Welcome back to Tony Talk, where Gold Derby contributors Sam Eckmann and David Buchanan offer Tony Awards analysis. This week, we discuss the latest major contender in the hotly-contested Best Musical Revival race.
David Buchanan: Sam, the race for Best Musical Revival at the 2026 Tonys started incredibly strong with the October opening of Lincoln Center Theatre’s expansive, thrillingly sung production of Ragtime. But we’ve known for a long time that the off-Broadway production of Cats: The Jellicle Ball would be transferring to Broadway, and it arrived earlier this week to stellar notices as well. As you mentioned during our Awards Magnet appearance, this category is likely to be one of the closest contests of the ceremony — and if I’m not mistaken you’re currently predicting The Jellicle Ball for the win. What factors does it have in its favor that are persuading you that the show has a feline leg-up over Ragtime?
Sam Eckmann: The Jellicle Ball takes Andrew Lloyd Webber’s infamous smash Cats, yanks it out of the melodramatic world of 1980s mega-musicals, and reinvents it through a new joyous lens. Instead of anthropomorphic dancing felines, these “cats” are vogueing and strutting down the runway as Broadway audiences are introduced to ballroom, the underground performance culture created by the Black and Latino LGBTQ+ communities in the ’80s and ’90s. Each song and cat aligns with a different ballroom category. As the performers dip, spin, and duckwalk, the audience is caught up in an addictive energy and the Broadhurst Theatre comes alive with fan clacking and shouts.
My only worry about this production was that it wouldn’t be able to capture the same type of excitement that was possible in its cavernous off-Broadway space at PAC NYC. But the team has successfully transferred the joy to a smaller Broadway house. I left the theater feeling like I was Mia Wallace in Pulp Fiction having just taken a shot of adrenaline to the heart… without all the trauma.
Ragtime is still a formidable threat in the Tony race, as it oozes with timely emotion. But the Tonys have a tendency to reward the musical revival that radically reinvents its source material through a unique directorial concept, as seen in recent winners like Sunset Blvd., Company, and Oklahoma! It’s safe to say that directors Bill Rauch and Zhailon Levingston have the boldest concept of the Broadway season. That might be what pushes Cats to the top of the Tony pile.
Buchanan: I didn’t have the chance to see the earlier production at PAC, and I certainly attest that it works effortlessly in the Broadhurst. I’m also not especially well-acquainted with either Cats as a musical or the world of ballroom, so seeing this production as a relative novice, I thought it was absolutely exuberant and joyful and gave the otherworldly nature of T. S. Eliot’s poem and Webber’s score an electric contemporary analog. The material and directorial concept fit each other like a glove.
The second act in particular finds a lot of emotion as well. The staging of “Moments of Happiness” at the top of the Act II, with André de Shields performing against the backdrop of images of the real-life foremothers of ballroom, is incredibly poignant and situates the fantastical, mythical display of the show within its actual, historical lineage; it also makes you appreciate the incredible feat of bringing this culture to Broadway. The same goes for seeing Junior LaBeija as Gus the Theatre Cat, as he regales his fellow felines and ensemble members about his theatrical past. There’s a beautiful blurring of the lines of musical fiction and autobiography in those moments.
While we’re discussing De Shields and LaBeija, how do you think The Jellicle Ball will fare with acting nominations? Gold Derby’s official odds only have two performers earning nominations as of this writing: De Shields in Featured Actor for Old Deuteronomy and “Temptress” Chasity Moore in Featured Actress as Grizabella, the cat who performs one of Webber’s most iconic songs, “Memory.” But I think there are perhaps five or six contenders who would make my long list of possible nominees. How many folks are in your current predictions?
Eckmann: I do believe that De Shields and Moore are the safest bets for acting nominations. I can think of few other Broadway performers who have an audience on their feet and hollering for minutes on end the way De Shields does with Deuteronomy’s entrance. Plus, he’s already picked up wins from the Outer Critics Circle and Dorian Awards for the PAC staging last year, so we know his performance has already resonated with awards bodies. Moore beautifully recalibrates “Memory” so that it’s not just a lament, it’s a former icon reclaiming her strength, her courage, and her place within the community. When she finally storms down to the end of the catwalk on the key change and reveals her glittering gown, it’s enough to take your breath away.
Since I suspect that The Jellicle Ball will be a dominant player at this year’s Tony Awards, I believe the production is strong enough to rope in some additional acting nominations. Top of that list is certainly the aforementioned Junior LaBeija. Sobbing uncontrollably through the end of “Gus The Theatre Cat” was not on my 2026 bingo card, but the ballroom icon bears his heart and employs a beautiful economy to his performance, resulting in a moment every bit as moving as “Memory.”
Call me crazy, but I think voters could find room for a third featured actor nominee in Sydney James Harcourt. In this new version of the show, his Rum Tug Tugger is a competitor in the “body” category, which allows Harcourt to prowl the stage with an unfathomable amount of swagger and confidence. Unlike many other characters, Rum Tug Tugger is a near constant presence on stage which will help him stick out in voters’ memories. It also surely helps that Harcourt has become one of the more prominent faces of The Jellicle Ball in press and social media.
I’d also love to see surprise bids from Emma Sofia as Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat, now reimagined as an MTA subway conductor in one of the show’s biggest crowd-pleasers, or scene-stealer Nora Schell as Bustopher Jones. Though with such a competitive featured actress field this year, most of the Cats support will be centered on Moore with not much room for additional nominees. Have I gone overboard predicting nominations for four actors within two categories? How many do you think will make the cut?
Buchanan: No, I definitely wouldn’t say overboard! I’m more than halfway to your tally right now, predicting three nominations for De Shields, Moore, and Harcourt. To echo your point on the latter, his Rum Tum Tugger is so incredibly charismatic and infectiously fun, and I think he has a slight edge over the rest of the Cats players because of how prominent his character remains throughout the entire two acts, stealing numerous scenes and often sharing the arm of De Shields’ Deuteronomy.
I need to see Titaníque and Rocky Horror Show before I determine how many more than those three performers I’m willing to predict, especially in Featured Actress, which is absolutely overcrowded with impressive ensembles from Rocky Horror, Schmigadoon, Ragtime, and more. But LaBeija is definitely next in line for me once we’ve seen more of the spring musicals.
Elsewhere in the top categories, Cats currently leads Gold Derby’s odds for Best Director for Levingston and Rauch, as well as for Choreography for Omari Wiles and Arturo Lyons. A victory for Wiles and Lyons would be especially fitting given their iconic statures in ballroom as the founding father of the House of Oricci and the New York father of the House of Miyake-Mugler, respectively. I cannot imagine this staging of The Jellicle Ball would be as successful without their shared vision. I must say the same for costume designer Qween Jean, a possible double nominee for her debut season on Broadway for The Jellicle Ball and Liberation.
