{"id":226378,"date":"2026-05-10T15:23:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T15:23:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/226378\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T15:23:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T15:23:16","slug":"sydney-james-harcourt-reinvents-rum-tum-tugger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/226378\/","title":{"rendered":"Sydney James Harcourt Reinvents Rum Tum Tugger"},"content":{"rendered":"

The moment Sydney <\/a>James Harcourt<\/a> steps into the spotlight as Rum Tum Tugger in CATS: The Jellicle Ball<\/a>, the temperature inside the Broadhurst Theatre rises. The audience screams and fans clack. Harcourt\u2019s Tugger prowls the space like a rock star working an arena, not a Broadway stage. And that energy is entirely intentional.<\/p>\n

Harcourt\u2019s take on Tugger rejects the traditionally campy, Elvis-adjacent interpretation many audiences associate with CATS. Instead, his performance pulls from Prince, George Michael<\/a>, ballroom culture, nightlife, and contemporary pop concert aesthetics to create something that feels radically current. It is swagger without apology. Sexuality without shame. And perhaps most importantly, a version of Broadway that refuses to feel trapped in the past.<\/p>\n

Now starring in the 9-time Tony-nominated revival, Harcourt sees the production as more than simply a reinvention of Andrew Lloyd Webber<\/a>\u2019s whimsical musical. For him, it is proof that Broadway can evolve when it embraces the artistry, joy, and cultural language audiences are already engaging with outside theater walls. \u201cMy interest in New York musical theater has always been, why is it still so stuffy?\u201d Harcourt says. \u201cWhy isn’t it reflecting what is happening in entertainment now?\u201d<\/p>\n

Prior to joining the production, Harcourt\u2019s relationship with CATS was surprisingly limited. \u201cThe only relationship I had with CATS prior to this production was seeing the commercials on TV,\u201d he recalls. \u201cThe big eyes blinking and whatnot.\u201d Additionally, his strongest association was with \u201cMemory,\u201d the musical\u2019s signature song. \u201cI knew Barbra Streisand<\/a>\u2019s rendition of \u2018Memory,\u2019\u201d he reveals. \u201cBut I had no real knowledge of what its larger meaning was in the context of the show.\u201d<\/p>\n

His fresh perspective became an asset once he learned this would not be a traditional production of CATS, but rather a ballroom-infused reinvention. \u201cMy agents called and said, \u2018Hey, we\u2019ve got an audition for you for CATS, but hear me out, they\u2019re setting it in the world of a Harlem ballroom,\u2019\u201d Harcourt remembers. \u201cI said, \u2018You\u2019ve got my attention.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The deeper he looked into the creative team, the more inevitable the project felt. \u201cAs soon as I knew that Omari Wiles<\/a> and Arturo Miyake-Mugler [also known as Arturo Lyons<\/a>] were the choreographers, that was the selling point for me,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

For Harcourt, ballroom was not unfamiliar territory. Although audiences primarily know him through theater, television, and film, he reveals that New York nightlife and queer performance spaces have always been foundational to his artistic identity. \u201cI moved here when I was a teenager and immediately started going to clubs,\u201d he explains. \u201cI was deeply immersed in the New York City club life.\u201d<\/p>\n

That nightlife immersion led him into proximity with ballroom culture long before THE JELLICLE BALL existed. \u201cMy first encounters with ballroom were really on the dance floors of New York at 2:00 AM,\u201d he says. Moreover, to fully embody his character in this production, Harcourt took it upon himself to study ballroom and has even been a member of the House of Oricci for the last two years.<\/p>\n

Yet, much of that side of Harcourt remained hidden within the industry. \u201cThere\u2019s a part of me that, until now, the musical theater world has never known about me,\u201d he admits. \u201cYou don’t walk into auditions in what has traditionally been the very stuffy world of musical theater, first of all, telegraphing that you’re gay for most projects,\u201d he adds. \u201cFor somebody who’s my type especially, they’re not looking for a masculine-passing, if you will, gay guy. They’re looking for a straight man.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Harcourt, CATS: The Jellicle Ball<\/a> represents a long overdue evolution. \u201cThis felt like it offered that opportunity,\u201d he explains. \u201cTo be part of something that pushes the genre forward.\u201d That philosophy extends directly into his unique interpretation of Rum Tum Tugger. Harcourt\u2019s version maintains the charisma and overt sexuality while also grounding Tugger in modern pop performance and ballroom aesthetics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe team wanted him not only to be based on a pop idol like Usher, Prince, or George Michael<\/a>,\u201d he explains, \u201cthey also wanted him to be visibly bisexual.\u201d That created a fascinating tension within the context of ballroom\u2019s \u201crealness\u201d categories, which often reward hyper-performed masculinity. \u201cHow does someone who\u2019s visibly bisexual maintain and win a realness category?\u201d Harcourt recalls asking himself.<\/p>\n

