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[0:00] Jeff Malone: Welcome to Half Hour with Jeff & Richie, the podcast where we explore the latest shows we see, sharing our insights and opinions on the performances, storylines, and everything in between. In today's episode, we're discussing the 2026 Broadway revival of Cats – The Jellicle Ball, playing at the Broadhurst Theatre in New York City. Whether you cannot catch the show in person or you want to expand your thoughts after seeing it, this episode is for you. And as always, we want to inform you that this episode will contain spoilers, so if you're ready to dive into this production, stick around with us. I'm Jeff.

[0:26] Richie Grasso: And I'm Richie, and we're thrilled to be your hosts for this episode. But before we start the conversation about Cats – The Jellicle Ball, here are a few words from our advertisers.

[0:35] Jeff Malone: Welcome, everyone, to a new episode of Half Hour with Jeff & Richie. Today, we're discussing Cats – The Jellicle Ball. Come one, come all, the Jellicle Cats are having a ball. Based on T.S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, Andrew Lloyd Webber's worldwide phenomenon Cats is reimagined in a production that smashed records, won awards, and left New York City purring. And now, Cats – The Jellicle Ball ascends to Broadway in a kaleidoscope of glittering spectacle, iconic music, and electrifying ballroom choreography that The New York Times calls a lightning strike that sets joy free. Broadway meets runway in the fiercest event of the season, directed by Obie Award winners Zalon Livingston and Bill Rauch, with choreography by Obie Award winners and New York City ballroom legends Omari Wiles and Arturo Lyons. Don't miss this, as they quote, sexy celebration of love and resilience of the New York Daily News and quote, the most exhilarating fun that can be had in the theater, says the Washington Post.

[1:29] Richie Grasso: All right, well, we're going to get into the overall thoughts on the story, plot, concept, and music here, but hot take right away, Cats – The Jellicle Ball is probably the best thing I've seen on Broadway in I don't know how long.

[1:45] Jeff Malone: It is the best thing I have seen in a very long time, specifically that off-Broadway revival, and now being on Broadway again, a few changes, nothing major from the off-Broadway, and I'm just blown away by the pure joy that this show puts out into the space at a time where we probably really, really all need that. Yeah, I mean, this production is so amazing, I could probably sit and watch it every single night because it's just pure joy happening on the stage, and if anyone does not like this production, I don't know how I would be able to have a conversation with you.

[2:16] Richie Grasso: Well, everyone has their takes, but our hot take is you got to go run and see Cats – The Jellicle Ball, and we need to keep going back. Need to.

[2:22] Jeff Malone: So when we talk about a plot and concept here, I mean, Cats has this legacy of being one of the longest-running Broadway shows ever. Yeah, it ran for 18 years. The literal take on literal cats being in an alleyway singing about their lives. I believe Andrew Lloyd Webber was quoted once as saying this was originally intended for children. The T.S. Eliot book of poems is children's material. It's about cats and different cats living together, and they're all in there. And so Andrew Lloyd Webber writes a pretty catchy score with really memorable tunes, and it's fun, and it goes so long, right? And then this movie comes and bombs, and the movie is absolutely not great, like in many ways, because there's just major problems with it.

And when you spend almost 20 years putting Cats on Broadway with real costumes and makeup and wigs and then go so CGI with it, it just lost what it was originally probably intended to do. Now, we're here at this revival, and it is completely reimagined. And when I originally was going to see it off-Broadway, I said, okay, well, I wonder what's going to suffer. Like, is the vocals going to suffer? Are we going to just, like, is some of the plot going to change a little bit? And no, everything was elevated. Full orchestration, full vocal, full dancing. And I remember leaving that off-Broadway production thinking that was the best thing I had seen that year. It was absolutely incredible.

[3:38] Richie Grasso: Yeah. Well, I find it funny, too, because everyone's always like, Cats is about nothing. Like, the original Cats is like, oh, it's just, you know, cats singing their numbers, and they're in the alleyway, and old Deuteronomy is going to pick the cat that's going to the Heaverside lair. And it's really about nothing. But I think what Cats the Jellicle Ball does is it really gives it plot and concept, in my opinion.

