“Choreography is the Jellicle Selection,” declares Omari Wiles, co-choreographer of Broadway’s CATS: The Jellicle Ball, a reimagining of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s iconic CATS. He alludes to the present’s pivotal (and ineffable) second with fun, nevertheless it’s simple that the choreography—by Wiles and Arturo Lyons—is a key element of the manufacturing’s magic.
The Jellicle Ball’s premise is audacious, but additionally genius: What if Lloyd Webber’s hit musical about cats vying to ascend to the Heaviside Layer was as a substitute set on this planet of vogue dance and ballroom tradition, with every track representing a distinct aggressive class at a ball? The manufacturing premiered off-Broadway at Perelman Performing Arts Heart (PAC NYC) in 2024, choosing up “Bessie” Awards for Greatest Choreography and Excellent Efficiency (awarded to the ensemble) in addition to a particular Chita Rivera Award for Excellent Off-Broadway Choreography.
Along with being a, effectively, ball of a present, The Jellicle Ball wears its humanity proudly, translating the camp of the unique by way of a language that was created by a Black and Latina queer and trans neighborhood and that continues to have an outsized influence on popular culture. The actors—a mixture of Broadway people, together with the legendary André De Shields as Outdated Deuteronomy, and dancers lively in New York Metropolis’s vibrant ballroom scene—play gritty, glittering, sophisticated folks onstage. “This Rumpleteazer isn’t a cat,” solid member and assistant dance captain Dava Huesca says of her character. “She’s a Black woman from Jersey.”
If that sounds totally different from the acquainted ’80s musical, that’s as a result of it’s. As indelible because the imagery of the unique manufacturing stays, the Broadway solid of The Jellicle Ball has crafted variations of the characters which might be iconic in a complete new method.
Dava Huesca
Rumpleteazer
After coaching at LaGuardia Excessive College and Buy School and performing with up to date troupe VIM VIGOR, Dava Huesca checked out a voguing class taught by Lyons on the advice of a buddy. “After which I went each Wednesday for 3 years,” she remembers. She quickly after grew to become a founding member of the Haus of Telfar.
Rumpleteazer performs each fashion of dance that seems within the present, from ballet to African dance to the varied permutations of voguing, a mirrored image of Huesca’s versatility. “I really feel prefer it actually exhibits how bold Rumpleteazer is, as a result of she’s in all places always and doesn’t ever sit down,” she says. Huesca was entrance and middle in a rehearsal video that went viral earlier than the PAC NYC efficiency run began, and he or she landed on Dance Journal’s 2025 “25 to Watch” checklist the next January.
Rumpleteazer is… “Formidable. Banjee. Slick. Angsty. Impressed.”
Double responsibility: Huesca grew to become an assistant dance captain for the present earlier than the top of the PAC NYC run and is in that position once more on Broadway. “I’ve classical dance coaching and I’ve a great ear: My mind shops choreography with rhythm,” she says. “I really feel like that’s the bridge between the road dancers and the musical theater folks within the room. I can converse each of the languages.”
Favourite second within the present: “There’s a trio in ‘The Jellicle Ball’ that I do with Etcetera and Macavity—I love that trio. It’s so enjoyable. And there’s an enormous group part known as ‘the fugue,’ the place everybody within the solid is being hypnotized by Outdated Deuteronomy and we grow to be this large Arms Efficiency machine; it’s tough, nevertheless it’s actually enjoyable to carry out.”
Vocabulary be aware: “It’s a dip, not a loss of life drop. Dying drop isn’t a factor in voguing.”
Primo Thee Ballerino
Tumblebrutus
Primo moved to New York Metropolis in 2021 particularly to pursue ballroom after a mentor in Cincinnati instructed him he thought he’d be lower out for it. “I watched [the ballroom TV series] ‘Legendary’ and was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I may completely try this,’ ” he says. “And as soon as I truly received concerned, it turned out to be fully totally different from what I believed it was going to be, which I liked.” At present, he belongs to the Home of Donyale Luna.
The one similarity Primo sees between his Tumblebrutus and the model from the unique CATS is athletic potential, significantly (because the title implies) the tumbling. Primo, who’s nicknamed “Thee Human Twister,” thinks his bag of gymnastic tips, “and likewise my upbeat character,” he provides with a smile, made him a pure match for the position. “As a result of Tumblebrutus is such a multifaceted human being, he additionally possesses an unlimited repertoire of actions,” from voguing to avenue jazz.
