(Bloomberg) -- A few weeks before the premiere of the latest Cats production to arrive in New York, costume designer Qween Jean was busily making final adjustments. Preternaturally calm, she watched as a team in the midtown costume shop John Kristiansen New York took measurements of actor Jonathan Burke, who was wearing a long, white-leather jacket adorned with red and blue decoration. Once a few accessories—including a bandana and cowboy hat—were added, Qween Jean asked: “Can we see the breakaway?” At this point, Burke pulled on what appeared to be a small thread near his armpit.
In a movement, the entire sleeve slid off the jacket; with a further pull, the second arm came off. A final pull detached the jacket’s bottom half. Suddenly, it was a crop top, and Burke was down to a pair of white cowboy boots and Hello Kitty underwear.
CATS: The Jellicle Ball, which opened at Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC) on June 13 and will run through July 28, is not the Cats musical you grew up with. For starters, there’s nothing feline about this version, except maybe those Hello Kitty briefs. (The made-up word Jellicle comes from a book of poetry by T.
S. Eliot that was the basis for the original Cats musical.) Instead, the action has been transposed to a queer ballroom where it pits 24 performers against one another in a five-category dance-off set to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s original music.
Co-directed by Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch, with choreography by Arturo L.
