Cats returns to the London Palladium for a final 10 week season
Theatre news
ANDREW Lloyd Webber’s record breaking musical Cats will return to the London Palladium for a final ten week season – from October 23, 2015 to January 2, 2016. Tickets will be released for sale on Thursday, May 14, 2015. Casting for this strictly limited season will be announced shortly.
Based on T. S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, Cats returned to the West End in December 2014, reuniting the original creative team – Director Trevor Nunn, Associate Director and Choreographer Gillian Lynne, Designer John Napier and Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Nicole Scherzinger and then Kerry Ellis played the role of Grizabella in this sell-out production that completes its run today (April 25, 2015). In July this year, Jane McDonald will play Grizabella in an eight week season at Blackpool Opera House.
On just one special night of the year, all Jellicle cats meet at the Jellicle Ball where Old Deuteronomy, their wise and benevolent leader, makes the Jellicle choice and announces which of them will go up to The Heaviside Layer and be reborn into a whole new Jellicle life.
Cats, one of the longest-running shows in West End and on Broadway, received its world premiere at the New London Theatre in 1981 where it played for 21 record-breaking years and almost 9,000 performances. The production was the winner of the Olivier and Evening Standard Awards for Best Musical. In 1983, the Broadway production became the recipient of seven Tony awards including Best Musical, and ran for eighteen years.
Since its world premiere, Cats has been presented in over 30 countries, has been translated into 10 languages and has been seen by over 50 million people world-wide. Both the original London and Broadway cast recordings won Grammy Awards for Best Cast Album. The classic Lloyd Webber score includes Memory which has been recorded by over 150 artists from Barbra Streisand and Johnny Mathis to Liberace and Barry Manilow.
Cats was originally produced by Cameron Mackintosh and The Really Useful Group Limited.
Tickets: £20 – £59.50, Children Go Half-Price (Monday to Thursday performances, top three prices, subject to a maximum of 3 children aged 16 or under with each full paying adult). All ticket prices include a £1.25 Theatre Restoration Levy. Tickets will be available from the box office on 0844 874 0667 or online at www.london.catsthemusical.com/ or www.reallyusefultheatres.co.uk/our-theatres/london-palladium.
Times: Monday to Saturday at 7.30pm, Wednesday and Saturday matinees at 2.30pm.
Also at the London Palladium: the UK premiere of Beyond Bollywood, a colourful dance extravaganza celebrating the history and resonance of Indian arts ( May 8 to June 27) and Sinatra at the London Palladium (July 10 to October 10, 2015).