The Musical CATS Sets Live Theatre Records
Celebrating the Longest Running Play on Broadway
May 6, 2009
CATS opened on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre on October 7, 1982. Following the triumph of A Chorus Line, CATS experienced success nearly from the start. In fact, CATS became the longest running show on Broadway on June 19, 1997 when it presented its 6,138th performance. Since its initial opening the stage play has recouped more than $3 billion in sales, and continues to run at theatres around the world. Close to nine million people have seen the play in New York alone.
T. S. Eliot, Old Possum and Practical Cats
The first poem in T. S. Eliot’s Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, which the record-setting play is based on, is titled “The Naming of Cats”. It opens with a discussion about the need to have several names for cats. Eliot makes it clear that the names must be unique to reflect the true nature of the animal. As cat lovers can attest, cats have strong personalities. They cannot be leashed or ordered about like dogs.
One of the key benefits of the play is revealed at the closing of the book’s first poem. In writing, “When you notice a cat in profound meditation, the reason, I tell you, is always the same: his mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name, his ineffable effable, effanineffabledeep and inscrutable singular Name,” Eliot makes it clear that a cat himself is often perturbed at his own uniqueness.
Cats and Record Setting Theatre Performances
Globally, CATS has been performed in front of well over 50 million theatregoers in 20 countries and 250 cities. To meet the demands of worldwide theatregoers, CATS has been translated in ten languages including Hungarian, French, Swedish, German, Italian, Finnish, Norwegian, Dutch, Spanish and Japanese. Currently, the show is running at the Madach Theatre in Budapest, Germany. Not only has CATS been performed in major theatres around the world, the show has also been performed in tents and at schools throughout the world.
Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote the score for the show. T. S. Eliot and Trevor Nunn are credited with co-writing the show’s lyrics. Trevor Nunn is also one of the original directors for the show. CATS has won seven Tony Awards and two Laurence Olivier Awards.
CATS Original Cast and New Film
In 1998, Andrew Lloyd Webber released a video version of CATS. The video version was directed by David Mallet and included performances by Elaine Paige, one of the play’s original performers. The video was recorded in London, the same city where the play first opened in 1981.
Other members of the original London cast from the play’s 1981 opening at the West End include Steven Wayne, John Chester, Sharon Lee Hill, Geraldine Gardner, Brian Blessed and Finola Hughes. The original Broadway cast had fewer members than the original London cast but the core message in the play came across equally as effective.
Anyone familiar with the live stage performance knows how physically draining one theatrical production can be. The fact that CATS has enjoyed a rewarding and successful run for as long as it has is nothing short of remarkable. Casting at each of its global venues is stellar making it a treasured part of theatrical history.
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