To say I found this clever and entertaining tantrum of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s idiosyncratic 1982 musical sometimes confusing and even irritating is just to say that it’s still “Cats” — much loved by some, much hated by others, and much by everyone. -but-plotless, cloying and devastating adaptation of TS Eliot’s whimsical doggerel.
But audiences seem fascinated by “Cats: The Jellicle Ball,” judging by the applause that greeted each of the characters the night I saw this final production of the Perelman Performing Arts Center’s inaugural season on the site of the World Trade Center. And in their innovative conception, co-directors Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch (PAC NYC artistic director) also give us something new to think about.
The concept is clear enough: Instead of being set among cats in a junkyard, this “Cats” is reimagined among LGBT people of color on a catwalk in a makeshift ballroom. Instead of just deciding which of them will ascend to the Heaviside Layer (which still happens), the characters engage in a fashion competition, rooted in the tradition of Harlem drag balls – a once-underground subculture that was chronicled in Jennie Livingston’s documentary 1990. “Paris Is Burning”, released the same year by Madonna in her hit “Vogue”, and popularized for a new generation by the FX series “Pose”, starring Billy Porter and Mj Rodriguez, which ran for three seasons ending in 2021. (It’s no coincidence that a huge rainbow fan with the word “Pose” on it is for sale in the lobby.)
Great care was taken in grafting the queer onto the queer. There is an official ballroom consultant and also a gender consultant. Both the cast and creative team feature participants from ballroom competitions. The song is arranged to sound like house music. And, perhaps most important to the transformation, choreographers Arturo Lyons and Omari Wiles inject this dance spectacle with the exciting vocabulary of ballroom movements – hand performances, catwalks (!), duck walks, spins and dives – as they demonstrate in this video.
It’s worth noting how they declare themselves “iconic” and “legendary,” two adjectives often used in ballroom culture. It’s a clue as to how the new setting suggests a deeper layer beneath each character’s stories. The exaggerated assertion of self-importance seems like a transparent response to the humiliations and prejudices that LGBTQ people of color are routinely subjected to before they find their community. There are even some scenes that try to clarify the everyday challenges in the characters’ lives; two police officers are arrested for shoplifting.
Qween Jean’s colorful costumes and Nikiya Mathis’s outlandish wigs are perfect precisely because they are so fantasy—the fantasy at the heart of ballroom. The scenic design adds another layer of reality: when the cast sings “Jellicle cats come out today,” some of them carry signs that say “Come Out.”
The cast forms the most effective bridge between ballroom and musical theater.
Gus the cat is played by Junior LaBeija, a member of the House of LaBeija who appeared in Paris Is Burning.
The show’s Rum Tum Tugger, Sydney James Harcourt, spends much of his time bare-chested, competing in the ballroom category known as Butch Queen Realness.
Grizabella, who sings the show’s best-known song, “Memories,” is played by Tempress Chastity Moore, whose biography identifies her as an actress, singer and “ballroom/Hall of Fame icon,” founding mother of Maison Margiela.
Dudney Joseph Jr also stands out as Munkustrap, the Master of Ceremonies. But really, if the contest goes on too long for my taste, sagging a bit before reaching the end, there is no cast member who is less than credible and engaging. Only one, however, truly deserves the legendary designation outside the ballroom. André De Shields reigns as Old Deuteronomy.
Cats: the jelly ball
PACNYC until July 28th
Duration: Two hours and 30 minutes, including an intermission
Tickets: $68 – $309
Composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, directed by ts Eliot
Directed by Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch, choreographed by Arturo Lyons and Omari Wiles, set design by Rachel Hauck, costume design by Qween Jean, lighting design by Adam Honoré, sound design by Kai Harada, projection design by Brittany Bland, hair design and wig by Nikiya Mathis, makeup design by Rania Zohny, playwright and genre consultant Josephine Kearns, music supervisor, director and conductor William Waldrop, music coordinator David Lai, beat arrangement Trevor Holder, ballroom consultant Capital Kaos, magic and illusions Skylar Fox, fight director Hannah “Rock” Roccisano, intimacy coordinator Ann James
Cast: Baby (Victoria), Jonathan Burke (Mungojerrie), Tara Lashan Clinkscales (Ensemble), André De Shields (Old Deuteronomy), Shelby Griswold (Understudy), Sydney James Harcourt (Rum Tum Tugger), Antwayn Hopper (Macavity) Dava Huesca (Rumpleteazer), Dudney Joseph Jr. (Munkustrap), Capital Kaos (DJ), Junior LaBeija (Gus), Dominique Lee (Understudo); Robert “Silk” Mason (Mistoffelees), “Tempress” Chasity Moore (Grizabella), Shereen Pimentel (Jellylorum), Primo (Tumblebrutus), Xavier Reyes (Jennyanydots), Nora Schell (Bustopher Jones), Bebe Nicole Simpson (Demeter), Emma Sofia (Skimbleshanks), Phumzile Sojola (Ensemble), Kendall Grayson Stroud (Ensemble), Frank Viveros (Ensemble), Garnet Williams (Bombalurina) and Teddy Wilson Jr.
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