Cynthia Erivo and Lena Waithe Join Producing Team of CATS: THE JELLICLE BALL
CATS: The Jellicle Ball will start Broadway previews Wednesday, March 18 ahead of a Tuesday, April 7 opening night at the Broadhurst Theatre.
Lena Waithe and Cynthia Erivo have joined the producing team of CATS: The Jellicle Ball on Broadway, Deadline reports. LaChanze and Jeremy Pope were previously announced as members of the team. The production is produced by Michael Harrison and Mike Bosner.
Erivo, best known for starring in the film adaptation of Wicked, and its sequel Wicked: For Good, is currently starring on the West End in a one-woman production of Dracula. She won the Tony Award in 2016 for her performance as Celie in the revival of The Color Purple and also produced the Tony-nominated play Fat Ham.
Waithe produced Jordan Cooper’s Tony-nominated play Ain’t No Mo’ on Broadway and recently made her playwright and stage debut with trinity at Baltimore Center Stage.
Read the original story on Deadline.
CATS: The Jellicle Ball will start Broadway previews Wednesday, March 18 ahead of a Tuesday, April 7 opening night at the Broadhurst Theatre.
The cast of CATS: The Jellicle Ball will be led by André De Shields as ‘Old Deuteronomy,’ Jonathan Burke as ‘Mungojerrie,’ Baby Byrne as ‘Victoria,’ Tara Lashan Clinkscales, Sydney James Harcourt as ‘Rum Tum Tugger,’ Dava Huesca as ‘Rumpleteazer,’ Dudney Joseph Jr. as ‘Munkustrap,’ Junior LaBeija as ‘Gus The Theatre Cat,’ Robert “Silk” Mason as ‘Magical Mister Mistoffelees,’ “Tempress” Chasity Moore as ‘Grizabella,’ Primo Thee Ballerino as ‘Tumblebrutus,’ Xavier Reyes as ‘Jennyanydots,’ Nora Schell as ‘Bustopher Jones,’ Bebe Nicole Simpson as ‘Demeter,’ Emma Sofia as Cassandra’/’Skimbleshanks,’ Garnet Williams as ‘Bombalurina,’ and Teddy Wilson, Jr. as ‘Sillabub.’
The production is directed by OBIE Award winners Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch and choreographed by Chita Rivera Award winners and New York City Ballroom icons Omari Wiles (House of NiNa Oricci) and Arturo Lyons (House of Miyake-Mugler). CATS: The Jellicle Ball has music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and is based on Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot.
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s worldwide phenomenon CATS is reimagined in a production that smashed records, won awards, and left New York City purring. And now CATS: The Jellicle Ball ascends to Broadway in a kaleidoscope of glittering spectacle, iconic music, and electrifying ballroom choreography.
When CATS: The Jellicle Ball premiered at Perelman Performing Arts Center | PAC NYC in 2024, it became the must-see theater event of the summer. The production was extended three times and left audiences and critics enraptured. The Off-Broadway production was honored with two Outer Critics Circle Awards including Outstanding Revival, three OBIE Awards, a New York Drama Critics Circle Special Citation, a Chita Rivera Award, two Audelco Awards, three Dorian Theater Awards, and three Hewes Awards.