Tumblebrutus is… “Actual. Humorous. Versatile. Excessive-energy. Conscious.”
From the highest: Primo is the very first dancer seen within the musical—a shadow who initially performs one thing nearer to Gillian Lynne’s choreography for the unique CATS earlier than, “because the music modifications, you begin to see it break down into this different world of homosexual motion and voguing,” Primo explains. “Tumblebrutus provides everybody a little bit kitty cat style of what’s about to transpire.”
Favourite second within the present: “My favourite to look at is the highest of the second act, when Outdated Deuteronomy is having a second with Sillabub. It’s a second of instructing: childlike innocence getting knowledge from an elder. And somebody as iconic as André De Shields? It feels so actual.”
Child Byrne
Victoria
Whereas the white cat is also known as “the ballet cat,” in The Jellicle Ball she is fully a voguer. Child Byrne’s creative background was primarily in singing and performing earlier than she began her dance coaching at age 19, after taking a vogue seminar whereas at Buy School. She began driving the prepare to New York Metropolis on the weekends to take Cesar Valentino’s voguing lessons, and ultimately met Wiles as he was founding the Home of NiNa Oricci, which grew to become her first ballroom home. “Earlier than I began voguing, I by no means thought-about myself a dancer for actual,” she says. “It helped unlock a complete vary of motion in me.”
Trying on the conventional manufacturing, “Clearly the motion and the language are so totally different,” she says. “However I felt linked to the curiosity and exploration that her character goes by way of.” This Victoria additionally performs with Tumblebrutus throughout “Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer,” which layers in bodily comedy as the 2 duos go face to face. “That’s the place you see her extra playful facet,” Byrne says, “but additionally her aggressive facet.”
Victoria is… “Comfortable. Robust. Curious. Limber.”
The naming of cats: Victoria first seems throughout “The Naming of Cats,” which then leads into her solo. “In ballroom, you select your title, but additionally, being within the queer neighborhood, naming your self is basically necessary,” Byrne says. “You may not at all times align with the title you got at start.” When she crawls onto the stage and begins her solo, Victoria is “claiming her title.”
Favourite second within the present: “Proper now, it’s ‘Gus: The Theatre Cat,’ which is when all of the little kittens crowd round Junior LaBeija and he talks to us about all of the components he’s performed in his life. I believe it’s actually stunning, the best way that these phrases Andrew Lloyd Webber selected so way back can actually connect with what it means to be a queer individual, or an elder within the ballroom neighborhood. This manufacturing is saying, ‘We see you, we need to preserve listening to from you.’ ”
Nora Schell
Bustopher Jones
Nora Schell was recovering from a fracture of their left foot when callbacks for the PAC NYC manufacturing rolled round, counting them out of the dance portion. “I used to be like, ‘If I can’t do the dance, I’m not going to get this position,’ ” they recall. Fortunately, the casting director had additionally labored on Jagged Little Capsule, Schell’s Broadway debut, and knew they might choose up choreography. Schell’s background is in musical theater (they earned their BFA from College of Michigan), and whereas that they had admired voguers within the ballroom neighborhood on social media, they’d by no means approached the fashion previous to being solid.
Whereas historically Bustopher Jones makes fatness the butt of the joke whereas satirizing posh English gents’s golf equipment, in The Jellicle Ball there are layers that flip the quantity on its head. “It’s a two-part meta factor,” Schell says, “as a result of at first it’s poking enjoyable at fats white males. Taking part in it on this fats, Black, queer physique—I’m making enjoyable of those aristocratic fats cats who symbolize greed and overconsumption and colonialism.” The choreography begins very upright and inflexible, however as soon as Schell tears away their posh swimsuit to disclose a corset beneath, “it’s now a celebration the place fatness isn’t ugly. Fatness doesn’t need to imply overconsumption—it may also be luscious.”
Bustopher Jones is… “Daring. Biting. Unapologetic. Hilarious. Horny.”
Favourite second within the present: Sillabub chasing after Grizabella throughout “Reminiscence.” “Grizabella stays as a result of this one who is like an echo of herself when she was youthful comes again to save lots of her,” Schell says. “The best way Teddy Wilson, Jr. and ‘Tempress’ Chasity Moore play it, and the underlying that means when you will have it set on two Black trans our bodies, it’s actually highly effective.”
