Zhailon Levingston & Bill Rauch on Their Tony Win for Directing CATS: The Jellicle Ball

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Cats: The Jellicle Ball is currently playing at the Broadhurst Theatre.

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Earlier tonight at the 79th Annual Tony Awards, Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch took home the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for CATS: The Jellicle Ball . After leaving the stage at Radio City Music Hall, they checked in with BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge to share their initial reaction!

Zhailon Levingston is a Louisiana-raised storyteller, director, and activist. He is a Board Member for the Broadway Advocacy Coalition, which he co-created, and teaches the Theatre of Change course at Columbia University. He is a Music Mentor Fellow and has done work with Idina Menzel ’s A Broader Way Foundation. His directing credits include: Neptune (Dixon Place, Brooklyn Museum), The Years That Went Wrong (Lark, MCC), The Exonerated (Columbia Law School), Chariot Part 2 (Soho Rep., for The Movement Theatre Company), Mother of Pearl (LaGuardia Performing Arts Center). He is the associate director of Primer for a Failed Superpower with Tony Award winner Rachel Chavkin , and Runaways at The Public Theater with Sam Pinkleton . Most recently, he directed Chicken & Biscuits which premiered on Broadway in 2021 and Patience which premiered at Second Stage UPTOWN Summer of 2022. Zhailon is also the former resident director at Tina: The Tina Turner Musical on Broadway and the associate director of Hadestown in South Korea.

COME ONE, COME ALL – The Jellicle Cats are having a BALL. Based on T.S. Eliot ’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, Andrew Lloyd Webber ’s worldwide phenomenon CATS is reimagined in a production that smashed records, won awards and left New York City purring. And now CATS: The Jellicle Ball ascends to Broadway in a kaleidoscope of glittering spectacle, iconic music and electrifying ballroom choreography. Broadway meets Runway in the fiercest event of the season, directed by Obie Award winners Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch , with choreography by Obie Award winners and New York City Ballroom icons Omari Wiles (House of NiNa Oricci) and Arturo Lyons (House of Miyake-Mugler).

CATS: The Jellicle Ball

Omari Wiles and Arturo Lyons took home the Tony Award for Best Choreography. After leaving the stage at Radio City Music Hall, they checked in with BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge to share their initial reaction!

In the Tony Awards press room, choreographers Omari Wiles and Arturo Lyons teased they want to do a revival of the musical 'Fame' next.

The trailblazing artist took home the Tony Award for Best Costume Design of a Musical.Qween Jean, who won the 2026 Tony Award for Best Costume Design of a Musical for her work on Cats: The Jellicle Ball, has become the first openly trans person to win in her category.

On June 3, the Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC) hosted a special benefit celebration honoring Andrew Lloyd Webber and the acclaimed production of Cats: The Jellicle Ball. Check out photos from the event.

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_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Video-Zhailon-Levingston-and-Bill-Rauch-React-to-Tony-Win-for-Best-Direction-of-a-Musical-for-CATS-THE-JELLICLE-BALL-20260607)._