[4:03] Jeff Malone: It does. It gives it more of a rooted, like, why do they treat Grizabella like that when she enters the stage? What's going on there? Why are some, they all have different levels of, the younger cats are just fun and playful and want to have a good time. The older cats are more, we speak more prolific, and we talk about our experience, and we respect the elders. But it's such genius to take this and say, oh, we're going to turn this into a ball, ballroom culture, and say, oh, we're giving this the concept of we're actually at a competition. And yes, there are the new cats, but there's also the legacy cats, and they're all from different houses that are coming, and they're performing in the different categories. But the category is Cats.

[4:44] Richie Grasso: Right. So, hello, amazing, right then and there. But that Grizabella is the glamour cat. She would run in the glamour competition, and she was a star. But guess what happens? She starts to fade away. And that is the plot that's now given here. It's legacy being in this industry, and then what happens as life continues on, and then where do you go from there? I love seeing ball culture coming to the limelight here. We've seen Pose, the TV show, give that a lot of attention, which is great. And drag culture, ball culture, the sense of the story of these people of this time being told on a mainstream Broadway stage like this. And it is fascinating when you go to the show and you have people in the audience that are, some are ball fans, and then you have your Broadway fans, then you have your tourists, then you have fans of the original musical, and you have all these people in this room, and everybody comes together to just put their worries and troubles at the door and has this joyous, joyous time.

I smile the whole show, and I'm like, if there was a camera on me watching this, I would just be smiling all the time, because it's brilliantly directed. It's brilliantly choreographed. It flows. It's a two-hour and 45-minute musical, and it doesn't feel it. And I don't say that about a lot of two-hour and 45-minute musicals. It just goes and flows so nicely, the whole concept of the runway. Listen, did this transfer to a proscenium house from an in-the-round house? Yes, it did. And did they put people on stage? And this is a smaller Broadway house, and I was wondering how this was going to work, but this did seem to bring the audience together in a slightly smaller space, wrapped around the stage. I thought it worked really well for that.

[6:23] Jeff Malone: Yeah. And because it's framed as a ballroom event, how do you kind of feel like in them announcing that, from a concept standpoint, that you really are supposed to treat this as a ball? Make the noise, stand, clap, sing along, clack those fans. Is it warranted?

[6:43] Richie Grasso: Yeah, and I think it's done at the appropriate times throughout. It's not like people are standing the whole time during more serious moments. People know to be more quiet or sit during some of the more serious moments, but every big song, when they're coming out and doing a runway moment, everyone is clacking and clapping and laughing, and you're there, and nothing seems distracting or that I'm missing anything. It just brings that energy to a next level. It's awesome.

[7:06] Jeff Malone: And from a director's perspective, though, when you look at something like Cats here and this whole ballroom idea, what's something that you feel like you can kind of take and bring along with you into things that you're going to direct now?

[7:21] Richie Grasso: Well, I think what this show teaches me is, so many times when people re-imagine or re-invent a revival, sometimes I'm like, okay, that's a choice. It didn't need to happen that way. Okay, this just feels so right that this is the way to revive Cats in 2026. And that's what I'm saying. When you look at this piece, they didn't really change anything.

[7:42] Jeff Malone: No, the score is there. Some of the orchestration sounds a little more club-like, but I think the vocals are there. We didn't thin this out to just a unison singing. We didn't cut songs. We didn't rearrange songs. We didn't try to change character plot. We just kept it and brushed it off. I love the DJ kind of taking the albums out, the Diana Ross album, and then they say, oh, Cats, let's play that and tell it in such a different way. It's something that I applaud because I look at this and I say, this is very similar to Oklahoma for me when we saw that revival and it was completely re-imagined, but nothing changed other than the way that it was presented to you on the stage. So I look at something like this and I say, wow, Cats is a really great show.

The Cats, the Jellicle Ball is a really great show. The same way that I felt after I saw Oklahoma. I said, wow, Oklahoma is a really great show, but I didn't always say that before. So when you have a director's eye that can look at something like this and say, oh no, what if we did it in this style? I just think that's so much more creative and interesting than just taking a revival, which is sometimes warranted where you just take a revival and you put it on the stage, but to re-imagine it in this way is just amazing to me.

