André De Shields and More Stars of Broadway and Ballroom to Lead Cats: The Jellicle Ball

Broadway veteran and Tony Award winner André De Shields will play the role of Old Deuteronomy in Cats: The Jellicle Ball, the drag and ball culture-inspired take on the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cats. The show, featuring a cast of performers hailing from both Broadway and New York’s Ballroom scene, will begin performances at the Perelman Performing Arts Center on June 13 with an official opening set for June 20. The limited engagement will conclude July 14.

De Shields won a Tony for his performance in Hadestown and was Tony-nominated for roles in Play On! and The Full Monty. The cast will also feature Jonathan Burke (The Inheritance) as Mungojerrie; Emma Sofia Caymares (Finding Neverland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) as Skimbleshanks; Sydney James Harcourt (Hamilton) as Rum Tum Tugger; Antwayn Hopper (A Strange Loop) as Macavity; Shereen Pimentel (West Side Story) as Jellylorum; Nora Schell (Jagged Little Pill) as Bustopher Jones; Teddy Wilson Jr. as Sillabub; and Garnet Williams as Bombalurina.

From the ballroom community, the cast includes Junior LaBeija, the MC in the '80s ball-culture documentary Paris is Burning, as Gus, and “Tempress” Chasity Moore as Grizabella, along with Baby as Victoria, Primo as Tumblebrutus, Dudney Joseph Jr. as Munkustrap, Capital Kaos as DJ and Robert "Silk" Mason as Mistoffelees. The ensemble members are Tara Lashan Clinkscales and Frank Viveros (Aladdin); understudies are Dava Huesca, Dominique Lee and Kendall G. Stroud. Additional casting is still to be announced.

As previously reported, Cats: The Jellicle Ball is directed by Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch and choreographed by Arturo Lyons and Omari Wiles. The production promises to be a radical reimagining of the musical originally inspired by T.S. Eliot’s Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. It will be staged as an immersive competition with all new ballroom and club beats and runway-ready choreography.