In the most recent years, theater has been filled with revivals and Jukebox Musicals with a few Original scores and stories sprinkled in here and there.
Many of which fall under the same composer: Andrew Lloyd Webber. And amongst his work, there is one piece so divisive that it has a polarizing effect on the theater community; at the mere mention of its name, it elicits a sneer and eye roll or an excited gasp and immediately singing “The Jellicle Ball.” You guessed it. Cats is making its way back to New York, but in a way you would never have imagined. And after witnessing it, you can never see it any other way.
Photographed by Marc J. Franklin
Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC) has been in the works since its conception after 9/11 to transform the World Trade Center into a cultural center filled with art and community. PAC provides a mutli-theatrical space venue and seeks to encourage more diverse art from Theater to music and more. And they are kicking off their first ever season with this one of a kind a-MEW-sing reimagining Cats.
Directed by Zhailon Levingston (Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, Chicken & Biscuits) and PAC NYC Artistic Director Bill Rauch (All the Way), and Choreography by Arturo Lyons and Omari Wiles,
Production Photos by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman
we are invited into the iconic world of Cats, but reimagined in the Ballroom Scene.Ballroom culture making waves more than 50 years ago up until now, this production takes the Cat-walk and floods it with a spectacular immersive runway competition honoring the icons, the culture, and the legendary houses in Ballroom while using the vessel of this iconic show and its iconic archetypes from T.S Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats to create the most exciting version of Cats. An incredibly clever way to reframe this story and make sense of a seemingly senseless plot (a “plot” that has been debated over for years)
We enter the PAC theater space and it is truly one of a kind. Innovative and modern, it brings intrigue and excitement while begging for your participation. Once seated, you see a runway surrounded by audience members. A set that makes you feel like you too are a stray cat seeking refuge in a abandoned warehouse.
Production Photos by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman
The show begins with a brilliant integration of technical projections while honoring the major score and script of the piece and again, simultaneously remixing the songs to a modern and club-like degree, truly making you feel like the Cats you know was made for THIS rendition. Filled with all the thing you hope for from every perspective. Amazing vocals, Camp, Voguing, André De Shields, Magic, DANCING, learning and challenging gender and costumes beyond glamour and of course: death drops.
Chasity Moore– Production Photos by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman
This cast is a cast like none other. Truly a cast that makes you wish you were on stage with them. The most stunning voices, skills and stage presence all on one runway. Simply the hottest performers maintaining your attention and excitement for the entire show, which one could say is hard to do in a musical about cats, but this cast does so flawlessly. And even in a Musical about cats, performers like Chasity Moore (Grizabella) still can make you tear up and want nothing more than for this dang cat to get reborn.
Production Photos by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman
André De Shields brings his magical stage presence to the runway and really, there is no one else who could command a space like him. Truly no one could lead the role of Old Deuteronomy than this charming and talented performer. Other aspects that drew me in were of course the amazing costumes and wigs that just got better and better as the show went on and the specificity of the lighting that aided as a wonderful story telling tool throughout the musical.
Production Photos by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman
This space was a wonderful place to put on a show, and the artistic team has done something I have not seen in a hot second. I hope this show creates a trend in this direction in regard to Musical theater. Musical theater that thoughtfully and throughoughly creates concepts; honoring the cultures and people it is built its art and foundation upon. Ballroom and BIPOC Queer Culture has paved the way for art and theater and community and it is integral to create art that reminds us, educates us, and celebrates the bodies that have been marginalized and othered.
A thoroughly thought out and brilliantly executed Vision by everyone in the creative team (Directors Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch, Choreographers Arturo Lyons and Omari Wiles, Rachel Hauck (Scenic Design), Qween Jean (Costume Design), Adam Honoré (Lighting Design), Kai Harada (Sound Design), Brittany Bland (Projection Design), Nikiya Mathis (Hair/Wig Design), William Waldrop (Music Supervision and Music Direction), David Lai (Music Coordinator), Trevor Holder (Beats Arrangement), Capital Kaos (Ballroom Consultant), Josephine Kearns (Dramaturg & Gender Consultant), X Casting/ Victor Vazquez CSA, and Sujotta R. Pace CSA (Casting)) I hope you take a moment and join PAC NYC for their limited run of Cats: The Jellicle Ball.
CATS: THE JELLICLE BALL opens on Thursday, June 20, 2024 at PAC NYC (251 Fulton Street).