One extremely mild praise I have for the 2019 film is that it did attempt to bring some new orchestrations to the score as the sound of 1980s MIDI programming makes the show far less timeless than say, another Lloyd Webber show like Phantom of the Opera that pulls from a classical sound. As the show has run for literal decades, this tour production utilized a small ensemble of a rock band with three keyboards and two woodwind musicians. “CATS” was crucial as one of the first shows to introduce the world to the megamusical, usually characterized by large ensembles, spectacular effects, and the monumental songs that gave way for shows like Les Miserables and Hamilton. Grizabella ran away from the Jellicles years ago to join the central antagonist of the show, the master criminal, Macavity the Mystery Cat but now returns to reconcile to get her chance at a second life.

There’s whimsical cats like Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat and Jennyanydots in the running, but at the center of the narrative is the ostracized cat Grizabella, the Glamour Cat. Elliot, the show entails the night of the Jellicle Ball, a contest wherein a tribe of cats known as the Jellicle Cats compete to see which cat gets to ascend to the Heaviside Layer to be reincarnated to a new life.

But what does the production bring to the Broward Center?īased on the poems of T.S. “CATS” may be a dazzling spectacle of dance and acrobatics, but its true driving force is the, at times confusing, narrative. However, what makes the strongest case for this show to keep going on tour across the country and perform internationally is the heart at the center of the story. From a revival starring Leona Lewis, to these strange anti-smoking PSAs, to the Cronenbergian horror that is the 2019 film, it’s astounding how this musical that shows its age can continue to keep thriving. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s megamusical “CATS” has had a strange second life after its original run at The Winter Garden Theater on Broadway.

Phantom of the opera cast broward