Following the hit Off-Broadway run of Cats: The Jellicle Ball at the Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC) in the summer of 2024, Tony-winning co-directors Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch’s imaginative reinterpretation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1981 musical theatre classic, set it in the pulsating world of New York’s Ballroom scene, is now taking Broadway by storm. Nominated for nine Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical, the production has been extended at Broadhurst Theatre through January, 2027. Read our ★★★★★ review of the Broadway transfer.
At the heart of the show is “Tempress” Chasity Moore in her breathtaking Broadway debut as Grizabella, the forgotten and dismissed former House Mother and Glamour Cat who has been living on the streets. Moore brings a lifetime of experience to her reading of “Memory” and its new Ballroom context gives the ballad added poignancy while making its lyrics and melody feel fresh and urgent, despite it being a perennial musical theatre standard. Moore’s performance is intensely emotional, drawing us in as she captures the character’s pain, resilience and hope in a way that is profoundly affecting. The combination of that emotional potency and her vocal prowess is nothing less than spellbinding. Amidst the infectious fast-paced high jinks and hilarity of much of the rest of the show, Moore’s stillness and the stripped back simplicity of the staging is arresting and grounds the whole production.
Born and raised in Mount Vernon, New York, Moore began singing in church at age five, which led her to Star Search, performing at Harlem’s legendary The Apollo, and traveling with a high school drama troupe. After attending Clark Atlanta University, she went on to pursue a career in entertainment and was discovered by Tyler Perry who cast her in a principal role in his touring gospel musical, I Know I’ve Been Changed. The name “Tempress” was born in Ballroom, where Moore rose to become an Icon and Hall of Famer. She appeared in Ryan Murphy’s Emmy-winning series Pose, as well as in campaigns for Sephora and TV One. She co-hosts the YouTube series and podcast FQCrazySexyCool with Asia Snowden and Tabytha Gonzalez.
In an exclusive interview, “Tempress” Chasity Moore speaks with The Queer Review’s editor James Kleinmann about her return to the stage, what she channels from her own life and those who came before her in Ballroom into her performance, feeling reaffirmed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Broadway’s original Grizabella Betty Buckley, and the impact that seeing Paris is Burning had on her. With portraits for The Queer Review by photographer and creative director Steven Menendez.
James Kleinmann, The Queer Review: take me back to when the performer in you first emerged and how that manifested for you in your life.
“Tempress” Chasity Moore: “From a very young age, as early as elementary school, I was in plays. But I really started taking it seriously when I joined a drama troupe when I was 12. All the way from eighth grade throughout high school, I traveled with that troupe. One of its main purposes was HIV prevention. We would do skits and we performed all over, even at the UN. I went to the audition for it with my godbrother. I was like, ‘I can do this!’ They handed me a script to read and then they ended up giving me one of the main roles. Performing has been part of my life from then on. I went to Clark Atlanta University and I was a part of the CAU players there.”
What took you to Atlanta?
“I’m from Mount Vernon, New York, but as soon as I graduated high school I knew I had to get out, so I moved to Atlanta.”
You also sang in church from a young age. Did that feel like another performance outlet to you?
“You couldn’t tell me that I wasn’t going to be a singer when I was younger. I actually started singing first and then acting came along and then they eventually merged together. I started singing in church when I was five. I remember my mom being like, ‘Wait, this is something different. This is not just a child singing.’ I loved Whitney Houston and so I would always sing Whitney songs. One day in church, when I probably still in kindergarten, I got up and sang “I Love the Lord”. From then on, I was singing all throughout my school years. I used to be in talent shows all over Mount Vernon. I was always singing. I was on Star Search as a child, and sang at The Apollo. But as I got older I got away from singing.”
It feels like you were destined to return to it.
“It does. It came back around. I do believe that what’s meant for you won’t go by you. I always knew that I would come back to it, but when you get older you start questioning yourself. Sometimes you’re not as confident as you were when you were younger. My mom was always encouraging me and saying, ‘You need to get back on stage’.
What was your introduction to musical theatre?
“I was part of Tyler Perry’s gospel musical play I Know I’ve Been Changed. I was discovered by Tyler Perry in my freshman year of college when I was doing another musical with Jomandi Productions that he saw me in.”