[8:58] Richie Grasso: Totally. Not to mention that we did have Jamie Lloyd sitting right in front of us at the show, and I thought it was fascinating that he probably saw this when he just re-imagined another Andrew Lloyd Webber show with Sunset Boulevard and Evita. So we have him working on that and to see another Andrew Lloyd Webber show where he's getting to watch a different director reinvent it, I would hope he's sitting there like, wow, this is cool. I'm not the only one doing this. And also others are doing it and it's working. And I would hope that he would have thought that was cool that he was there. And if you were pitching Cats right now to someone, what would you say is the biggest reason to go and see it?

[9:32] Jeff Malone: This revival right now? Oh, only because it's just joyous. It's just pure joy. I don't know another word to describe it. It's just entertaining. It's fun. It's talent in your face. It is just, like I said earlier, drop your problems at the door, go in and just sink into this lovely, fun, energetic and meaningful story. There's a purpose to this, too, that we're telling the stories of these people who've come before us when we see the photos up there. It's important for us to kind of understand this culture and what has happened. It's like the biggest pure escapism piece that I think that's on Broadway right now as well.

[10:10] Richie Grasso: All right. It's time to take a quick break. And when we get back, we are going to get into the overall direction, actor performances and design of this piece.

[10:26] Jeff Malone: Cats are known for choreography in the original run. I thought it was important for them to keep that elevated.

[10:45] Richie Grasso: I thought the direction of this was nice because then the other cats in the ensemble were all around with us in the audience, in the booth, in the seats, down on the floor, looking up, and I felt like we were in this room with cats watching.

[11:00] Jeff Malone: There were still the eyes of the cat. There were still literal cat moments throughout as much as we stripped so much of that away with this. There were still moments of the cats all lurking and sitting around watching and who's crawling or clawing or jumping.

[11:14] Richie Grasso: It just felt the direction of that felt like no one ever really left the stage. But then there were prolific moments where it was very clear the throne came down.

[11:22] Jeff Malone: When Andre De Shields' character comes in, Old Deuteronomy is here. We are pausing. We are applauding. There was definitely beats taken with the direction. Anytime Grizabella entered, there was this, whoa, we have to pull back for a second because she's here and clearly people have problems with her and let's talk about that.

[11:40] Richie Grasso: And we didn't rush through anything. We didn't cut things or rush or feel like, okay, we can skip over that. The DJ up there DJing the whole time even though there's a full orchestra backstage. There's moments that keep this weighted and I think that it was paced really well from the directors too.

[11:55] Jeff Malone: From both the direction and the choreography as well. I'm looking at this and I'm saying there are heightened moments that are happening in this piece that are extremely well thought out. And like you're saying, Cats is about choreography.

[12:11] Richie Grasso: So we're doing it in a different style than it traditionally is, but it's now done in this ballroom choreography, which we never really get on the Broadway stage. I think we see influences of it in some more modern musicals, but we don't get the true authentic self here that is happening on this Broadway stage.

[12:30] Jeff Malone: And even from the beginning when we start out here, the DJ spinning the ball is such an amazing moment that brings you and captures you into this piece that we're taking the Cats album out of the crate and we're saying, oh, yes, the category is Cats.

[12:51] Richie Grasso: You don't really need to know much about the ballroom history here because they're going to explain it to you throughout the whole piece that's happening. But that's how it starts. That's how it begins. What are we spinning? What is the category? And now we have all of these cats that are coming out onto the stage in their different houses and categories and now they're giving us a show.

[13:12] Jeff Malone: And what I really, really, really enjoyed here is that it doesn't feel repetitive. It's not the same thing over and over again. It could be so easy that they just all get up on the stage and they're doing death drop after death drop. That's not what's happening. You're getting so many different ballroom poses in here. You're getting the duck walk. You're getting the death drop. You're getting hand choreo. You're getting wig choreo. You're getting face choreo.

[13:35] Richie Grasso: There's so much that's happening that I don't think many people really realize. But then when they see this, they're like, oh, wow, now I get it. It's fascinating to me that they could really take each cat and they studied what each house that cat is going to be in and say, OK, and we're going to keep it in the same style. And we're writing a story around that, really. I mean, the story is already written, but they're now creating this under the new concept.

[14:01] Jeff Malone: Totally. And when you kind of go into some of the choices that were made here with costumes and lighting and scenery and sound, all these design choices are very strong. The costumes are elevated. They're wonderful. They're so great. Wigs are amazing. This is lit so well, like I'm in an arena concert. And again, I'm in a smaller Broadway house and it felt like it was going to blow the roof off that place with the power of energy.

