Cats will tour the UK for the first time since 2006. The tour revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical made an official announcement today announcing the tour after some recent speculation. Apart from a stop at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre next March, no other dates have been confirmed.
This will be the first time that Cats has played at the Grand in over a decade. Based on T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, casting and further dates are yet to be announced. The musical played its final West End performance in 2002 after almost 9,000 performances.
The musical introduced the popular song Memory. Cats first opened in the West End in 1981 and then on Broadway in 1982, each time directed by Trevor Nunn and choreographed by Gillian Lynne The musical won numerous awards, including both the Laurence Olivier Award and the Tony Award for Best Musical. The London production ran for twenty-one years and the Broadway production ran for eighteen years, both setting long-run records. Actresses Elaine Paige and Betty Buckley became particularly associated with the musical. One actress, Marlene Danielle, performed in the Broadway production for its entire run (from 1982 until 2000)!
