The first three cast members have been announced for the 40th Anniversary Australian tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s record-breaking musical CATS. CATS will play at its original Australian home, Theatre Royal Sydney from 17 June, then head to Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide from September and to Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne from December.
Jellicles Pounce Back to Broadway- Meet the Cats of…
Audience favourite Todd McKenney will play the dual roles of Bustopher Jones and Gus the Theatre Cat. Most recently seen as The Wizard in Wicked and as Felix Unger opposite Shane Jacobson in The Odd Couple, Todd played Tumblebrutus in the original Melbourne season of CATS from 1987 to 1988, very early in his stage career, and is thrilled to revisit the show nearly four decades later.
Classical performer Mark Vincent returns to the musical theatre world as Old Deuteronomy, the wise and beloved patriarch of the Jellicle tribe. One of Australia’s most celebrated classical crossover artists, Mark’s career spans ten albums, multiple international tours, and performances at some of the world’s most prestigious venues. This will be Mark’s third musical following his roles as Billy Kostecki in the Australian tour of Dirty Dancing and Freddy Eynsford-Hill in the Dame Julie Andrews-directed production of My Fair Lady.
Also returning to CATS after many years will be Leigh Archer, who will play the kind, motherly character Jennyanydots, also known among the tribe as the “Gumbie Cat”. Leigh played Demeter in the 1992/93 Australian and Asian tour of CATS, and has since performed in Strictly Ballroom, West Side Story and Moonshadow.
“I am very excited to bring the original production of CATS back to Australia, and to cast the ultimate showman Todd McKenney as Gus the Theatre Cat, Mark Vincent with his breathtaking voice as Old Deuteronomy, and welcome Leigh Archer back to one of her earliest shows,” said John Frost. “CATS was revolutionary when it first opened and to entice some of its past Australian cast members back for the 40th Anniversary is a huge thrill. Australia has an enduring love for CATS and it’s time to let the memory live again.”
Based on T. S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats and set to music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, CATS has been captivating audiences around the globe since it opened at the New London Theatre (now known as the Gillian Lynne) in 1981, where it played for 21 record-breaking years and almost 9,000 performances, winning both the Olivier and Evening Standard Awards for Best Musical. Since then, CATS has been presented in over 50 countries, translated into 23 languages and has been seen by over 81 million people world-wide. On Broadway, CATS played for 18 years and won seven Tony Awards including Best Musical.
The musical tells the story of the Jellicle cat tribe. 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.
The timeless musical score includes the hit song Memory, which has been recorded by more than 150 artists including Celine Dion, Barbra Streisand, Nicole Scherzinger, Johnny Mathis, Liberace and Barry Manilow.
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