In 1985 the ground-breaking musical CATS had its Australian premiere in Sydney. Now, forty years later CATS is touring Australia in a brand new production. The Adelaide season opens at Her Majesty’s Theatre on 20th September for a limited season.
Based on T. S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats and set to music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, CATS has been captivating audiences around the globe since it opened at the New London Theatre (now known as the Gillian Lynne) in 1981, where it played for 21 record- breaking years and almost 9,000 performances. Since then, CATS has been presented in over 50 countries, translated into 23 languages and has been seen by over 81 million people world-wide. On Broadway, CATS played for 18 years and won seven Tony Awards including Best Musical.
The incredible Todd McKenney plays the dual roles of Bustopher Jones and Asparagus (Gus) the Theatre Cat in this production. Todd is an award-winning and critically acclaimed performer on stage and screen and is one of Australia’s most versatile performing artists. He has entertained Australians for over thirty years, from the main stage to intimate venues.
Todd spoke to Glam Adelaide about CATS, his love for the show and if the arts has always played a part in his life.
“My mum was my dancing teacher and my grandmother was a dance teacher as well, so I grew up in that environment. It just always felt quite natural for me. I’d finish school and go straight to the dance studio every day of my childhood life – it just became part of my DNA and I always enjoyed it. I grew up in Perth and at that time there weren’t a lot of dance opportunities for young people. I always knew I would probably have to go overseas. A friend’s mother saw an ad in the Australian newspaper for auditions for an Andrew Lloyd Webber show called Song and Dance and her son wanted to go over to Adelaide to audition for it. So I went with him, more so for the experience really, and I ended up getting the job. That was 21st of June 1983, I walked into the Adelaide Festival Center green room for the first time and it all took off from there. I started my career in Adelaide.”
Todd’s stage credit roll and career highlights include his most notable role of Peter Allen in the Australian hit production The Boy From Oz. We asked Todd about his connection to Peter Allen and his career.
“The first live show I ever saw, my mum took me to see Peter Allen when I was 12 at the Perth Concert Hall. So he’d always been an influence in my life right from then. I didn’t even know a one-man show was a style of performing back then. I do remember the performance. I then followed Peter Allen’s career. Then I just randomly became friendly with Peter Allen’s sister, because we both lived in Bondi, and she’s married to a friend’s brother. So Lynn had been around my life for a long time. When Peter came to town, my friend took me to see him perform at the Hilton Hotel, and then again at Twin Towns on the Gold Coast. So, that’s how I got to know Peter, his music and his style of performing.”
Todd played Tumblebrutus in the original Melbourne season of CATS between 1987 and 1988, and like for so many people, the musical holds a special place in Todd’s life.
“I think there’s a certain sense of nostalgia that comes with CATS nowadays. Forty years ago it was the musical that broke the musical theatre model and it was the show that even if you weren’t into musical theatre everybody had to go and see because it was groundbreaking. It was groundbreaking in its look because it was set in a junkyard and people were pretending to be cats dressed in lycra and you walked in and were immersed into this world. So now forty years later a lot of those people who cut their musical theatre teeth by seeing CATS are now bringing their kids to see the show for the first time. Over the years the show has been nipped and tucked so it’s a much slicker show. It’s a bit shorter than it used to be and so it’s very fast moving, so it suits the whole family. I find whenever I talk to people about CATS it’s one of those shows that has two camps. There’s people who love it like I do and there’s people who go, ‘but there’s no storyline, what’s the point of it?’ There’s no middle ground.”
The musical tells the story of the Jellicle cat tribe. On one special night of the year, all Jellicle cats meet at the Jellicle Ball where Old Deuteronomy, their wise and benevolent leader, makes the Jellicle choice and announces which of them will go up to ‘The Heaviside Layer’ and be reborn into a whole new Jellicle life.
CATS will be playing at Her Majesty’s theatre for a limited season from Saturday 20 September and Todd cannot wait to get back to Adelaide to perform.
“There’s such a sense of nostalgia for me in Adelaide. Adelaide has such a rich musical theatre heritage because back in the day the Festival Theatre was really the hub of musical theatre in Australia. They made all the sets, a lot of the shows started there, and there was always that Christmas tradition of a show in Adelaide. Adelaide is famously such a supporter of this style of theatre that we always know we’re going to have a good time. I’m really looking forward to coming back to Her Majesty’s as well because I haven’t worked there since it’s been renovated. I’m a foodie and the incredible food scene is right up my alley. So I’m looking forward to coming back for a number of reasons, and I’m always well aware that I started my career there.”
CATS The Musical
Her Majesty’s Theatre
From 20 September, 2025
Tickets from $69.90 (transaction fess apply)
catsthemusical.com.au or phone 131 246
Photo credit: Daniel Boud
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