{"id":491740,"date":"2026-06-23T15:40:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T15:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/491740\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T15:40:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T15:40:08","slug":"video-emma-sofia-and-cast-of-cats-the-jellicle-ball-perform-skimbleshanks-the-railway-cat-on-the-tonight-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/491740\/","title":{"rendered":"Video: Emma Sofia and Cast of Cats: The Jellicle Ball Perform ‘Skimbleshanks: The Railway Cat’ on The Tonight Show"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Tonight Show Starring\u00a0Jimmy Fallon recently welcomed the cast of\u00a0Cats: The Jellicle Ball<\/a>, winner of three 2026 Tony Awards.<\/p>\n

Watch the company of the revival of the Andrew Lloyd Webber<\/a> musical, led by Emma Sofia<\/a> as Skimbleshanks, perform “Skimbleshanks: The Railway Cat” in the video above.<\/p>\n

The reimagined revival of the Lloyd Webber musical transforms
\nits Jellicle cats into drag ball contestants walking sickening looks
\ndown the runway. Previews began March 18 prior to an official opening April 7\u00a0at the Broadhurst, coming to the Main Stem after a
\n premiere run at Off-Broadway’s Perelman Performing Arts Center last
\nyear.<\/p>\n

READ: Emma Sofia Is Bringing Her Authentic Self to Cats: The Jellicle Ball<\/a><\/p>\n

Much of the cast from that bow is back to reprise their work,
\nincluding Tony winner Andr\u00e9 De Shields<\/a> as Old Deuteronomy, “Tempress”
\nChasity Moore as Grizabella, Junior LaBeija<\/a> as Gus, Sydney James
\nHarcourt as Rum Tum Tugger, Jonathan Burke<\/a> as Mungojerrie, Baby Byrne<\/a> as
\n Victoria, Dava Huesca<\/a> as Rumpleteazer, Dudney Joseph Jr. as Munkustrap,
\n Robert \u201cSilk\u201d Mason as Magical Mister Mistoffelees, Primo Thee
\nBallerino as Tumblebrutus, Xavier Reyes<\/a> as Jennyanydots, Nora Schell<\/a> as
\nBustopher Jones, Beb\u00e9 Nicole Simpson as Demeter, Sofia as Cassandra
\n and Skimbleshanks, Garnet Williams<\/a> as Bombalurina, Teddy Wilson<\/a>, Jr. as
\n Sillabub, and Tara Lashan Clinkscales<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The cast also includes Legendary head judge Leiomy as Mavacity; Kya Azeen<\/a> (Pose) as Etcetera; Bryson Battle<\/a> (The Voice)
\n as Jellylorum; and Ken Ard<\/a>, who created the role of Macavity in the
\n1982 original Broadway production, as DJ Griddlebone; along with Sherrod
\n T. Brown, Bryce Farris<\/a>, Phumzile Sojola<\/a> (Masquerade), Kendall Grayson Stroud<\/a>, B. Noel Thomas (Saturday Church), Kalyn West<\/a> (The Prom), and Dont\u00e9 Nadir Wilder<\/a>. Casting is by X Casting<\/a>‘s Victor Vazquez and Sujotta R. Pace<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The production, co-directed by Zhailon Levingston<\/a> and Bill Rauch<\/a> and
\nfeaturing vogueing-infused choreography by Omari Wiles<\/a> and Arturo Lyons<\/a>,
\n has its Jellicle cats convening for an annual ball to stomp the runway
\nin fabulous duds, with Lloyd Webber’s Tony-winning score (notably
\nincluding the seminal “Memory”) newly augmented by dance music-inspired
\nbeats (by beats arranger and producer Trevor Holder<\/a>). The Broadway bow’s
\n theatre configuration<\/a> includes onstage seating on either side of a ballroom runway.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The creative team also includes scenic designer Rachel Hauck<\/a>, costume
\n designer Qween Jean<\/a>, lighting designer Adam Honor\u00e9<\/a>, sound designer Kai
\nHarada, projection designer Brittany Bland<\/a>, hair and wig designer Nikiya
\n Mathis, make-up designer Rania Zohny<\/a>, magic designer Paul Kieve,
\nsensitivity specialist Ann James, dramaturg and gender consultant
\nJosephine Kearns, and music supervisor and director William Waldrop<\/a>.
\nCooper Howell<\/a> and N’yomi Allure Stewart<\/a> serve as associate directors,
\nand Cody Renard Richard<\/a> is production stage manager. Baseline
\nTheatrical’s Nick Lugo, Jessica Fried<\/a>, and James Hickey<\/a> are general
\nmanaging. Orchestrations are by Lloyd Webber and David Wilson.<\/p>\n

Most recently brought somewhat mainstream by the FX series Pose,
\n the Ballroom scene is an underground LGBTQIA+ subculture that arose in
\n1920s NYC, arguably reaching its zenith in the ’80s. Home to runway walk
\n categories that invited participants to dress in any number of themes
\nranging from the extravagant to the fabulously commonplace, the Ballroom
\n scene is also where vogue dancing comes from\u2014but real vogueing, not
\nMadonna vogueing. Dominated specifically by the Black and Latino queer
\ncommunities, the scene has become ingrained in much of queer and popular
\n culture today, particularly the world of drag. Ball culture was most
\nfamously memorialized in the iconic 1990 documentary Paris Is Burning.<\/p>\n

But the world of Ballroom is a new take on the Lloyd Webber musical,
\nwhich debuted in London in 1979 as a dance musical adapted from T.S.
\nEliot’s book of poetry, Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.
\nLargely plotless, the musical follows a tribe of so-called “Jellicle”
\nCats who gather for an annual ball, presenting themselves for the chance
\n to be reborn into a new life. The first act culminates in an
\nall-dancing Jellicle Ball. While the connections to Ballroom culture
\nmight seem obvious now, the original production, choreographed by
\nGillian Lynne<\/a>, featured quasi-modern ballet-inspired dance and cat
\ncostumes comprising ’80s-appropriate leotards and leg warmers.<\/p>\n

The original Broadway production of Cats won seven Tony
\nAwards, including Best Musical, Best Score for Lloyd Webber, and two
\nposthumous Tonys for Eliot (for Best Book and Score). It ran on Broadway
\n from 1982 to 2000, making it the fifth longest-running show on the Main
\n Stem. It enjoyed a brief revival from 2016 to 2017, in a production
\nthat largely replicated the original. Cats: The Jellicle Ball is the second Broadway revival of the musical.<\/p>\n

The current revival won 2026 Tony Awards for Best Choreography, Best Direction of a Musical, and\u00a0Best Costume Design of a Musical.<\/p>\n

Michael Harrison<\/a> and Mike Bosner<\/a> are producing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Tonight Show Starring\u00a0Jimmy Fallon recently welcomed the cast of\u00a0Cats: The Jellicle Ball, winner of three 2026 Tony…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,111,139,69,437],"class_list":["post-491740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}