{"id":326005,"date":"2026-03-07T02:44:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T02:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/326005\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T02:44:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T02:44:11","slug":"an-exclusive-glimpse-inside-rehearsals-for-cats-the-jellicle-ball-on-broadway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/326005\/","title":{"rendered":"An Exclusive Glimpse Inside Rehearsals for \u2018Cats: The Jellicle Ball\u2019 on Broadway"},"content":{"rendered":"

Behind a table edged in flowing gold fringe stands the legendary Broadway actor Andr\u00e9 De Shields<\/a>. He holds up a small, cat-shaped sign that simply says \u201cMeow.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the first thing I see upon entering a rehearsal for Cats: The Jellicle Ball<\/a> at New 42 Studios\u2014the company\u2019s last in that space before they move into their Broadway home. (Previews begin March 18 at the Broadhurst Theatre.) After a wildly successful run downtown<\/a>, at the Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC), this singular reimagining of Andrew Lloyd Webber\u2019s classic megamusical\u2014rooted now in Harlem\u2019s ballroom culture\u2014Cats has found a new life.<\/p>\n

Rows of people take their seats in front of the makeshift stage, its long runway evoking those of balls past and present. Trophies, topped with little gold cats, line the back of the stage, ready to be snatched by the show\u2019s cast of characters. Times Square advertisements flicker behind the studio\u2019s glass windows.<\/p>\n

Nora Schell, the show\u2019s Bustopher Jones, warms up their voice to the plink of a piano. Baby Byrne, who plays Victoria, stretches a leg into her face before zipping into a pair of shiny, knee-high heeled boots. Primo Thee Ballerino\u2014our Tumblebrutus\u2014rolls out his back, wearing boots with tiny, cat-like claws affixed. Silk, playing a Magical Mister Mistoffelees with legs for decades, twists their limbs into the sky. Xavier Reyes, as Jennyanydots, twirls in a leopard- and tiger-printed coat, straps gold heels with cigarette bows to his feet, and saunters away. On the sidelines, meanwhile, sits the ballroom icon Junior LaBeija, this production\u2019s Gus the Theatre Cat.<\/p>\n

What follows is a performance so immersive, invigorating, and infectiously joyful I forget how long I\u2019ve been sitting there. (The show\u2019s runtime is two hours and 45 minutes, including an intermission, but it doesn\u2019t feel like it.) Shouts of \u201cYes, henny!\u201d erupt from the audience, as well as the odd \u201cPump, mama, pump!\u201d from fellow performers as each ball category is revealed and each character introduced through song.<\/p>\n

As in the PAC production, influences from gospel to house music, voguing to ballet to jazz abound (courtesy of co-choreographers Omari Wiles and Arturo Lyons) as we follow the story of these cats at their ball, where the ultimate prize is being reborn. Ballroom icon and \u201cWonder Woman of Vogue\u201d Leiomy<\/a> tickles us with her mischievous Macavity. Sydney James Harcourt, as Rum Tum Tugger, becomes our resident heartthrob. I get goosebumps as Tempress Chasity Moore, playing Grizabella, sings \u201cMemory.\u201d I\u2019d never understood that song, it seems, until now.<\/p>\n

For a while, it seemed the original incarnation of Cats\u2014which continues to be performed around the world\u2014had become something of a clich\u00e9, a show high school drama teachers begged their students to avoid for audition songs. (The instantly memefied film adaptation from 2019 didn\u2019t help.) But now, with The Jellicle Ball, I wonder if this is perhaps the version of the show that should have existed from the start. In this iteration, the cats live in a world with stakes that exist beyond the merely fantastical.<\/p>\n

See more from rehearsals for Cats: The Jellicle Ball\u2014opening on Broadway this April\u2014below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Behind a table edged in flowing gold fringe stands the legendary Broadway actor Andr\u00e9 De Shields. He holds…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326006,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[146,85,46,108255,5101],"class_list":["post-326005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-storytypereporting-story","tag-web"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}