The Jellicle Cats are heading back on the road – and Plymouth will be the first place in the country to welcome them as the brand-new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s CATS begins its major UK and Ireland Tour this October.
A new day is dawning for one of musical theatre’s most famous shows.
Following its summer season at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, Drew McOnie’s new production of CATS will leave London and embark on a major UK and Ireland Tour, opening at Theatre Royal Plymouth from 6–17 October 2026.
And we now know most of the Jellicle Cats who’ll be making the journey.
The touring company includes Kalisha Amaris as Old Deuteronomy, Jaydon Vijn as Rum Tum Tugger, Jack Wilcox as Munkustrap and Jet Yau as Mr Mistoffelees.
There’s still one rather important cat missing from the list, though.
Casting for Grizabella, who gets the small matter of singing one of musical theatre’s most famous songs, Memory, is still to be announced.
Something tells us that’s an announcement worth keeping an eye on.
CATS UK Tour 2026 opens at Theatre Royal Plymouth
For Plymouth theatre fans, there’s an added reason to be excited about this particular tour.
Theatre Royal Plymouth gets it first.
Rather than arriving several months into an established tour, Plymouth will be the first touring venue to see McOnie’s new production when the Jellicle Cats arrive on 6 October.
The show plays for two weeks before heading to Hull, Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol, Llandudno and Glasgow, followed by further dates across the UK and Ireland during 2027.
And this isn’t simply a revival of the familiar production audiences may remember.
Director and choreographer Drew McOnie has created a new vision for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical, following his own history with the show as a former CATS cast member.
McOnie will already be familiar to Plymouth audiences too, having directed and choreographed The Artist, which premiered at Theatre Royal Plymouth in 2024.
Who is in the CATS UK Tour cast?
The first casting announcement reveals a sizeable company heading out on tour.
Alongside Kalisha Amaris, Jaydon Vijn, Jack Wilcox and Jet Yau, the CATS UK Tour 2026 cast includes Fin Adams as Alonzo, Carla Bertran as Electra, Elliot Broadfoot as Bustopher Jones/Gus and Matthew Caputo as Skimbleshanks.
Josie Chambers-Sims plays Syllabub, with Briana Craig as Rumpleteazer, Katie Dunsden as Bombalurina, Joshua-Samuel Freeman as Tumblebrutus and Regan Garcia as Pouncival.
They’re joined by Hannah Joseph as Victoria, Taziva-Faye Katsande as Tantomile, Diante Lodge as Macavity, Owen McHugh as George, Danny Nattrass as Mungojerrie and Millie O’Connell as Demeter.
Completing the named roles are Andrew Parfit as Coricopat, Lucie-Mae Sumner as Jellylorum/Griddlebone, Laura Tyrer as Jennyanydots/Gumbie Cat and Patricia Zhou as Cassandra.
Grace Burrows, Aaron Jenkins, Shona Mairi Masson, Dean Rickards, Nathan Rigg and Taela Yeomans-Brown join the company as offstage swings, with Yeomans-Brown also serving as Co-Dance Captain alongside Carla Bertran.
There’s a nice Plymouth connection in the company too.
Briana Craig has already appeared on the Theatre Royal Plymouth stage in The Artist and as Snow White in the theatre’s 2024/25 pantomime.
But who will play Grizabella?
There’s one piece of casting that remains tantalisingly absent.
Grizabella.
The role has become one of the most recognisable in musical theatre, thanks largely to Memory – the Andrew Lloyd Webber showstopper that long ago escaped the confines of CATS and became a standard in its own right.
The role is currently being played at Regent’s Park by Rachael Wooding, but the producers have confirmed that casting for Grizabella on the UK and Ireland Tour will be announced separately.
We’ll be watching that one closely.
A completely new CATS for a new generation
CATS hardly needs an introduction.
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical, based on T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, first opened at London’s New London Theatre in 1981.
What followed was extraordinary.
The original West End production ran for 21 years and almost 9,000 performances, while its Broadway counterpart ran for 18 years. Since its premiere, CATS has been staged in more than 50 countries and seen by millions of people around the world.
But the production arriving in Plymouth isn’t trying simply to recreate 1981.
McOnie, now Artistic Director of Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, both directs and choreographs this new interpretation.
Given McOnie’s background as one of British theatre’s leading choreographers – and his own history performing in CATS – that’s an intriguing combination.
The creative team also includes Sami Fendall on set, costume and wig design, Jessica Hung Han Yun on lighting, Adam Fisher on sound, Guy Common on make-up, Ingrid Mackinnon as intimacy director, Kev McCurdy as fight director, Will Burton on casting and Alex Parker as musical supervisor.
From Regent’s Park to Plymouth
There’s something particularly interesting about the journey this production is about to make.
At Regent’s Park, CATS has the unusual surroundings of the Open Air Theatre – a setting that lends itself rather nicely to a group of cats gathering beneath the Jellicle Moon.
But when the production reaches Plymouth, it has to make the transition indoors.
That’s when audiences outside London will discover how McOnie’s new staging translates to a traditional theatre.
And Theatre Royal Plymouth gets to find out first.
After Plymouth, the tour heads around the country, with stops including Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol, Glasgow, Nottingham, Norwich, Belfast, Dublin, Southampton, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Cardiff and Newcastle.
By the time the Jellicle Moon finally sets on the currently announced dates in June 2027, this new production will have travelled a considerable distance.
The Jellicle Cats are coming back to Plymouth
Whether you grew up with Elaine Paige singing Memory, discovered CATS through one of its many international productions or have somehow never encountered a Jellicle Cat in your life, there’s no denying the show’s place in musical theatre history.
What makes this tour particularly interesting is that audiences aren’t simply being offered another chance to see an old production.
This is a new creative team, a new company and a new interpretation of a musical that has been around for more than four decades.
And for once, those of us in the South West don’t have to wait to see what everyone else thinks first.
Plymouth is opening night.
CATS plays Theatre Royal Plymouth from 6–17 October 2026, before embarking on its major UK and Ireland Tour. Book Now!
UK Tour will is currently running until June 2027 check out the tour dates here.