Dancing as a plus-sized actor: “I’ve appreciated being in exhibits with choreographers who don’t view being plus-sized or fats as one thing that retains folks from having the ability to dance. Younger dancers who are usually not skinny: Don’t really feel that it’s a must to restrict your self. Problem environments or choreographers that make you’re feeling such as you don’t belong.”
Robert “Silk” Mason
Magical Mister Mistoffelees
Whereas of their first semester at The Juilliard College, Robert “Silk” Mason was invited to what they thought was a Halloween social gathering however turned out to be a Halloween ball. “I used to be watching like, ‘Shoot, I may try this!’ ” they recall, laughing. “I went on the market and began doing hitch kicks right into a dip.” That have led them to becoming a member of Haus of Marciano. At present they’re the mom of the Royal Haus of Silk, which they based in 2024.
Mason began as a voguer earlier than branching out into Runway, the class they stroll because the Magical Mister Mistoffelees. At 6′ 3″, they discovered the identical problem in Runway as they did in ballet and fashionable throughout their coaching: “It took time and endurance for me to get these lengthy legs and arms in accord with one another!” they are saying. Mistoffelees’ choreography attracts on ballet, up to date, and majorette dance, along with the heels work typical of Runway.
Mistoffelees is… “Queen. Ethereal. Magical. Diva. Waymaker.”
Representing: Mason identifies as gender nonconforming, and has been the manufacturing’s Mistoffelees for the reason that first developmental workshop. “The pronoun modifications with Mistoffelees within the manufacturing are so stunning to see,” they are saying, including that whereas they need their model of the character to be one which anybody can do, it’s significantly necessary to them that it stays open to gender-nonconforming performers like them.
Favourite second within the present: “ ‘The Advert-dressing of Cats’ ” on the finish. I really feel like, inside this administration, the federal government, the world normally, we’ve got not been receiving respect. Singing this onstage, we’re addressing ourselves to everybody and letting them know that this can be a place that we’ve got created ourselves, collectively, all collectively. However this area is for you as effectively.”
Constructing the Ball
Through the 2024 Perelman Performing Arts Heart manufacturing, the viewers sat round a seemingly countless runway that confronted a judges’ desk, and performers would typically lounge subsequent to viewers at stageside tables. At Broadway’s Broadhurst Theatre, “We knew we weren’t going to get a runway so long as we had downtown,” co-choreographer Omari Wiles says. Scenic designer Rachel Hauck’s up to date format eliminated some orchestra seats to permit the runway to increase previous the proscenium. It’s now in a Y form, splitting to both facet of the judges’ desk, which moved to upstage middle. Restricted onstage seating permits for some viewers interactivity, which is “super-important to not solely the storytelling however the power that the present wants,” Wiles says.
The brand new scenic design has meant updating the choreography “for each a part of the present,” co-choreographer Arturo Lyons says. “As a result of the stage is reversed, the choreo needs to be dealing with backwards and ahead at sure occasions.” Reshaping the solos to make sure that they not solely play out to the home but additionally to the viewers and solid members onstage posed a selected problem. “At an actual ball, you’re not going to see every little thing,” Wiles notes, “nevertheless it’s a efficiency, so we need to be sure that each seat is ready to see what they should see.”
Respecting Ballroom’s Roots
Ball tradition began as a protest. Within the mid-Twentieth century, Black and Latina contributors in drag pageants weren’t given wins towards their white counterparts, main them to begin their very own contests. Over the following years, the dance kind they created has developed by way of three distinct kinds: Outdated Method, New Method, and Vogue Femme, all of that are represented in CATS: The Jellicle Ball.
“Ballroom is trans girls loving themselves and exhibiting you why they like to be girls,” says Jellicle Ball solid member Dava Huesca. “It modified my very own notion of myself, being a Black girl coming from ballet and fashionable. I didn’t have any confidence till I began voguing.”
Whereas ball tradition has historic roots, it’s not simply historical past. “Ballroom is a respiratory, thriving tradition,” Primo Thee Ballerino, who performs Tumblebrutus, says. “CATS: The Jellicle Ball is the expertise of a ball. It’s not ballroom. Are available, have a celebration, convey the power, the enjoyable, the fireplace. However there’s a lot to know that you’d by no means know except you’re part of it.”
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