CATS Opens in Adelaide This Week

The 40th Anniversary Australian tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s record-breaking musicalCATS arrives in Adelaide this week, playing at Her Majesty’s Theatre for three weeks only from Saturday 20 September to 12 October, with no extension possible.

This iconic production has just closed at the theatre where it first began in Australia, Theatre Royal Sydney, where it played to rapturous audience response and rave reviews,
🟊🟊🟊🟊🟊 “Inexplicably magical” – First Class Magazine
🟊🟊🟊🟊 “Bursting with talent” – Stagenoise
🟊🟊🟊🟊 “This fresh production is a great way to celebrate 40 years” – AUReview
“An immersive spectacle” – Sydney Morning Herald
“Electrifying. A spectacle of transformation” – Theatre Thoughts

The coveted role of Grizabella, the former “glamour cat” ostracised by the Jellicles, is played by Gabriyel Thomas (“Gabriyel Thomas’s rendition of Memory is so hauntingly beautiful it sends shivers down the spine” – Theatre Thoughts), while audience favourite Todd McKenney plays the dual roles of Bustopher Jones and Asparagus the Theatre Cat (Todd McKenney is infectiously glorious on stage” – The Scoop), and classical performer Mark Vincent returns to the musical theatre stage as Old Deuteronomy, the patriarch of the Jellicle tribe (“Mark Vincent brought sonorous gravitas” – Sydney Morning Herald).

Recently seen as Roxie Hart in the sold-out national tour of Chicago, Lucy Maunder has taken on the role of Jellylorum, while the rebellious cat Rum Tum Tugger is Des Flanagan. WAPPA graduate Jarrod Draper has been cast as Munkustrap, and returning to CATS after many years isLeigh Archer as the motherly character Jennyanydots, also known among the tribe as the “Gumbie Cat”.

 

 

The remainder of the company includes Sarah Bourke (playing Tantomile), Olivia Carniato(Demeter), Mia Dabkowski-Chandler (Bombalurina), Tom Davis (Skimbleshanks), Ella Fitzpatrick (Jemima), Charlie Follows (Bill Bailey), Joshua Gordon (Coricopat), Chaska Halliday (Cassandra), Dominique Hamilton (swing), Claudia Hastings (Victoria/ White Cat), Aimee Jones (swing), Savannah Lind (Rumpleteazer), Aaron Lynch (swing), Joe Miller(swing), Jake O’Brien (Mungojerrie), Xavier Pellin (Mr Mistoffelees), Guy Pik (Carbuckety), Rania Potaka-Osborne (Alonzo), Edward Smith (Admetus/ Macavity), Thalia Smith (swing) and Tod Strike (swing).

Producer John Frost for Crossroads Live :

Adelaide, It’s time to let the memory live again with this iconic production, performed by a purr-fect cast . CATS is at Her Majesty’s for only three weeks so buy your tickets today before they sell out.

Based on T. S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats and set to music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, CATS has been captivating audiences around the globe since it opened at the New London Theatre (now known as the Gillian Lynne) in 1981, where it played for 21 record-breaking years and almost 9,000 performances, winning both the Olivier and Evening Standard Awards for Best Musical.

 

 

Since then, CATS has been presented in over 50 countries, translated into 23 languages and has been seen by over 81 million people world-wide. On Broadway, CATS played for 18 years and won seven Tony Awards including Best Musical.

The musical tells the story of the Jellicle cat tribe. On just one special night of the year, all Jellicle cats meet at the Jellicle Ball where Old Deuteronomy, their wise and benevolent leader, makes the Jellicle choice and announces which of them will go up to “The Heaviside Layer” and be reborn into a whole new Jellicle life.

 

 

The timeless musical score includes the hit song Memory, which has been recorded by more than 150 artists including Celine Dion, Barbra Streisand, Nicole Scherzinger, Johnny Mathis, Liberace and Barry Manilow. With “timeless music, spectacular sets and a superb cast” (Daily Mirror), breathtaking choreography and of course the unforgettable Memory, CATS is a magical musical like no other.

---

Season Details

Venue: Her Majesty’s Theatre
Date: 20 Sept – 12 Oct 2025

For more information click HERE

Photo Credit: Daniel Boud