[14:25] Richie Grasso: Right. And then when you compare that to what we saw at PAC versus to now, you know, we're in a black box style theater when we were at PAC. So it was a lot easier for them to build out this whole runway as it being the whole stage versus, OK, yeah, now we're working in the proscenium space on the Broadway stage.

[14:45] Jeff Malone: So with that, there was much more side action happening. There was much more involvement with the cats actually in the stadium seating at PAC. But now bringing them into this Broadway house, I think it worked. Yeah, I was impressed with how they were really able to transfer it because it could have easily not transferred well.

[15:02] Richie Grasso: Sure. And I almost think that putting it in a slightly smaller house brings everyone together and feels closer to the action, which I think that was nice about PAC was you felt closer. We were on the side there. This week we were in the front orchestra area, but we still were able to see everything. I like that they have seating up on the stage still. I like that the cats are walking all around the aisles, up, down, everyone's around. So it feels very immersive in that way. And I think that's what I was worried about is how the immersiveness is going to feel.

[15:29] Jeff Malone: From a scenic design perspective, it works great. They cut the front two rows out of the house so that the runway can jet out further. Yeah, really, really great. The cats are in the aisles the whole time. I think almost every single one of them may have walked past us in the space. So it was great. And now when we start talking about some of the cats here, who are some big standout moments for you?

[15:48] Richie Grasso: Oh, I mean, well, I have to say hot take here. Andre De Shields is absolutely incredible and inspiring to watch at his age up there to see the people applaud him. I think they're like, oh, yeah, we're applauding for old Deuteronomy. No, we're really also applauding for Andre De Shields and the legacy he's left in the Broadway space.

[16:08] Jeff Malone: It comes down to the legacy. I mean, absolutely incredible. I mean, and he's there and he's owning the look and he's very well respected. Yeah. And just a standout star for someone who comes in pretty late into Act One, too. He's just really, I don't know what else other than just I'm jaw drop speechless when I see him because I think he's just so inspiring.

[16:30] Richie Grasso: He commands the stage. It's elevated camp in so many different ways. He is hamming it up on that stage. There are moments where, you know, he is playing this older cat at moments where I'm like, wait, is he OK on the stage? And he really just fed into the whole narrative of who old Deuteronomy is.

[16:48] Jeff Malone: Yeah, I believe 82 maybe I think he is. He wins his Tony Award. Well, he said 82 earth years in his bio. So I assume that he's 82. I believe he won in this when he was in the 70s for Hadestown. That was his first Tony. Right. So to think he had this whole career in there is when he gets I believe that was his first one. So I would love to see him Tony nominated. I think that’d be really, really great, too.

[17:10] Richie Grasso: Who else stands out for you? I mean, Junior LaBeija as Gus is also really inspiring to me to see another elder of the community up there playing this role. I was just very fascinated by him. Right. I mean, you have the legacy on here. You also have Ken Ard who's the DJ Griddlebone in here who was in the original Cats as Macavity and seeing that and the full circle moment for that as well.

[17:33] Jeff Malone: I love that we're having so many full circle moments for actors within the theater community right now that they are joining revivals, whether it's at City Center Encores or now on Broadway, that they are really shining in that. So I love that we're giving people their flowers in moments of this. Totally.

[17:52] Richie Grasso: And also Temporis Jossie Moore as Grizabella, who really owns her space and has a long legacy. And I think that was great to see this, too. I just think to see the legends of Broadway and the ball culture here in this, it was very, very smart, which we didn't get to see Temporis when we saw this off Broadway.

[18:09] Jeff Malone: So now getting the chance to see that. And I'll say something. The elevation of bringing this new, and this is the big spoiler moment, so we announced this early on, but back to the spoilers here, bringing this new staircase on how she goes up to the heavy side layer is...

[18:27] Richie Grasso: A spiral staircase dropping dead center with her going all the way up to the literal ceiling of the theater and disappearing is fascinating to me.

[18:35] Jeff Malone: Yeah. I mean, and not only that, it was such a moment with it coming in and then watching her walk up and then it slowly leaving was directed so well. And I love that they really elevated that in this Broadway production.

[18:50] Richie Grasso: Totally. Totally.

[18:52] Jeff Malone: Big hot take here. I mean, we have Sydney James Harcourt, who is, I'm so sorry, eating up this role on Broadway.

