CATS is set amongst a larger-than-life junkyard playground and is alive with purr-fect felines. The Jellicle Cats come out to play on one special night of the year—the night of the Jellicle Ball. One by one they tell their stories for the amusement of Old Deuteronomy, their wise and benevolent leader, who must choose one of the Cats to ascend to The Heaviside Layer and be reborn into a whole new Jellicle life.
CATS, one of the longest-running shows in West End and Broadway history, received its world premiere at the New London Theatre in 1981, where it played for 21 years and almost 9,000 performances. The innovative original production won 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 18 years. Since its world premiere, CATS has been presented all over the world, in many different languages and still performs to millions of audience members worldwide today.