First tour casting announced for the brand-new production of Cats
by Best of Theatre Staff on Tuesday 4 August 2026, 12:55 pm in Cast Changes and Announcements
First casting has been announced for the major UK and Ireland tour of the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats, which opens at Theatre Royal Plymouth on 6 October 2026.
Michael Harrison for Lloyd Webber Harrison Musicals has announced first casting for the major UK and Ireland tour of the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats. The brand-new staging of the multi-award-winning musical opens at Theatre Royal Plymouth, where it plays from 6 to 17 October 2026, before touring through to June 2027.
The tour will star Fin Adams (Alonzo), Kalisha Amaris (Old Deuteronomy), Carla Bertran (Electra and co-dance captain), Elliot Broadfoot (Bustopher Jones / Gus), Matthew Caputo (Skimbleshanks), Josie Chambers-Sims (Syllabub), Briana Craig (Rumpleteazer), Katie Dunsden (Bombalurina), Joshua-Samuel Freeman (Tumblebrutus), Regan Garcia (Pouncival), Hannah Joseph (Victoria), Taziva-Faye Katsande (Tantomile), Diante Lodge (Macavity), Owen McHugh (George), Danny Nattrass (Mungojerrie), Millie O’Connell (Demeter), Andrew Parfit (Coricopat), Lucie-Mae Sumner (Jellylorum / Griddlebone), Laura Tyrer (Jennyanydots / Gumbie Cat), Jaydon Vijn (Rum Tum Tugger), Jack Wilcox (Munkustrap), Jet Yau (Mr. Mistoffelees) and Patricia Zhou (Cassandra).
The company is completed by offstage swings Grace Burrows, Aaron Jenkins, Shona Mairi Masson, Dean Rickards, Nathan Rigg and Taela Yeomans-Brown, who is also co-dance captain. Casting for Grizabella will be announced later this year.
The tour is directed and choreographed by Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre artistic director Drew McOnie, and follows a record-breaking summer season at the venue, now playing until 19 September 2026.
Drew McOnie said: "Cats has always celebrated the unique talents of its performers, and I can’t wait for audiences across the country to experience this company’s brilliance in this brand-new production. Each of these cast members will play their own special part in creating animalistic harmony under the Jellicle Moon. It’s going to be quite an adventure, and we look forward to welcoming you to join us."
After Plymouth, the production visits Hull New Theatre (20–24 October 2026), Birmingham Hippodrome (27 October–7 November), Manchester Palace Theatre (10–21 November), Bristol Hippodrome (24–28 November), Venue Cymru in Llandudno (1–5 December) and Theatre Royal Glasgow (8–27 December), before continuing in 2027 to Nottingham, Canterbury, Sunderland, Aberdeen, Norwich, Belfast, Dublin, Oxford, Southampton, Edinburgh, Bradford, Liverpool, Woking, Cardiff, Milton Keynes and Newcastle.
With music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and based on Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot, the show features a legendary score including Old Deuteronomy, Macavity: The Mystery Cat, Jellicle Ball and the chart-topping hit Memory. From Euston station to Victoria Grove, the strays and rebels of London gather under the Jellicle moon in the hope they’ll be the chosen one.
Cats is one of the longest-running shows in West End and Broadway history. It originally premiered at the New London Theatre in 1981, where it played for 21 record-breaking years and almost 9,000 performances, winning the Olivier and Evening Standard Awards for Best Musical. The 1983 Broadway production received seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and ran for 18 years. Since its world premiere the show has been presented in over 54 countries, translated into 23 languages and seen by more than 77 million people worldwide.
Joining Drew McOnie on the creative team are set, costume and wigs designer Sami Fendall, lighting designer Jessica Hung Han Yun, sound designer Adam Fisher, makeup designer Guy Common, intimacy director Ingrid Mackinnon, fight director Kev McCurdy, casting director Will Burton and musical supervisor Alex Parker.