Zendaya and Law Roach Are Besties on Broadway as He Reunites with “Legendary” Judge Leiomy at “CATS: The Jellicle Ball ”(Exclusive)
Zendaya and Law Roach Are Besties on Broadway as He Reunites with “Legendary” Judge Leiomy at “CATS: The Jellicle Ball ”(Exclusive)
Dave QuinnTue, March 31, 2026 at 1:30 PM UTC
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Zendaya, Leiomy and Law Roach pose after a performance of Broadway's 'CATS: The Jellicle Ball' on Sunday, March 30, 2026Credit: Luis Suarez -
Zendaya and Law Roach attended the Broadway revival of CATS: The Jellicle Ball featuring a Harlem Ballroom-inspired reimagining
Roach, a co-producer of the show, reunited with Legendary judge Leiomy, who stars as Macavity in the production
The revival features a cast including Tony Award winner André De Shields and choreography by Ballroom icons Omari Wiles and Arturo Lyons
Zendaya and Law Roach were giving 10s, 10s, 10s across the board as the BFFs paid a visit to Broadway's CATS: The Jellicle Ball.
The actress and her longtime image architect stepped on the evening on Monday, March 30 to see the bold new revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber's classic musical, which reimagines the feline characters taken from T.S. Eliot's collection of whimsical poems as members of the Harlem Ballroom scene — the vibrant underground LGBTQ subculture created by Black and Latinx queer and trans people that rose to popularity in the 1980s.
Roach, 47, is one of the co-producers on the musical, now in previews at the Broadhurst Theatre in New York City ahead of an opening on April 7.
Zendaya, Leiomy and Law Roach pose after a performance of Broadway's 'CATS: The Jellicle Ball' on Sunday, March 30, 2026Credit: Luis Suarez
He's also knows a thing or two about ballroom culture, having judged HBO Max's voguing competition series Legendary for three seasons.
Ballroom icon Leiomy, who also judged Legendary alongside Roach, stars in CATS: The Jellicle Ball. The industry-dubbed "Wonder Woman of Vogue" and founder of the House of Amazon plays Macavity, the primary villain in the piece.
Reuniting on stage after the performance, Roach and Leiomy were all smiles as they posed for a photo with Zendaya — who's new movie, The Drama, will be released in theaters on April 3.
Law Roach and Zendaya (center) with the Broadway cast of 'CATS: The Jellicle Ball' on Sunday, March 30, 2026Credit: Luis Suarez
Members of the CATS: The Jellicle Ball cast all gathered alongside Zendaya, 29, and Roach later, too, for a group photo.
PEOPLE can premiere the backstage pics exclusively. There a few that were snapped on Sunday, as Zendaya and Roach greeted the cast and posed for selfies.
Leiomy isn't the only ballroom icon starring in the show. Pioneer Junior LaBeijais is among its stars too, and also posed for a photo with Roach.
Junior LaBeijais and Law Roach pose after a performance of Broadway's 'CATS: The Jellicle Ball' on Sunday, March 30, 2026Credit: Luis Suarez
CATS: The Jellicle Ball is directed by OBIE Award winners Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch and choreographed by Chita Rivera Award winners and New York City Ballroom icons Omari Wiles (House of NiNa Oricci) and Arturo Lyons (House of Miyake-Mugler).
The Broadway cast includes Tony Award winner André De Shields as ‘Old Deuteronomy,’ Ken Ard as ‘DJ Griddlebone,’ Kya Azeen as ‘Etcetera,’ Bryson Battle as ‘Jellylorum,’ Sherrod T. Brown, Jonathan Burke as ‘Mungojerrie,’ Baby Byrne as ‘Victoria,’ Tara Lashan Clinkscales, Bryce Farris, Sydney James Harcourt as ‘Rum Tum Tugger,’ Dava Huesca as ‘Rumpleteazer,’ Dudney Joseph Jr. as ‘Munkustrap,’ Robert “Silk” Mason as ‘Magical Mister Mistoffelees,’ “Tempress” Chasity Moore as ‘Grizabella,’ Primo Thee Ballerino as ‘Tumblebrutus,’ Xavier Reyes as ‘Jennyanydots,’ Nora Schell as ‘Bustopher Jones,’ Bebe Nicole Simpson as ‘Demeter,’ Emma Sofia as Cassandra’/’Skimbleshanks,’ Phumzile Sojola, Kendall Grayson Stroud, B. Noel Thomas, Kalyn West, Donté Nadir Wilder, Garnet Williams as ‘Bombalurina, and Teddy Wilson Jr. as ‘Sillabub.’
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Michael Harrison (for Lloyd Webber Harrison Musicals) and Mike Bosner (by arrangement with LW Entertainment) are the musical's lead producers. Aside from Roach, co-producers include Cynthia Erivo, John Legend, Lena Waithe, LaChanze, Jeremy Pope and more.
Cats is one of the most groundbreaking musicals in theater history. The show, based on Elliot's Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, follows a tribe of felines (known as Jellicles) as they gather on one magical night for their annual Jellicle Ball, where one is chosen to ascend to the Heaviside Layer and be reborn.
Directed by Trevor Nunn and featuring iconic choreography by Gillian Lynne, the original Broadway production opened in 1982, a year after it debuted in London's West End. It was an immediate success, earning critical acclaim, breaking box office records and winning 7 Tony Awards including Best Musical.
Lloyd Webber's score — with lyrics by Eliot, Trevor Nunn and Richard Stilgoe — quickly became one of musical theatre's most treasured compositions. At the center of it, the showstopping ballad “Memory," which was sung in the West End by Elaine Paige and on Broadway by Betty Buckley. It's since been covered by everyone from Barbra Streisand to Barry Manilow.
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Cats' success changed the business of theater in the long run, proving that a plot-light, dance-heavy spectacle could dominate the box office and become a brand unto itself. It ran for an astounding 18 years and more than 7,400 performances, closing in 2000 as the longest-running musical in history at the time.
It also helped usher in the era of the British “mega-musical,” paving the way for blockbuster hits like The Phantom of the Opera and Les Misérables.
André De Shields in the pre-Broadway production of 'CATS: The Jellicle Ball'Credit: Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman
CATS: The Jellicle Ball offers a whole new take on the show. Ditching the original production's eccentric visual style — where its actors famously crawled around in elaborate feline makeup with costumes made of leotards and leg warmers — the immersive production centers the action around what De Sheilds calls "radical courage, radical resilience and radical joy."
"There's no whiskers, there's no fur, there's no tails, but there's a lot of mythology about how you can get along by not judging and allowing people to be who they say they are and how authentic they want to be," he told CBS News New York in July 2024. "And as we say, we're slaying it."
Tickets for CATS: The Jellicle Ball are on sale now.
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