Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats is to return to the West End following a 12-year absence, with a run from December at the London Palladium.
Cats is directed by Trevor Nunn, with Gillian Lynne as associate director and choreographer. It has designs by John Napier.
For this production, Chrissie Cartwright, long-term associate director of Cats, will work with Nunn and Lynne to re-direct the show for the Palladium.
Andrew Lloyd Webber will write additional songs for Rum Tum Tugger and Growl Tiger for the production, and he has assembled many of the original creative team including Sir Trevor Nunnwho directs, with associate direction and choreography from Dame Gillian Lynne and set design by John Napier.
Cats is based on T S Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.
It originally premiered in 1981 at the New London Theatre, where it played for 21 years. That production was produced by Cameron Mackintosh and The Really Useful Group.
The production will be based on the touring version, with a few tweaks, according to the Mail, and is produced by David Ian and Really Useful Theatres.
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 26 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.
Tickets for the production go onsale on 7 July, with casting to be announced.