The answer ultimately became confidence. \u201cAnd that’s the power of Tugger, that he doesn’t care what you think,\u201d Harcourt points out. That unapologetic energy has become one of the defining characteristics of his performance. \u201cThe audience does not care,\u201d he says with a broad smile. \u201cThey are responding to Tugger\u2019s absolute confidence in what it is that he is serving out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Musically, Harcourt approached the role less like traditional Broadway and more like a contemporary pop concert. \u201cI\u2019m giving a pop concert out there,\u201d he says bluntly. That approach shapes every vocal choice he makes. \u201cPop singers don\u2019t go out there singing with their whole voice,\u201d he explains. \u201cThey caress your ear with the mic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finding Tugger\u2019s voice, Harcourt infuses the score with sonic references audiences instinctively recognize. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of Prince in \u2018The Rum Tum Tugger\u2019 song specifically,\u201d he notes, showcasing the way he incorporates Prince\u2019s enunciation patterns and audible breathing by signing a few bars a capella.<\/p>\n

Those choices are about accessibility as much as artistry. \u201cI\u2019m trying to bring a new audience into this theater that knows what real pop music sounds like because they listen to it every day,\u201d he reveals. He illustrates this with a few bars of \u201cMr. Mistoffelees,\u201d spotlightting how he lifted intonation patterns from the soul and R&B classic \u201cSon of a Preacher Man\u201d for this number.<\/p>\n

But beyond the swagger and sexuality, Harcourt was also determined to reveal Tugger\u2019s emotional core. \u201cI think part of what I really wanted to show about Tugger in this is that he cares about the other cats,\u201d he explains. That humanity surfaces in quieter moments throughout the show, particularly when he cuddles up with Sillabub during \u201cGus: The Theatre Cat\u201d and in Tugger\u2019s relationship with Mistoffelees. \u201cHe loves Mistoffelees so much and is willing to be vulnerable enough as this masculine archetype to kiss him in front of everybody,\u201d Harcourt says.<\/p>\n

Likewise, Grizabella\u2019s redemption arc profoundly affects Tugger. \u201cHe sees the true power of emotional vulnerability,\u201d Harcourt says of Tugger\u2019s observing Grizabella return to the ball. And that emotionality has become even more pronounced during the production\u2019s Broadway transfer. \u201cThe story of transfemme empowerment is really more centered in the show now,\u201d he explains, referencing the way that Leiomy\u2019s Macavity, Garnet Williams<\/a>\u2019 Bombalurina, and Bebe Nicole Simpson<\/a>\u2019s Demeter all encourage and embrace \u201cTempress\u201d Chastity Moore\u2019s Grizabella because of their shared lived experiences as trans women within ballroom.<\/p>\n

According to Harcourt, the Broadway staging also intensified the communal experience of the ball itself. \u201cSomehow it\u2019s even more joyful,\u201d he reveals. Part of that comes from Rachel Hauck<\/a>\u2019s immersive design, which places audience members directly onstage. \u201cYou get to watch people in the audience as part of the show,\u201d he explains. \u201c\u2018Look what that one is wearing on stage,\u2019 \u2018Oh my God, she’s falling asleep,\u2019 or \u2018Oh, look, she’s clacking her fan so hard.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

That immersive electricity fuels his performance, even when exhaustion sets in. \u201cWhen you’re standing in the center of 1,200 people screaming their heads off at you, that kind of energy has to go somewhere, and it goes inside of me,\u201d he says. Still, maintaining Tugger\u2019s relentless physicality requires discipline. \u201cI don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t do anything that is going to compromise what I have to do out there at night.\u201d Harcourt admits. \u201cI get very intense acupuncture, like being electrocuted and all that stuff, probably twice a week. I\u2019m stretching, I sit in the hot tub every single day before the show, I foam roll, and all of that stuff to be just able to sustain that physicality for 8 shows a week.\u201d<\/p>\n

For all its spectacle and theatricality, Harcourt believes the show\u2019s true achievement lies in its ability to challenge preconceived notions about CATS itself. \u201cThere\u2019s a general perception that CATS is cringe,\u201d he says. But this version dismantles that assumption entirely. \u201cThere\u2019s a humanity to it. There\u2019s a story there, and there\u2019s so much celebration of joy.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Harcourt, that joy is not superficial. It is transformative. \u201cYou will experience unspeakable joy in a way that you have never in any production of anything,\u201d he says. And in a cultural moment increasingly defined by division and fear, that kind of joy may be exactly what Broadway and audiences need the most.<\/p>\n

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\n \"Theater
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

\n 2026 Theater Fans’ Choice Awards – Live Stats\n <\/p>\n

\n Best Lighting Design – Top 3\n <\/p>\n

\n 1.
\n Jen Schriever, Michael Arden – The Lost Boys <\/p>\n

\n 39.3% of votes\n <\/p>\n

\n 2.
\n Jack Knowles – Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) <\/p>\n

\n 12.2% of votes\n <\/p>\n

\n 3.
\n Adam Honor\u00e9 – CATS: The Jellicle Ball <\/p>\n

\n 6.9% of votes\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n BWW Merch Shop – Shirts, Mugs, Phone Cases & More\n <\/p>\n

\t\t\t David Clarke is a seasoned communications professional and prolific writer with over a decade of experience contributing to esteemed outlets such as OutSmart Magazine,\u00a0NewNowNext.com, Out.com,&nb… (read more about this author)<\/a><\/p>\n


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