Jellicle cats Jellicle cats "Jellicle cats", or simply the "Jellicles", are a type of feline mentioned in T. S. Eliot's book "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats", and in "Cats", a stage musical written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and based on the book. Introduced in Eliot's poem "The Song of the Jellicles", they were originally depicted as commonly nocturnal gray, scruffy cats. Specifically, Eliot mentions that they like to gather at an event called the "Jellicle Ball". In the musical, a sub-plot surrounds the disappearance of the Jellicle patriarch Old Deuteronomy. The names are taken from Eliot's poem "The Naming of Cats"
Cats (musical) tries to dance along, but her age and decrepit condition prevent her from doing so. Once again, she is shunned by the other Cats, but that does not stop her from singing a short version of "Memory" while a guilty Old Deuteronomy looks on. After the Jellicle Ball, Old Deuteronomy complains about "what happiness is", referring to Grizabella, but the Cats do not believe him, so he sends the message to Jemima (or Sillabub, depending on the production), the youngest of all Jellicles, who sings it in simpler terms ("The Moments of Happiness"). Gus — short for Asparagus — shuffles