre in 1981 where it played for 21 record-breaking years and almost 9,000 performances. The production was the winner of the Olivier and Evening Standard Awards for Best Musical. In 1983 the Broadway production became the recipient of seven Tony awards including Best Musical, and ran for eighteen years. Since its world premiere, Cats has been presented in over 30 countries, has been translated into 10 languages and has been seen by over 50 million people world-wide. Both the original London and Broadway cast recordings won Grammy Awards for Best Cast Album. The classic Lloyd Webber score includes Memory which has been recorded by over 150 artists from Barbra Streisand and Johnny Mathis to Liberace and Barry Manilow.

Based on T. S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, the original creative team - Director Trevor Nunn, Associate Director and Choreographer Gillian Lynne, Designer John Napier and ComposerAndrew Lloyd Webber - are reunited to bring Cats back to the West End this Christmas.

Cats West End cast comprises Cameron Ball (Macavity/Admetus), Kathryn Barnes (Tantomile), Cassie Clare (Cassandra), Ross Finnie (Skimbleshanks), Charlene Ford (Bombalurina), Stevie Hutchinson (Pouncival), Adam Lake (Alonzo), Paul F Monaghan (Bustopher Jones/Asparagus/Growl Tiger), Joel Morris (Carbucketty), Natasha Mould (Jemima), Benjamin Mundy (Coricopat), Antoine Murray-Straughan (Rum Tum Tugger), Joseph Poulton (Quaxo/Mistoffelees), Nicholas Pound (Old Deuteronomy), Sophia Ragavelas (alternate Grizabella), Clare Rickard (Jellylorum/ Griddlebone), Adam Salter (Bill Bailey), Laurie Scarth (Jennyanydots), Nicole Scherzinger (Grizabella),Hannah Kenna Thomas (Victoria/White Cat), Callum Train (Munkustrap), Zizi Strallen (Demeter), Dawn Williams (Rumpleteazer) and Benjamin Yates (Mungojerrie) who are joined by swings Ryan Gover, Barry Haywood, Alice Jane, Grace McKee, Dane Quixall and Libby Watts.

Photo Credit: Alessandro Pinna