Has Tyler Perry been to see The Jellicle Ball?
“No, he hasn’t. I actually haven’t seen Tyler Perry since that show. We haven’t talked since then. I was playing a trans role in that show before I transitioned. This was before the conversation about casting. He was a little ahead of his time with speaking on that because no one was really addressing that topic back then too much. Most trans people were stealth. I would love to see Tyler because I haven’t spoken to him in so many years.”
How about as an audience member, what was the first musical that you got to see live?
“The first show that I ever saw was Mama, I Want to Sing! It was Off-Broadway back in the 80s. The lead singer was amazing and so beautiful. That’s when I knew that I wanted to be on stage myself. My grandmother took me to see it. She was a big force in my life. My grandmother partially raised me and she took me to see shows with her. I remember going home after that and singing the title song, “Mama, I Want to Sing!” I would really bring the drama to it as I sang. I grew up feeling that I couldn’t do anything else but sing and act. I’m an only child and also the first grandchild on both sides, so I’d always be entertaining myself and the family by creating characters and mimicking people.”
How did you get involved in Ballroom?
“While I was at Clark Atlanta University I had friends who went to other schools in the AUC, the Atlanta University Center. I auditioned for a fashion show at Morehouse College and these kids followed me back to my campus. This was before I was even identifying. I knew that I was different, but I never really identified as gay. I would always say, ‘I’m not gay’. Then they would mock my voice, because I’ve always talked the same way. They’d be like, ‘Girl!’ And I’d be like, ‘Don’t call me a girl!’ I’d been brought up in church and those were the days when they created this self-hate, so I didn’t really want to live in my truth, I was trying to hide it.”
“I remember meeting these people who were similar to me and gave my vibe. They talked about Ballroom and they had a House, they were Evangelistas. New York was the birthplace of Ballroom and it hadn’t really got to Atlanta yet, but it was coming. These kids already knew about it and so I was learning from them. Then I went and started my own house with a bunch of straight people from my job. I didn’t even know that you had to be affiliated with another house. Gradually, I learned more about it. In 1996, I walked my first ball. Being an entertainer, an actor and a singer, it was another audience for me, the way they gathered around and applauded you. I was like, ‘Oh, this is my thing!'”
That was in Atlanta?
“Yes, I believe that was the first ball that was in Atlanta. After that, I traveled to New York within that same year for the Mugler ball. Then I joined the House of Chanel and that was all she wrote.”
You’re now an Icon and Hall of Famer. What has being part of Ballroom meant to you in your life?
“It’s meant finding chosen family. I’ve built so many longterm friendships and I’ve even discovered who I was in that process. That’s where “Tempress” was born. I had people around me who were able to relate to me. Growing up in Mount Vernon, as far as I knew there was only one gay person who was out at that time. I’m very cool with that individual now, but I would stay away back then because there was something in them that reminded me of myself that I didn’t want other people to know.”
“Being around all these people in Ballroom, I was able to be creative and I was able to find who I was. I was able to see women like myself, the trans women who came before me, who inspired me to actually be me and live in my truth. Ballroom is a big core of who I am. I’ve grown up in it with my friends and family. I was able to pour into the people who came behind me. I learned a lot in Ballroom.”
When you first heard about Cats: The Jellicle Ball, why was it something that you wanted to audition for and potentially be involved in?
“At that point, I felt like it was the universe speaking to me. That it was a manifestation. I had just moved back to New York and I had told myself that it was going to be all or nothing. That I was going to go after my dreams and that I was going to find a way to get back on stage. I had been dealing with silicone in my body that I needed to get removed. It was right around the time when I had finished that process when people started tagging me on Facebook saying that they were looking for a trans woman who could sing. The choreographer Omari Wiles asked me, ‘Can you really sing?’ I was like, ‘Let me send you a clip.’ So I sang to the phone and sent him the video. He was like, ‘Oh, you need to audition for the lead role.'”
