We are first introduced to a motley litter of "Jellicle Cats" with their own quirks and personalities. Cats have all sorts of special talents: They always land on their feet, they can find their way in the dark, and they can sense when a storm is brewing. They are also gifted in gymnastics, music, and dance.

Unlike in the original show, the "cats" in Jellicle Ball aren't actually cats. But they are magical, mystical, and utterly divine beings.

The cats explain how members of their species get their names in this eerie, whispered chant. They have everyday names, like Peter, Alonzo, or James. Then they have the more unique names, like Bombalurina or Jellylorum, by which they're called throughout the show. (In the world of Jellicle Ball, this conjures the idea of drag personas and chosen names.) Thirdly, there’s the name no human can ever decipher.

Jellicle cats come out tonight! The show’s main narrator, Munkustrap (an emcee-like figure in Jellicle Ball), explains that once a year, the cats gather and their leader, Old Deuteronomy, chooses one cat to be reborn on the Heaviside Layer. Who will it be?

In this jazzy number, we’re introduced to Jennyanydots, a cat who spends her days sleeping. After dark, however, she’s full of do-gooder energy. She whips the mice and the cockroaches into shape by teaching them various skills and activities, including music, crochet, and tatting. All they need is discipline!

Rum Tug Tugger is a naughty and contrary tomcat. “When you let me in, then I want to go out. I'm always on the wrong side of every door, and as soon as I'm at home, then I'd like to get about,” he sings. The rock n' roll style of his number reflects his rebellious, flirtatious personality.

The tone turns much more melancholy as Grizabella, once the most glamorous of cats, makes her entrance. She is virtually unrecognizable and is shunned by the others.

Bustopher Jones is a stout cat in a “coat of fastidious black” who enjoys the high life and sings with a posh, sonorous voice. Bustopher frequents exclusive members’ clubs and knows when all the finest foods are in season. Yum!

Mungojerrie and Rumpleteaser are “a notorious couple of cats as knockabout clowns, quick-change comedians, tightrope walkers, and acrobats.” Near-identical partners in crime, they cause all sorts of chaos in their neighborhood as burglars, and they compete as a pair in various Jellicle Ball events.

Old Deuteronomy is the most senior cat of all; the cats sing that he “has lived many lives in succession. He was famous in proverb and famous in rhyme a long while before Queen Victoria's accession.” He “must go slow” due to his age but is held in enormous reverence by all the other cats.

Old Deuteronomy judges the Jellicle contest and, in Jellicle Ball, the audience is actually invited to stand during this song, as for a judge in a regular courtroom.

In the hopes of impressing Old Deuteronomy, all the other cats put on a play for him, telling the story of a figure named the Great Rumpus Cat breaking up a fight in the street. The song's title and story originated as one of the poems in Eliot's book.

The Jellicle moon is shining bright! It’s time for the party to start in earnest in this dazzling all-company dance number.

Grizabella tries to join in with her fellow cats but can’t keep up with their energy. She is once again ostracized, but she vows to return. She performs a snatch of the wistful aria “Memory” for the first time as Act 1 ends.

Old Deuteronomy strikes a philosophical note as he encourages the cats to contemplate the nature of happiness. Jemima, a kindhearted kitten, realizes their leader is referring to Grizabella and reprises the melody of “Memory” as she encourages the cats to “open up, enter in.”

Accompanied by his caretaker Jellylorum, former thespian Gus is now thin and shabby, but he was once a huge theatrical star with a wealth of anecdotes to share. Alas, he laments, young feline actors today aren’t properly trained and productions aren’t what they were!

Skimbleshanks is a lively cat who is dedicated to his work in the transit system. This cat supervises all the staff and protects passengers from mice.

In the original Cats, Skimbleshanks works on the mail trains that travel between London and Glasgow. In Jellicle Ball, the character works in the NYC subway, sporting an MTA uniform.

Master criminal Macavity is known as the “Hidden Paw” and the “Napoleon of Crime.” Best friends Demeter and Bombalurina sing this jazzy number about how it’s hard not to admire Macavity for somehow getting away with everything.

Young tuxedo cat Mr. Mistoffelees also has a few tricks to share. Everyone is impressed by his conjuring routine: “Never was there ever a cat so clever as magical Mr. Mistoffelees,” goes the song's famous refrain. For his final trick, he brings back Old Deuteronomy, who has been kidnapped by the wicked Macavity.

Before Old Deuteronomy makes his decision, Grizabella is permitted to address the tribe — and she does so in tremendous style with one of the most popular showtunes ever written. Charting her journey from young glamourpuss to outcast, "Memory" is a hymn to loneliness, aging, and the passage of time, all wrapped up in a passionate power ballad.

Andrew Lloyd Webber originally wrote the song's soaring melody for a show about opera composer Giacomo Puccini that didn’t materialize. Original Cats director Trevor Nunn adapted the lyrics from Eliot's poems "Rhapsody on a Windy Night" and "Preludes."

Grizabella is chosen to go to the Heaviside Layer and be reborn as a new Jellicle. She and Old Deuteronomy travel toward the sky, and Grizabella continues to the heavens solo.

Old Deuteronomy wraps up the proceedings with an address to the audience about how humans should approach cats: Don’t speak until you’re spoken to, don’t be overly familiar, bow and raise your hat, and a little treat is always a good idea. Remember: “A cat's entitled to expect these evidences of respect, so this is this, and that is that, and there's how you ad-dress a cat.”

In Jellicle Ball, where the characters aren't actual cats but people often left on society's fringes, this song seems to suggest how humans should approach each other: with respect, kindness, and care. Meow!

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This song has not been included in Cats productions since 2016 due to the inclusion of offensive lyrics, but it was in Act 2 of the original musical. It followed Gus's number, in which he recalls playing a role called Growltiger, “the roughest cat that ever rode a barge” and “the Terror of the Thames.” The antihero is presented as a pirate who has a romance with Lady Griddlebone (DJ Griddlebone in Jellicle Ball) and eventually walks the plank.