By Tom Waring
Times Staff Writer

Dee Roscioli recalls seeing her first Broadway show.
It was Cats.
“It was amazing to me,” she said.
Now, Roscioli has the opportunity to star in Cats. She plays Grizabella in a national tour of the venerable stage show that’s coming to the Merriam Theater.
The Merriam, at 250 S. Broad St., will host 16 performances of Cats beginning on Tuesday and lasting through Sept. 29.
Cats has been a favorite of theater fans since it opened in London in 1981. It’s still playing there, making it the longest-running musical in the history of British theater.
The show opened in New York in 1982 and won seven Tony awards — including honors for best musical and best costumes — the following year. Betty Buckley also won an award for best featured actress in a musical.
When its New York run ended in 2000, Cats bowed out as the longest-running musical on Broadway.
Cats is based on 14 poems from T.S. Eliot’s 1939 book Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. The stage production features music, including the durable tune Memory, by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber.
In all, more than 8.2 million people have seen Cats. The current tour, though intended to attract longtime fans of the show, particularly is reaching out to the younger generation that has never seen it.
Roscioli welcomes these new fans. She has been heartened, in fact, by young people who’ll come to the performances dressed as characters.
Cats, for the uninitiated, tells the story of the wonder and the magic of the one special night of the year when the tribe of the Jellicle Cats reunites to celebrate who they are. The stage set consists of more than 2,500 oversized props.
Roscioli calls the show a “triple threat.”
“The reason it’s so unique is because it relies on music, dancing and the story to make it whole,” she said. “It takes all three to make the show what it is.”
Roscioli was speaking last week from Biloxi, Miss., where Cats opened on July 27. The show played at the Grand Casino until Sunday and then moved on to Cleveland.
Following the run in Philadelphia, the show will head to Kansas City. The tour will crisscross the United States before closing in June 2003 in Salt Lake City.
Roscioli said the show has been going well.
“We’re really growing into the show and each other,” she said, describing her fellow singers and dancers as “the best of the best.”
Roscioli plays Grizabella, or the Glamour Cat. She is shunned by the rest of the tribe because she left years ago to explore the outside world and now wants to return.
Grizabella wants to come back in time for the annual dance celebration, but she’s spurned before being reborn later.
Roscioli said one might not think of the deep South as a hot spot for theater, but Mississippians have been loving Cats, the actress said.
“We’ve had really good audiences — packed houses. We’ve really gotten a great response,” she said.
Roscioli, 25, was born in Easton and now lives in Queens, N.Y. She began acting at age 12 and joined her high school drama club. Roscioli earned a degree in theater at Allentown College (now DeSales University).
She’s had a chance to visit Philadelphia to see friends and to go to the zoo and other attractions.
On one visit, she saw Evita at the Merriam.
“It’s a beautiful theater,” she said. “I like the feeling of going to a place where I saw a show, and now I’m (going to be) performing there.”
In the summer of 2000, Roscioli began a starring role in Pokemon Live! The tour lasted until 2001, including a performance at Radio City Music Hall in New York and a trip to what is now the Tweeter Center in Camden. Also, the cast put out a live musical recording.
After Pokemon, Roscioli stayed mostly idle in the theater business until auditioning for and winning the role of Grizabella.
She’s looking forward to the stop in Philadelphia. Her parents, Vincent and Karen, probably will see most or all of the shows.
Roscioli has compiled a “to do” list once she gets here. She wants to tour, eat a cheesesteak, go shopping and walk along South Street. She also plans to get back to her hometown of Easton.
She’ll also get to spend some time with her boyfriend, Patrick Frankfort, whom she met when they starred opposite each other in Pokemon.
As for Cats, Roscioli loves playing her character and performing in a legendary show.
“Pokemon was fun, but Cats feeds my artistic side,” she said.
When Roscioli looks to the future, she plans to stay in the performing arts. She’s not necessarily looking for fame.
“I want to work in good theater with good people,” she said.

Cats will be at the Merriam Theater from Sept. 17 through 29. Tickets range from $65 to $35, and are available at the Merriam Theater box office, all Ticketmaster locations or by calling 215-336-1234.

Tom Waring can be reached at 215-354-3034 or twaring@phillynews.com