“Right after that, the workshop was happening. I was working at a clinic at that time and it just so happened that my boss was from Ballroom too. So I was able to work from home and still do the workshop. Everything was so in alignment. It was something that I prayed for. It was something that I manifested. So it was a no-brainer. I was like, I have to do this, even though I was a scared kitten at the beginning of the workshops. I would literally make myself sick before I had to sing because it had been 20 years since I’d sung in front of anybody or been on stage.”
When you got the role of Grizabella and started to shape it and live in it, what were you channeling, perhaps from your own experience?
“The redemption aspect of it. Her coming back to something that she once loved and was once revered in. It was like my story. A lot of it was me. It was me coming back to the theatre world. Me coming back to my talents. I was thinking about all the women who came before me in the scene who wanted to be in the arts and who couldn’t because they didn’t know where they fitted in. The reason that I left when I transitioned is because I had no idea how I would fit in or how people would accept me. I tell people now that you just have to go for it because, who knows, even back then I could have been one of the first people to be openly trans and go after those things.”
“I was inspired by the women who came before me, like Octavia St. Laurent, who said that she wanted to be a household name. I’ve seen women leave the scene and then come back to it and maybe not look the way that they did before when they were winning balls and not get that same respect that they once did when they were revered. So I took that and used it in the role. I was in survival mode for years myself and I was doing things that I would not necessarily be proud of later on, but I had to survive. So the things that I once regretted now made sense because I was able to use that as part of building this character. I used all those things from my own life.”
Your performance of “Memory” is so powerful and emotional. Your physicality is mesmerizing and your voice is really incredible. What are some of the things that are running through your mind as you sing it?
“I’m an older woman now and there are many things that I’ve gone through. I have wonderful memories of my past and I also have some darker memories. So I’m using all of that. I am also speaking to people who have been othered and who have experienced ageism and so many things when they just wanted to be accepted. I’m trying to remember all the good things that have happened in my life. I’m trying to bring happiness to people. I feel like a lot of people can identify with having happy times and then going through darker times. I’m trying to tell the story of someone who has a lot of happy thoughts, has a happy story, and that if you got to know them instead of judging them from what you see on the outside, then you could be as happy as they truly are on the inside.”
“Memory” is a mix of pain and healing, isn’t it?
“Yes, I always say that there’s pain and comfort in the song. There were times when I came back to Ballroom where I felt like people didn’t give me the same respect that they once did when I was always winning. You have to constantly reinvent yourself in Ballroom to get respect. Sometimes people just want to be loved for who they are; they want you to know their history. So part of it is me remembering when people were going crazy when I hit the stage or back when I didn’t have to get Botox!”
“We couldn’t say that we were trans back in the day, but even in times when we couldn’t publicly be our full selves there was something about being stealth. It was bittersweet. It had its advantages and it had its disadvantages. Right now we’re so villainized and used as the monster of the story in politics, but there was a time before when we were stealth that we were in the bathrooms all the time, we were everywhere all the time, but people just didn’t know who we were. We weren’t the topic of discussion all the time. So I’m thinking about all of those things when I’m singing “Memory”. It’s telling everybody to turn to think about the good times in your life to get through the darker times.”
What about approaching the song technically?
“I used to be extremely scared going into it. I have learned to take a deep breath. It’s about breathing to centre yourself. I spoke to someone who helped me with anxiety and calming my breathing before I actually start singing. I listen to the song over and over again. I still go to vocal lessons. You have to sharpen your tool all the time. Before the show, I warm up with our music director William Waldrop.”
“It’s such a popular song. I come from Ballroom where we are constantly being judged, so going to Broadway I know that all these people are coming who are used to hearing this song sung octaves higher. I couldn’t approach it the way that others may approach it, I have to do it in a way that feels more real to me. It’s an emotional song. When you listen to the lyrics there are so many emotions in there, so I wanted to make sure that I hit it that way. I constantly practice. I’m my own worst critic, so I’m always trying to get better.”
For a lot of people in the audience this production will be their first taste of a Ball. What do you think about the way that The Jellicle Ball represents Ballroom?
“It’s a love letter to Ballroom. I love the part of this production where they’re showing the founding mothers and they’re getting their flowers and their respect on Broadway. I think that’s amazing. I think a lot of times when Ballroom has been talked about we weren’t in the rooms. Sometimes they take it and make a show out of it, but you don’t have the Ballroom people there or you may have had someone who gave you a consultation to tell their stories and then they were sent on their way.”
