Following its season in London’s West End, the latest revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s stage musical CATS is headed to Australia for a strictly limited season. The musical is set to begin at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre on October 30 2015, followed by seasons in Hobart’s Derwent Theatre, Melbourne’s Regent Theatre and Brisbane’s QPAC Lyric Theatre. Additional legs of the tour have yet to be confirmed or denied.
This reworked season of the long-running musical features Treveor Nunn as Director, Gillian Lynne as Choreographer & Associate Director, John Napier as Set Designer and Andrew Lloyd Webber himself as composer.
Based on T. S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, the show is set amongst a larger-than-life junkyard playground and is alive with the familiar feline characters including Rum Tum Tugger, Mr. Mistoffelees, Macavity, Jennyanydots, Old Deuteronomy, Grizabella and Skimbleshanks. The Jellicle Cats come out to play on one special night of the year – the night of the Jellicle Ball. One by one they tell their stories for the amusement of Old Deuteronomy, their wise and benevolent leader, who must choose one of the Cats to ascend to The Heaviside Layer and be reborn into a whole new Jellicle life.
Since its world premiere, CATS has been presented in over 30 countries, has been translated into 15 languages and has been seen by more than 73 million people worldwide. Both the original London and Broadway cast recordings won Grammy Awards for Best Cast Album.
Tickets for the Sydney Capitol Theatre run are set to be released to the public on April 24th 2015, with runs in other states to be released soon.
