Cats (musical) Cats (musical) Cats is a sung-through musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" by T. S. Eliot. The musical tells the story of a tribe of cats called the Jellicles and the night they make what is known as "the Jellicle choice" and decide which cat will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new life. Directed by Trevor Nunn and choreographed by Gillian Lynne, "Cats" first opened in the West End in 1981 and then with the same creative team on Broadway in 1982. It won numerous awards, including
The Cats of Ulthar "Idle Days on the Yann". Lovecraft's character of Menes shares his name with Menes, the semi-mythical founder of the ancient city of Memphis, Egypt. The ancient Egyptians were admirers of cats who made it a crime to kill or export felines. Prior to "The Cats of Ulthar", Lovecraft had penned several tales in the style of Lord Dunsany, including "The White Ship", "The Street", "The Doom that Came to Sarnath", "The Terrible Old Man", and "The Tree". His next Dunsanian tale, "Celephaïs", was considered by Lovecraft scholar S. T. Joshi to be "one of his best and most significant". "The