Cats, the show that revolutionized musical theater is returning to the Orpheum Theatre (1192 Market Street) for a limited two week engagement, May 5 through 15 as a special attraction on the 2010-2011 Best of Broadway series under the direction of Carole Shorenstein Hays.
The national tour of Cats is the only production in North America sanctioned by Andrew Lloyd Webber. With original direction by Trevor Nunn and choreography by Gillian Lynne this is the version credited with the British invasion of Broadway. The national tour is closing in on its 30th anniversary, holding its place as the longest continuously touring Broadway musical in history.
On May 11, 1981, Cats opened at the New London Theatre in the West End. Eight years later it celebrated its first important milestone: after 3,358 performances it became the longest running musical in the history of British theatre. The musical played its final performance on its 21st birthday, May 11, 2002.
Cats opened on Broadway October 7, 1982 at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York City and continued to live up to its motto “Now and Forever.” On June 19, 1997, CATS became the longest running musical on Broadway. It ended its 18 year run on September 10, 2000 with 7,485 performances. That record was broken by The Phantom of the Opera on January 9, 2006 when Phantom celebrated its 7,486th curtain.
Based on T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, and with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Cats won seven 1983 Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Lighting and Best Costumes.
In October of 1991 Cats became the longest continuously touring show in American theatre history. Five continents, 26 countries, over eight and a half million audience members and almost 30 years later, CATS is still America’s most loved family musical. Celebrating not only its Broadway touring legacy but the birth of the musical spectacular, CATS is still revolutionary and awe inspiring.
CATS
Orpheum Theatre, San Francisco
Wed – Sat at 7:30 PM
Sun at 6PM
Wed, Sat & Sun at 1 PM
CATS