Cats: The Jellicle Ball (Revisit)

A View From the Heaviside Layer
Broadhurst Theatre, July 24, 2026, 7:00 PM

In March, I sat in the last row of the orchestra, far left, and wrote that I had been informed rather than transported. I blamed the seat. It turns out I was right to.

By the time I went back, the closing notice had already gone up. I knew this was my last chance, and I wasn’t going to waste it on another partial view. This time I sat in the front row of the mezzanine, thanks to the generosity of a dear friend. Nobody’s head was in my way and I could see the whole stage, and it felt like a different show. It was really the same show finally reaching me.

I can’t pick out a single highlight, because there wasn’t one. It was all unending joy and fun. Everything I had only caught pieces of in March came together. In March I admired the ballroom concept as a good idea; this time it got to me while it was happening. I wasn’t watching other people’s joy anymore. I was part of it. I got it this time.

That makes the closing harder to accept. Cats: The Jellicle Ball played its final Broadway performance on August 8, 2026, about four months after it opened, despite three Tony Awards and some of the best reviews of the season. It deserved a much longer run.

The good news is the cast recording. It was recorded by the full company, produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Alana da Fonseca, and the full album comes out on Atlantic Records on February 12, 2027. It can’t give me the runway, but it will give me those voices, and after that night in the mezzanine I know exactly what I’ll be picturing while I listen.

So here is my correction to the first review: the problem really was the seat, and the show was every bit as thrilling as I suspected. I’m glad I made it back in time, and I wish more people had gotten the chance to find that out.