There Will Be Rapping in the Cats Revival, and We're OK with That

July 6, 2014

meeeeeow

Cats
fanatics, book those plane tickets now. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1981 dance musical masterpiece is returning to London this December, and news has dropped that at least one cat is getting a makeover: Rum Tug Tugger—the rock ‘n’ roll bad boy of Jellicle cats—is going to rap.

Why, you ask? Lloyd Webber has apparently decided that American poet T.S. Elliot, who penned the poems on which Cats is based, was perhaps the inventor of rap (ehh, we’ll go with it). And, naturally, Rum Tum Tugger would be the kitty to get the upgrade. No word yet if Cats choreographer Gillian Lynne is going to follow suit and put in some hip-hop moves—but here’s hoping she asks Tabitha and Napoleon for some input. Can you imagine the puss-ibilities?

To jog your “memmmorieeees…” (pun totally intended) of Tugger’s number, here is the original:

And because I can’t watch anything Cats-related without wanting more (seriously, it’s like cat-nip to me), here’s the big “Jellicle Ball” dance scene: