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
Cats (musical) Suddenly, after they finish, they are caught off-guard by the rest of the Cats, who scold them for trying to scare them to death. Finally, the Jellicle patriarch, Old Deuteronomy, arrives ("Old Deuteronomy") before the tribe. He is a large old Cat that "has lived many lives" and "buried nine wives (And more, I am tempted to say—ninety-nine)". He is the Cat who chooses which Jellicle Cat will go to the Heaviside Layer every year. While the patriarch is welcomed by his loyal subjects, the Cats put on a play for Old Deuteronomy, called "The Awefull Battle of the Pekes