For this critic, Cats can do no wrong. That declaration is written in the knowledge that Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical is deeply unloved by many—a benighted status rooted in miaowing mockery, which was only worsened by the much-lambasted 2019 movie (which again, sorry, not sorry, kept me more rapt than revolted).
So, while the fabulous Cats: The Jellicle Ball (PAC NYC, to Jul. 28) doesn’t need to change my opinion, it may change others; witness the ecstatic response to the promotional video for the show released in May, and then also witness the response to the show itself. My left ear is still recovering from being whooped and shrieked into at decibel-shattering volume by the person sitting next to me.
To be fair, the audience is instructed to be as loud as they like; for now the setting is not a junkyard of prowling felines in singing competition to ascend to the Heaviside Layer, but an exuberant celebration of queer Ballroom culture. It’s a thematic twist, and also a concordance, that works brilliantly—and keys into a contemporary awareness of the history of underground scene that was showcased by the TV series Pose.
