CATS prowls into Birmingham Hippodrome with Louise Dearman as Grizabella
Birmingham Hippodrome. 29 October 2026. Picture by Simon Hadley/ www.simonhadley.co.uk
By Grace Hatchell
Now then, Birmingham. There’s a mysterious visitor in town, a gathering of theatrical felines at the Hippodrome, and absolutely nobody looks likely to use the scratching post provided.
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s CATS is now playing at Birmingham Hippodrome until Saturday 7 November, bringing the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production to the city as part of its major UK and Ireland tour.
Presented by Michael Harrison for Lloyd Webber Harrison Musicals, the production stars Louise Dearman as Grizabella. With Wicked and Gravity among her credits, Dearman arrives with the sort of vocal credentials that make you sit up straight and put your interval sweet wrappers away early.
Macavity makes a rather illuminating visit
To celebrate the Birmingham opening, Diante Lodge, who plays Macavity the Mystery Cat, visited Helios at The Exchange.
Created by British artist Luke Jerram, the large-scale illuminated sculpture offers visitors an immersive opportunity to gaze at a representation of our closest star.
Well, if you’re going to arrange a publicity outing for a mystery cat, you might as well give him the sun. A photograph beside the bus stop outside New Street wouldn’t have quite the same impact.
It’s a striking meeting of theatrical spectacle and visual art—and presumably one occasion when nobody had to ask Macavity to find his light.
A musical with rather more than nine lives
CATS first opened at London’s New London Theatre in 1981, beginning a West End run that lasted 21 years and clocked up almost 9,000 performances.
That’s a considerable number of entrances, exits and occasions for somebody backstage to ask where the tail has gone.
The original production won both the Olivier and Evening Standard Awards for Best Musical. Broadway followed in 1983, collecting seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and enjoying an 18-year run. The Broadway cast recording also earned a Grammy Award for Best Cast Album.
Since its premiere, the musical has been presented in more than 54 countries, translated into 23 languages and seen by over 77 million people worldwide.
You don’t reach those numbers by persuading a few relatives to come along on a wet Wednesday.
The team behind the transformation
Drew McOnie directs this production, with set, costume and wigs designed by Sami Fendall.
And let’s give the wigs their due. Most of us consider it an achievement to get our hair presentable before leaving the house; this company has an entire feline population to prepare.
The creative team also includes Jessica Hung Han Yun as lighting designer, Adam Fisher as sound designer and Guy Common as makeup designer.
Ingrid Mackinnon is intimacy director, Kev McCurdy is fight director, Will Burton is casting director and Alex Parker is musical supervisor.
Together, they’re bringing this new staging of Lloyd Webber’s musical to audiences around the UK and Ireland, with Birmingham currently getting its turn.
Catch CATS in Birmingham
CATS plays at Birmingham Hippodrome until Saturday 7 November.
Tickets can be booked through the Birmingham Hippodrome website or by calling 0121 689 3000.
Get yourselves along, settle into your seats, and leave the climbing over the furniture to the professionals.
