9/15/2021
Performances and Artists
Believe it or not, blockbuster musical “CATS” – got its start in 1939.
That’s when literary giant T.S. Eliot, a Nobel Prize winner for literature, published a collection of poems called “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.”
These whimsical descriptions of feline characters, such as “The Old Gumbie Cat” and “Rum Tum Tugger” certainly differed from Eliot’s more dramatic and influential works. That’s because he originally drafted these verses to amuse his godchildren, before publishing them through Faber and Faber, a publishing house where he worked as an editor.
Years later, piano teacher Jean Lloyd Webber read these poems to her young son Andrew Lloyd Webber. He adored them — to the point that when he gained acclaim in adulthood as a titan of musical theater, he decided to adapt the poems for the stage.
Composing all of the show’s music, Webber first launched “CATS” in London’s West End in 1981. He did so alongside an impressive creative team, including legendary producer Cameron Mackintosh, director Trevor Nunn, choreographer Gillian Lynne, and set and costume designer John Napier (who also designed for Siegfried and Roy).
A visual and musical spectacle unlike any other show, “CATS” became an instant blockbuster and ran for 21 years in the West End.
Opening on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre in 1982, the show caused just as big of a cultural tidal wave in America.
Running until the year 2000, it broke records as the longest-running Broadway show in history (a record later broken by another of Webber’s shows, “The Phantom of the Opera”). It also earned seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical — awarded posthumously to Eliot.
This production never went out of style. “CATS” has been presented in over 30 countries, translated into 15 languages and seen by more than 73 million people worldwide. It returned to Broadway for an acclaimed revival in 2016.
The musical’s hit song “Memory” has also been recorded by over 150 artists, including Barbra Streisand, Johnny Mathis and Barry Manilow.
“CATS” eventually came to the silver screen in 2019, when director Tom Hooper adapted the musical into a film with numerous stars, including Judi Dench, Idris Elba, Jennifer Hudson, Ian McKellen and Taylor Swift.
This musical juggernaut continues to thrive across so many stages and mediums… It’s almost as if the show has nine lives.