Theater News

Will Cats Claw Its Way Back to Broadway?

The hit Andrew Lloyd Webber musical eyes a 2016 revival.

Nicole Scherzinger as Grizabella in the West End revival of Cats.
Nicole Scherzinger as Grizabella in the West End revival of Cats.
(© Alastair Muir)

Andrew Lloyd Webber's long-running musical Cats, now enjoying a revival production on London's West End, may make a comeback on the Great White Way as well.

In an interview with the U.K.'s Telegraph, Webber broached the topic of a Broadway transfer — a subject he also mentioned in February on BBC's The Chris Evans Breakfast Show, where he flatly stated, "We are going to be taking Cats to Broadway," hoping his current West End star, former Pussycat Doll frontwoman Nicole Scherzinger, will be able to follow the production to the States.

In the latest Telegraph interview, he mentioned the overwhelming success of the West End mounting, stating, "It did three times better than we thought it would. Thirteen weeks at the London Palladium. I know that building and that’s almost impossible. It has kicked it off again all round the world. Everyone now wants to take the production. It has a new face and is seating a completely new audience. That’s very exciting to see."

Broadway seems imminent for the production, though his new musical adaptation of School of Rock, set to open on Broadway in December, may delay the transfer slightly. "It’s a big ask for my small company to go straight in [after School of Rock]," Webber said. "I think we will lean towards the fall. But it’s a lovely problem to have."

The original Broadway production of Cats, based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot, opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on October 7, 1982, where it played for a record-breaking 7,485 performances. It's yet to be seen whether the show will be able to stick to its fall 2016 goal, but if Cats' first eight years on Broadway taught us anything, it's that Jellicles can…and Jellicles do.