'Cats: The Jellicle Ball' had an Off-Broadway rin in 2024. Matthew Murphy ‘Cats’ scratches back to stage Andrew Lloyd Webber, grabbing even better reviews than Shakespeare — another writer — did it again. His “Jellicle” (Brit speak for “Cats”) just opened in Broadway’s Broadhurst Theatre.
It’s Harlem-style hot, black, gay, Latino, risky. Lines around the block waited on a frosty night to get in. Comparatively, this production makes the nice old-fashioned version of sex as updated as Biden’s john.
How many bodies onstage? Just count the behinds and divide by two.
At Andrew’s pre-curtain VIP party one guy’s hair was black and white in small chess squares: “My boyfriend bleached it to look like this.” OK. Another flashed a nose ring. Males in sequin jackets, rhinestone pants. See-through outfits, you could almost see through to their privates.
Madeleine, handsome Mrs. Webber? Armpit-to-ankle-to-handbag was in leopard print. “Got it on sale at Nordstrom’s,” she said, like I might grab their last remaining outfit.
Andrew’s exciting hello to me — not how great to see me now but what came out was his memory: “On our last dinner your chair collapsed and you fell to the floor.” Nice. Also true.
Betty Buckley, the original Tony-winning “Cats” star Grizabella, opens April 24 at Joe’s Pub. She now lives in Texas. Why? She said, “So I can afford to buy groceries.” She obviously could afford the jewelry.
“This is where vogue-ing actually began. I can hardly imagine the brilliance behind this production.”
Andrew’s music genius David Wilson: “Hardest working man in the business, Andrew will sit at the piano and work it for hours. He’s up emailing me at 5 a.m. He does his illustrations on the piano.”
Although not feeling tip-top, ALW — simple white wool jacket — worked the party. Upstairs, crammed into a tiny elevator, execs took us to what was once the private Shubert apartment. The john? Larger than the theater’s loge. And they showed us their marble bust of Ethel Barrymore. Nice — although she hasn’t done anything lately.
Andrew did the usual after-theater party and press. This beforehand meant canapes, drinks, his people, workers, his son and daughter and friends like the lady in black lace and beads that covered absolutely nothing except to show that she really had nothing to show. And some dude whose pants were beaded, as opposed to others whose long sequin drawers hid only what wasn’t sequin and was who knows how long.
Diamonds are not just a girl’s best friend. They like houses, too. For $45 mil you’ll live like you have $50 mil. Bridgehampton. 15 Dune Road, 1.91-acre parcel just past Jobs Lane. Built by late Ara Arslanian, international diamond and heavy-duty art collector. Discovered Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring before they sprayed graffiti on Manhattan subways. Glass elevator, two fireplaces, fancy windows that protect pricey Picassos.
Call Douglas Elliman. Do not mention me or they’ll probably hang up on you.
TODAY’S prices are getting out of hand, especially in supermarkets. A senior lady said: “It upsets me. One store tried to buy back — at twice the price — all the groceries I’d bought there the week before.”
Only in New York, kids, only in New York.
