This just in from Broadway: Andrew Lloyd Webber’s CATS is heading back to the Great White Way this summer in its first revival since it left the Winter Garden in 2000. And Bette Midler will be heading back to the  New York stage soon as well, in Hello, Dolly, opening next year.

In its original NYC incarnation, CATS picked up seven Tony Awards, including 1983’s Best Musical trophy, and its 18-year run chalked up 7,485 performances to make it the longest running Broadway show ever (at least until 2006, when the title transferred to another Lloyd Webber phenom, The Phantom of the Opera—still one of Broadway’s top earners 10 years later.)

Not to be overlooked in the “first ever” department, once CATS previews at the Neil Simon Theatre on July 14th—opening August 2nd—it will mark the new millennium’s first Lloyd Webber musical triumvirate, thanks to the composer’s latest hit, School of Rock – The Musical. 

Photo: Jonathan Pushnik

It’s a done deal: Bette Midler will be blazing onto Broadway in Hello, Dolly! in 2017, three years after she starred in the delicious one-woman I'll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers. 

As for her assessment of the outspoken and determined Dolly Gallagher Levi, after studying up on the character, Midler dubbed the role “Irresistible.”

Four-time Tony winner Jerry Zaks will be directing the Divine Miss M, while Tony winner Warren Carlyle (After Midnight) has signed on to choreograph. As for time frame, previews are set to begin on March 13, 2017 with an opening date of April 20—– just in time for a triumphant swoop into the 2017 Tony Awards with a killer production number.