This virtual theatrical event will premiere on Friday, October 23, at 8 p.m. EST. It will feature over 30 former cast members of Cats, all of which will be reuniting after 34 years, and this event will benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. “It has a tremendous amount of heart,” she said. “We all loved each other so much back in the day, we were kids. We will make it the very best that we can make it.”
“We are paying homage to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s blockbuster production,” she said. “There are some fun surprises in there,” she foreshadowed.
All of the donations will go towards the Broadway Cares COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Fund, which supports The Actors Fund. “It’s a program that has been around for as long as I can remember. They have helped some of our cast members out even. It’s an amazing organization,” she said.
Leslie Ellis, played Grizabella and won a Grammy participation award for singing background vocals on Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On.” “Grizabella is the outcast of that show. She was forgotten, ridiculed, and ostracized, and it’s the kittens that are the ones that are curious about her on the show,” she said.
“I was thrilled to be a part of ‘My Heart Will Go On’ and singing harmony with Celine,” she said.
This upcoming event will feature a new performance by Leslie Ellis (with Christine Toy Johnson) of “Memory,” which will connect the song to the current COVID-19 pandemic. “I love that too,” she admitted. “Jonathan Cerullo directed it, he took the material and he is translating it to today,” she said.
To learn more about this Broadway Cares benefit, click here. It will be available through October 27 on Broadway Cares’ YouTube and Facebook pages.
Aside from Celine Dion, she has sang background vocals for such artists as Barbra Streisand, Faith Hill, and Toni Braxton, and she cut backing vocals on records by Lara Fabian and Tina Arena, among others.
For more information on Leslie Ellis, check out her Kelly & Ellis duo website.
