'Cats' to return to Broadway this summer

Furry felines, or dancing human facsimiles of them, are once again headed to a Broadway stage.

It was announced Thursday that the musical Cats — inspired by T.S. Eliot's writing, with a score by Andrew Lloyd Webber — will return to New York in a new production set to begin previews July 14 and open August 2 at the Neil Simon Theatre. The Winter Garden, where Broadway's original Cats enjoyed 7,485 performances between 1982 and 2000, is occupied -- with Lloyd Webber's latest musical, an adaptation of the film School of Rock.

Director Trevor Nunn, who helmed that first and last Broadway staging of Cats (and the musical's world premiere in London in 1981), is returning, this time joined by choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler, whose credits include a little latter-day show called Hamilton. Blankenbuehler's work will be based on original choreography by Gillian Lynne, who helped Lloyd Webber and Nunn bring Cats back to London for limited runs in 2014 and 2015.

The composer had spoken of reviving Cats on Broadway earlier this year, after Nicole Scherzinger had appeared in the second run, on the West End.