Marc Robin directs and choreographs the new staging at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. Drawn from the feline-friendly, winsome poetry of T.S. Eliot, Cats tells the loose-limbed story of a community of cats and the rise of one of them to heaven (or the "heaviside layer," as it's called here).
Ken Page, who created the role of Old Deuteronomy in Cats on Broadway, will reprise his role for TUTS' production. In addition to Broadway, Page also performed the role of Old Deuteronomy on London's West End. He made his Broadway debut in The Wiz, which followed with performances in Guys and Dolls and Ain't Misbehavin'.
Linda Balgord is also recreating her role as Grizabella from the Broadway production, where she served as the final Grizabella upon the show's closing in 2000. Balgord was recently seen as Madame Dindon in the Tony Award-winning revival of La Cage aux Folles and also portrayed Fosca's mother in the 1994 Tony Award-winning Passion. She also toured in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Aspects of Love.
Marc Robin is a veteran Chicago director and choreographer who has worked for the Steppenwolf, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, and more. He is also the winner of 14 Joseph Jefferson Awards and won three at the recent 2005 ceremony in the Windy City.
The principal cast of Cats includes Michael Iannucci (Bustopher Jones/Asparagus/Growltiger), Ryan Jackson (Mistoffelees), Mark Fisher (Munkustrap), and Austin Miller (Rum Tum Tugger). Ensemble cast members include Joey Abramowicz, Holly Butler, Ashley Fitzgerald, Kyle Greer, Bryan Jarrett, Deanna Julian, Logan Keslar, Julia Krohn, Eric Otte, Jonathan Owen, Benjie Randall, Lisa Rumbauskas, Patricia Salvo, Manuel Santos, Jean Michelle Sayeg, Matthew Steffens, Sarrah Strimel, Erica Sweany, Becca Tobin, Tucker Ty, Brooke Wilson, and Stephanie Youell. The Cats creative team will include J.R. McAlexander (conductor), Richard Winkler (lighting design) and Christopher "Kit" Bond (sound design).
For more information, visit www.tuts.com.
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Theatre Under The Stars (TUTS) was founded in 1968 by Frank M. Young.