[18:59] Richie Grasso: He's really owning it. He knows he can walk that walk and he is just living his life and everyone's fawning over him and he's very, very good at this role.

[19:11] Jeff Malone: Yes. Very good.

[19:13] Richie Grasso: He's been a good performer in a lot of things as well, but this is just a really great, he's very comfortable up there.

[19:17] Jeff Malone: Right. It's a hot take for Sydney.

[19:18] Richie Grasso: There we go. There we go. There we go. I mean, everybody just is really mind blowing in the different levels of talent that they have. They're all so different and bring such different levels of things.

[19:31] Jeff Malone: Right. I mean, like big standouts here, too, are also Jenny Anydots, who's played by Xavier Reyes. Nora Schell, who plays Bustopher Jones. I mean, they are...

[19:42] Richie Grasso: Incredible.

[19:43] Jeff Malone: Incredible out of this world. The Belt.

[19:45] Richie Grasso: Yes.

[19:46] Jeff Malone: That is coming out.

[19:47] Richie Grasso: Yes. Nora is amazing.

[19:48] Jeff Malone: Is amazing.

[19:49] Richie Grasso: I also think Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat, played by Emma Sophia. I just love this whole MTA thing. I just think it's so funny.

[19:58] Jeff Malone: It's so funny. It's so camp. It is next level. And a second big hot take here. I'm sorry, but Victoria is...

[20:08] Richie Grasso: Oh, yeah. Baby Byrne.

[20:09] Jeff Malone: Baby Byrne.

[20:10] Richie Grasso: Victoria is... Wow.

[20:13] Jeff Malone: There is something that she is doing on that stage that she is, number one, like Sydney, eating it up, but your eyes just kind of go to her throughout moments. With this hair choreo, with this dancing that she's bringing on to the stage, there's just so many moments that are shining with her. Big, big, big moment.

[20:36] Richie Grasso: Every time these different cats come out, you think, this is the next big one, and you're all like, whoo, and then they get sent another duo out or a soloist. I'm like, whoa. And it's just, the show is written in a great way like that. This direction takes you on the journey. It's just brilliant.

[20:50] Jeff Malone: 10s, 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[21:20] Richie Grasso: 10s, 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[21:50] Jeff Malone: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[21:58] Richie Grasso: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[22:06] Jeff Malone: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[22:14] Richie Grasso: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[22:24] Jeff Malone: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[22:34] Richie Grasso: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[22:44] Jeff Malone: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[22:54] Richie Grasso: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[23:04] Jeff Malone: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[23:14] Richie Grasso: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[23:24] Jeff Malone: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[23:34] Richie Grasso: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[23:44] Jeff Malone: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[23:54] Richie Grasso: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[24:04] Jeff Malone: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[24:14] Richie Grasso: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[24:24] Jeff Malone: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[24:34] Richie Grasso: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[24:44] Jeff Malone: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[24:54] Richie Grasso: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[25:04] Jeff Malone: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[25:14] Richie Grasso: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[25:24] Jeff Malone: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[25:34] Richie Grasso: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[25:44] Jeff Malone: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[25:54] Richie Grasso: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[26:04] Jeff Malone: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[26:14] Richie Grasso: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[26:24] Jeff Malone: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[26:34] Richie Grasso: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[26:44] Jeff Malone: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[26:54] Richie Grasso: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[27:04] Jeff Malone: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[27:14] Richie Grasso: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[27:24] Jeff Malone: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[27:34] Richie Grasso: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[27:44] Jeff Malone: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[27:54] Richie Grasso: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[28:04] Jeff Malone: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[28:14] Richie Grasso: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[28:24] Jeff Malone: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[28:34] Richie Grasso: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[28:44] Jeff Malone: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[28:54] Richie Grasso: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[29:04] Jeff Malone: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[29:14] Richie Grasso: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[29:24] Jeff Malone: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[29:34] Richie Grasso: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[29:44] Jeff Malone: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[29:54] Richie Grasso: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[30:04] Jeff Malone: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[30:14] Richie Grasso: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[30:24] Jeff Malone: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[30:34] Richie Grasso: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[30:44] Jeff Malone: 10s, 10s Across the Board.

[30:54] Richie Grasso: 10s, 10s Across the Board.