Cats: The Jellicle Ball to Broadway — Page 5

quizking101 said: "Anticipate a full cast announcement (to include the new Macavity and Jellylorum and swings) early next week"

And hopefully more swings.

They released the full seating chart and it looks like the orchestra and mezzanine is situated behind the runway, while the onstage seating and judge table is at the back of the stage facing the orch/mezz. Odd.

For those of you that saw it Off Broadway, do you think the on stage seating or the front row Orch would be better seating? Based on the stage layout? This is really more for my wife so just want to get somethign with a good view 

schubox said: "For those of you that saw it Off Broadway, do you think the on stage seating or the front row Orch would be better seating? Based on the stage layout? This is really more for my wife so just want to get somethign with a good view"

 

Saw this at PAC NYC multiple times from multiple vantage points

based on this new seating layout, i'd assume that front orch would be preferrable, as i'm expecting the 'cats' to play more toward the main seating area, with the judges table and onstage seats thou closer would see more of their backs

I think the best view is going to depend on how high the stage is. Could be that the mezzanine might be the best view to see the considerable “floorwork.” The onstage seating seems less desirable to me given the stage layout, I imagine the performers will be facing more to the rest of the house. BUT, this will likely be completely restaged from what was at PAC so I probably won’t buy until previews start. 

Mmmm they should of made those runway seats like PAC. I wonder how they will do the Heaviside and the Film at the start of Act Two. Interesting 

quizking what do u think ?

Updated On: 1/20/26 at 01:23 PM

I'd still do orchestra I for this. based on the stairs in the diagram I think the stage level will be staying near standard height, and the stage seats are at an interesting angle. If they were 90 degrees I'd be all for it, but not at 45 degrees. While it might look good from the audience, from the stage it's iffy. They did similarly angled seats at Xanadu also, but those were $40,not full-price.

Updated On: 1/20/26 at 01:40 PM

What really makes this difficult to work out is there's no indication as to what direction the onstage seats face. If you click an onstage seat, a pop-up advises "This is a traditional theatre seat located on stage". This means it's not a stool, so it has a front, back, and sides, and will be in a fixed position. Do the fronts of these seats face the house, the runway, or the judges platform?

This new layout doesn't make a lot of sense to me based on the production at PAC- the placement of the judges especially doesn't make sense to me, even from a logical standpoint of these are ostensibly competitors who should be playing to the judges- but it certainly suggests a lot has been reconceived for Broadway. 

From a marketing/social standpoint, it makes sense to have the judges as visible as possible (like the celeb guest bits with Oh Hello, Spelling Bee, and Gutenberg).

It would seem this layout provides plenty of opportunity for audience interaction and entrances through the orchestra section.

FANtomFollies said: "ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "From a marketing/social standpoint, it makes sense to have the judges as visible as possible (like the celeb guest bits with Oh Hello, Spelling Bee, and Gutenberg)."

Also in the original staging, Deutoronomy sits all the way upstage facing the audience, so this is basically just like that. Yes the cats were performing facing out, but we could still accept that he was watching them perform, even though he was looking at their backs most of the night."

At PAC  Deuteronomy sat at the judges table all the way DOWNSTAGE facing the runway with his back (and other judges) to the main orchestra section.  (The side runways seats could view him the whole time).   With the judges now fully upstage - the cast will perform with their backs to them (and, as it appears to quite a bit of the onstage seating sometimes).  The angled onstage seating is a choice - there will be some staging changes due to this.   We're happy to have purchased orchestra seats and not waited. 

kdogg36 said: "I look forward to seeing this show in April!

Since I'm not too familiar with ball culture (shame on me!), can anyone recommend things to watch or read that will help to understand the context of this production?

Or does the show itself do a good job making things clear to clueless people like myself?"


You’ve never seen Paris is Burning? You are in for a real treat. It’s one of the best films ever made and it is Queer 101. Absolutely essential viewing.

Thank you both! I'll put Paris is Burning at the top of my list and will check out some of the other things as well before April.