How long did the musical "Cats" run on Broadway?

"Cats" is a sung-through musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the 1939 poetry collection "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" by T. S. Eliot. It tells the story of a tribe of cats called the Jellicles and the night they make the "Jellicle choice," deciding which cat will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new life. The musical includes the well-known song "Memory" as sung by Grizabella. As of 2019, "Cats" remains the fourth-longest-running Broadway show and the sixth-longest-running West End show.

The London production ran for 21 years and 8,949 performances, while the Broadway production ran for 18 years and 7,485 performances, making "Cats" the longest-running musical in both theatre districts for a number of years. "Cats" has since been revived in the West End twice and on Broadway once. It has also been translated into multiple languages and performed around the world many times.

"Cats" started the mega musical phenomenon, establishing a global market for musical theatre and directing the industry's focus to big-budget blockbusters, as well as family- and tourist-friendly shows. The musical's profound but polarizing influence also reshaped the aesthetic, technology, and marketing of the medium. Cats was adapted into a direct-to-video film in 1998, and a feature film adaptation directed by Tom Hooper in 2019.