Cats will return to the London Palladium in October 2015. Picture: Alessandro Pinna
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s record-breaking Cats will return to the London Palladium for a final ten-week season from 23 October 2015 to 2 January 2016.
Based on T. S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, Cats returned to the West End in December last year 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 Palladium run. In July this year Jane McDonald will play Grizabella in an eight-week season at Blackpool Opera House.
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 18 years. Since its world premiere, Cats has been presented in more than 30 countries, has been translated into ten languages and has been seen by over 50 million people worldwide. 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, from £20 with top price seats at £59.50 and children’s tickets at half price for Monday to Thursday performances, are released for sale on Thursday 14 May 2015. Casting for this strictly limited season will be announced shortly.
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* TAL FOX writes: Jane McDonald will play Grizabella in Cats when the show plays the Blackpool Opera House from 9 July 2015 for eight weeks. The venue is the only place north of London that audiences will be able to catch this latest revival.
McDonald said: “I am absolutely thrilled to be playing Grizabella in Cats. It is an honour to have been selected by Andrew Lloyd Webber and I can’t wait for the show to begin in July.”
The actress and singer originally rose to fame after appearing in the 1998 BBC1 docusoap The Cruise and has since built up an impressive theatre audience, performing sell-out tours and concerts.
She is excited to be returning to the Blackpool Opera House: “I always enjoy Blackpool and have had some great nights at the Opera House so now to be returning for 2015 is wonderful and, of course, I can’t wait to spend the summer by the seaside.”
Lloyd Webber is delighted to be bringing the show back to Blackpool after its first appearance at the Opera House in 1989 for a six-month run and then again when it toured in 2003. He added: “Last year the original Cats creative team – Trevor Nunn, Gillian Lynne, John Napier and I – got together to re-create the show for the London Palladium and, following a phenomenal run in the West End, I am delighted that we are set to visit Blackpool with our production this summer.”
www.wintergardensblackpool.co.uk
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