{"id":756036,"date":"2026-06-23T23:28:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T23:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/756036\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T23:28:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T23:28:16","slug":"cats-the-jellicle-ball-brings-vogue-to-the-tonight-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/756036\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Cats: The Jellicle Ball\u2019 Brings Vogue to \u2018The Tonight Show\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n Photo: Todd Owyoung\/NBC via Getty Images\n <\/p>\n

Not to commit the sin of choosing a favorite cat from Cats: The Jellicle Ball<\/a>, but Skimbleshanks is hard to deny. Last night, the voguing superstar made her way to The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon to perform her titular number, \u201cSkimbleshanks the Railway Cat.\u201d This reimagined version of Andrew Lloyd Webber\u2019s Cats is set in the Harlem ballroom scene, and Skimbleshanks, played by Broadway veteran Emma Sofia (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory<\/a>), is an MTA conductor coming straight from the train to the ball. Both in the Broadhurst Theatre and on The Tonight Show, the number is a total joy bomb. It is perhaps the show\u2019s best example of simultaneously bringing real grit and musical-theater polish into the same song. Sofia emphasizes her deeply held New York accent, singing \u201cThat\u2019s when I would appear \/ And I\u2019d saunter to the rear\u201d with \u201cappea-yah\u201d and \u201cree-yah.\u201d Then she stands on her head. It rules.<\/p>\n

The production, directed to Tony-winning success by Bill Rausch and Zhailon Levingston, sets each number to a different ballroom category. This one is \u201cold way\u201d versus \u201cnew way.\u201d Old way refers to the original version of voguing, up through the late \u201980s, which emphasized clean, symmetrical lines in the body and sharp angles. New way came to the ballroom scene later, bringing increased flexibility and a dancerly quality. \u201cI wanted to make it fluid, and some of us were able to get into these intricate double-jointed poses that many couldn\u2019t do,\u201d ballroom pioneer Jose Xtravaganza explained to Vogue<\/a>. \u201cWe added that element to it, and the \u2018New Way\u2019 was born as a way to categorize it.\u201d Both versions are shown in the \u201cSkimbleshanks\u201d number. Don\u2019t tell me Broadway never taught you anything.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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