Review: Arizona Broadway Theatre Presents a Glittering Rendition of CATS

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The production runs through July 25th at Arizona Broadway Theatre in Peoria, AZ.

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Guest contributor David Applefords review of Arizona Broadway Theatre’s production of CATS.

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London and Broadway’s phenomenally successful musical CATS was never a polite adaptation of T. S. Eliot’s book of poems. Andrew Lloyd Webber who, let’s be honest, can sometimes have the musical subtlety of a firework in a library, took Eliot’s book and spun it into a purring, prowling spectacle.

Not to be confused with the new Broadway re-imagined ballroom version, now playing at Arizona Broadway Theatre in Peoria until July 25, the original CATS is undeniably kitschy. It’s weird, and really a bit much, but that’s the fun of it. With its leg-warmers, spandex, and performers prowling around like interpretive dancers in heat, C ATS should be a laughingstock to anyone with an ounce of sophistication. And yet, somewhere between the junkyard set of the cat’s domain (which in this production is moved to the outdoor, neon-lit scrapyard of Las Vegas) and the guaranteed tear-stained reprise of Memory , something happens.

This oddball pageant has such confident silliness and innocent theatrical zest that it sweeps you up before you know what’s happening. The evening is fluff and nonsense, yes, but fluff and nonsense that knows exactly what it’s doing, and on ABT ’s stage, it does it well.

CATS doesn’t give you plot, it gives you archetype, movement, repetition, and mood. The story, if you can call it that, involves the Jellicle cats (a playful, whimsical mispronunciation of "dear little cats" invented by T.S. Eliot for his poems). They’re picking which one of their tight-knit tribe will be reborn in the Heaviside Layer, which sounds more like a weird, drug-induced dream than musical theatre.

Director and choreographer Kurtis Overby has massaged the original Gillian Lynne choreography without losing the slinky mysticism that made the original famous. This is a show that asks its actors not just to dance or sing, but to leap, pounce, slink, and stare mysteriously out into the middle distance, presumably using the actor’s trick of focusing on the Exit sign at the back of the house while appearing as though they’re witnessing the secrets of the universe.

And ABT ’s cast is gangbusters. Jordan Linton shimmers with magic as Mr. Mistoffelees, Roberto Silva -Neto makes Rum Tum Tugger a catwalk Casanova, while Brittany Bonefas and Ethan Gonzalez tear the stage as Rumpelteazer and Mungojerrie (so that’s where the late 60s UK jug band got its name!). They’re the Bonnie and Clyde of the alley.

Admittedly, there is a certain absurdity in watching Bustopher Jones: The Cat About Town , embodied with broad upper-class confidence by a well-padded Alexander Cousins, serenading the audience with tales of winkles, rice puddings, and the clubs of London's St. James's Street. How he would suddenly turn up in the middle of a Nevada desert is anyone's guess.

But here’s the thing: Webber, ever the manipulative showman, knows how to lodge his melodies into your brain like commercial jingles from the underworld. After seeing CATS , you may not remember exactly why Gabrielle Gore, excellent as Grizabella, ascends to some vaguely redemptive cat heaven, but you will find yourself days later mumbling Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats in the shower, or wondering aloud if there ever was a cat so clever as Magical Mr. Mistoffelees . It’s musical theatre as earworm infestation.

No, this isn’t profound. It doesn’t pretend to be. It’s spectacle as self-aware fantasy. For those who saw it in the ’80s, it’s a musical blast of synth-smeared nostalgia, recreated by music director Adam Berger . For new audiences, it’s an initiation rite into the wilder corners of musical theatre. And for those who were unlucky enough to see the jaw-droppingly dreadful 2019 film version, ABT ’s production should help you finally regain some respect for the piece, and that’s no easy feat. For the record, even Lloyd Webber was mortified by the movie, later remarking that the film was the reason why he bought himself a therapy dog.

Love it or loathe it, when the show first appeared, CATS didn’t just raise its tail, it raised theatrical stakes. It turned a book of poems into a global blockbuster and proved that sometimes, the riskiest thing you can do in theater is to be gloriously, unrepentantly ridiculous.

And CATS is ridiculous. If there’s a musical guaranteed to divide audiences, it’s this one. But as presented here on the wide ABT stage, it is also unexpectedly thrilling. Christian Fleming 's gloriously detailed junkyard set, inspired by the weathered neon relics of Las Vegas's outdoor Neon Museum, is beautifully illuminated by Cameron Filepas. Add Chris Zizzo's feline wigs and makeup, which must have required heroic levels of effort, plus Morgan Anderson’s costumes, and the visual world becomes almost impossible to resist.

Here’s how to look at it.

Try to imagine T. S. Eliot's prim little book of poems getting high—not on catnip, but on theatrical glitter—and deciding to stage a feverish feline dream with help from Andrew Lloyd Webber . And there you have it. That's CATS .

Arizona Broadway Theatre -- https://www.azbroadway.org/ -- 7701 W Paradise Ln, Peoria, AZ -- 623-776-8400

Graphic credit to ABT

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_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/phoenix/article/Review-CATS-at-Arizona-Broadway-Theatre-20260615)._