'We're the Illuminati of The Jellicle Ball:' Inside Broadway’s Radical Cats Revival With André De Shields, Ken Ard & Junior LaBeija

What becomes a legend most? The answer may lie in the extraordinary careers of André De Shields, Ken Ard and Junior LaBeija, who star in Cats: The Jellicle Ball on Broadway as Old Deuteronomy, DJ Griddlebone and Gus The Theatre Cat, respectively. A radical reimagining of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s feline fantasia, The Jellicle Ball celebrates voguing and Ballroom culture in an electrifying spectacle of the senses. The three performers all traversed distinctive paths before they found their way to the hottest party in town.

De Shields caught his big break in 1975 when he played the titular bigwig in The Wiz and secured a Tony in 2019 for his magnetic performance as Hermes in Hadestown after decades of work on the stage. In 1982, Ard brought Macavity to life for Cats’ inaugural Broadway outing and went on to perform in the original Broadway companies of Starlight Express and Smokey Joe’s Cafe. A longstanding emcee in the voguing world, LaBeija brings Ballroom bona fides, having introduced the world to O-P-U-L-E-N-C-E in the landmark documentary Paris Is Burning. The trailblazing trio sat down with Broadway.com Editor-in-Chief Paul Wontorek at Industry Bar in Hell’s Kitchen to talk about their legend status—“We’re the Illuminati of The Jellicle Ball,” says Ard—and respective journeys to the Broadhurst Theatre.

For LaBeija, this career milestone was written in the stars. “It’s a gift. And because it's a gift, I receive it with honor and respect, because I was guided to meet the Broadway deity, Mr. André De Shields.” Speaking on his connection with De Shields, LaBeija proclaims, “He is a man of color and he is Broadway. I am a radical man of color, gender non-conforming, and I'm Ballroom. I held my first mic in an after hours spot. Now I'm on Broadway with a man that has spoken on stages throughout his entire life. At a point when I wasn't able to afford to see him, I stood outside the theater to hear his voice along with his [The Wiz] co-star Stephanie Mills.”

Ard also expresses reverence for De Shields, saying, “I came to New York in 1982. I was driven by this man because of The Wiz and because of Ain't Misbehaving. My dance teacher actually introduced me to those records; we were doing jazz dance in the studio and I thought, ‘That's what I want to be. I want to do what he's doing.’ So to be here sitting on this couch, it's just a euphoric feeling. My career has been standing on his shoulders and now here I am sitting next to him.”

Assessing his place within the theatrical canon, De Shields says, “[Cedric Neal] followed me into the role of Hermes in the British version of Hadestown. When he was interviewed and asked, ‘How do you feel about assuming this role?’ he responded, 'André De Shields is our Beyoncé.' He [told me], ‘So many young, colored, queer boys who have dreamed but never thought that their dreams would come true, now have someone to look at and say: it is possible.’ And that's what I hope to do with everything that I achieve, not only on the Broadway stage, but in all of my endeavors. It is very difficult, but it is not impossible.”

As much of a legend as he is, even De Shields gets intimidated from time to time. During The Jellicle Ball’s off-Broadway run, Ken Page served as a guest judge. Page originated the role of Old Deuteronomy on Broadway, the role which De Shields takes on in the show’s latest incarnation. “I'm on the runway and I recognize this larger-than-life body sitting in the judges' seat wearing his white suit and as I get closer to him, I go, ‘Oh, that's Ken Page and I'm playing the role that he created,'" De Shields recalls. "'So tonight, dear God, let me not make any mistakes." The verdict? "It went very well. After the fact, we met in the lobby and we hugged each other and we cried."

The Ballroom component of The Jellicle Ball is something LaBeija has authority on. Sporting pearls and his signature acrylic talons, LaBeija waxes on the influence that world had on him during his formative years. “The House of LaBeija did not save my life, they enhanced my life. And the parable that I often use, if you see The 10 Commandments with Charlton Heston, his mother sent him to Egypt to be saved. When I decided to be an openly gay youth, the God of my understanding sent me to the House of LaBeija, where I was going to be saved. The House of LaBeija and its camaraderie and freedom of speech and expression was excellent for me.”

LaBeija’s own mythos colors his characterization of Gus. “Gus is gender non-conforming. When you look at Gus, you see the beautiful man that is displaying his femininity to let you see, had he been given the opportunity and the correct passage to feminization, 'I would have been a beautiful woman.' However, in the social climate that I'm in, I am letting everyone know that through me—the immaculate conception through which Deuteronomy gave to me to give to the kittens—everything within me, I gave to each kitten.”

Before The Jellicle Ball, Ard’s last impression of Cats was the show’s 2016 Broadway revival. “I was so disappointed because they didn't do anything to it. It was a museum piece. When you bring a show back that is as iconic as this is, you have to do something with it. So when they said they were bringing Cats back again, I crossed my arms and I was like, 'What are they going to do with Cats?' I literally said, ‘Does everything have to be so gay?’ And then I went and saw it in the theater and I thought, ‘Yes, yes it does,'" he admits.

Seeing The Jellicle Ball off-Broadway as both a judge and an audience member had a profound impact on Ard. “I was just in the audience crying my eyes out, going, 'This is amazing what you guys did with Cats.' I cried like a baby for many reasons. The first reason was it was the first thing that brought me back downtown. I lived downtown across the street from the World Trade Center when 9/11 happened and was blown from my apartment. I hadn't been downtown since Cats."

When Ard caught wind that The Jellicle Ball was transferring to Broadway, he knew he had to pursue it. “I sent the material of me performing because I'm still performing as a jazz singer and cabaret artist. They said, ‘Come in for an audition,’ and I thought, 'If I go in live, they're going to hire me.’ So lo and behold, I manifested myself back into Cats and I've been on cloud nine ever since.”

De Shields says that the inclusivity of this project lines up with his own artistic objectives. “My responsibility for the 60 years that I have been a performing artist was to remind America about its culture that is Black. We talk about American history. We have one month in the year, which is the shortest and the coldest month, to celebrate Black history, but Black history is American history. Black history is the source for Broadway, which initially was as simply expressed as ragtime, then jazz," he continues.

"Ballroom culture is Black history and all of the wonderful and magical and mystical and alchemical things that we have had to feed on, to survive as Africans on the North American continent, to thrive. And now when you come to see Cats: The Jellicle Ball, you are watching us as we begin to prevail as a culture. Broadway was suffering a drought and now Cats is bringing the life-giving rain.”

Watch the full interview below:

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