“With The Jellicle Ball you have Junior LaBeija, you have me, you have Leiomy, you have Kya Azeen, Primo, Robert “Silk” Mason, and so many others involved both on and off stage. All these people who actually come from Ballroom. There are so many of us so it authenticates it and makes it real because we can bring that truth to it. Even in the workshops, we were allowed to explain details that weren’t right and be like, ‘we wouldn’t do that in Ballroom.’ So it’s not someone running away with it and telling a story that’s untrue.”
Betty Buckley originated the role of Grizabella on Broadway, what has it meant to you to get her enthusiastic seal of approval for your take on the character and this entire production?
“It’s been amazing. Betty’s become my homegirl. She’s the sweetest person and she gets it. She gets that my Grizabella is resilient because the women that came before me in Ballroom were resilient. They had to be to get through the struggle. They had to sacrifice a lot of things, but still keep their head up high. That’s the type of Grizabella that I wanted to portray. Betty has empowered me and affirmed me in so many ways. It has been beautiful because she’s an icon and she’s the first. If it wasn’t for her there would be no one to come behind her.”
On opening night, Andrew Lloyd Webber gave you a huge bouquet of roses at the curtain call which was a really special moment. Have you had any conversations with him about this interpretation of Cats and your Grizzabella?
“He told me that when Betty was first singing “Memory” they weren’t feeling the connection and they didn’t know if it was going to work out with her. Which is crazy because when I hear her voice it’s so incredible. She tells this story as well about going out and watching homeless women and bringing that to her performance and that’s what helped her to unlock it.”
“On opening night, Lord Lloyd Webber was one of the first people to jump to his feet after I sang “Memory”. That in itself was amazing, but for him to bring me all those roses was a big moment for me. I literally broke down in tears. I don’t like to cry in front of people, because I ugly cry when I do cry! I didn’t even know what was happening. Zhailon brought me to the front of the stage and I thought they were just clapping. I saw the flowers, but I didn’t know that they were for me. When he tapped me and gave them to me and then kissed me on my cheek, it just really broke me down because I felt so seen. I felt like I had to be representing in a great way for him to actually do that, so it meant a lot.”
“I had met him before when we performed downtown, but we didn’t have a long conversation then so I didn’t know how he felt about the show. When he came to see it on Broadway, he pulled me to the side to speak to me and that made me feel very seen. To be singing a song in front of the person who created it, who brought all of this to life, is quite something. His words to me were very reaffirming.”
You mentioned that your mom has always been a big supporter and believed in your dream of performing. Has she had chance to see you on Broadway yet?
“Yes, she was here on Mother’s Day weekend and she came to see it twice. She is still on a high from it. She wore the t-shirt that our associate director Cooper Howell’s father made. It has my face on it and it says, ‘Spoiler alert: she wins!’ My mother had that on in the airport on her way here. She has been wearing it to the grocery store where she lives in Atlanta. She says people are coming up to her to talk about it and somebody even paid for her groceries. They were like, ‘Oh, my God, Chasity Moore we love her!’ My mother played them a clip of me singing that I’d sent her and when she got up to the register to pay the guy was like, ‘I got that for you.'”
“She’s absolutely loving it. She loved meeting everyone. She was there the night that Shonda Rhimes was a guest judge, so she was excited about that. All she ever wanted was for me to get back on stage and to pursue and live my dreams. So she’s having a wonderful time with it and I’m so blessed that she’s still here to be able to see this. It means so much. She absolutely adores the show and had an amazing time.”
I need one of those t-shisrts!
“The first day that we went to the Broadhurst Theatre all of the directors were wearing them. That was another special moment for me.”
It was wonderful to see Cats: The Jellicle Ball receive nine Tony nominations, but I must admit that I was disappointed that you weren’t personally nominated. I know that I wasn’t alone in feeling that. What was your own reaction?
“I’m the type of person who manifests. I do pray on things, but I don’t like to get too excited because I don’t want to be let down. So many people were telling me that I was going to get nominated. I was seeing all the predictions and I was always in the top five. Even ChatGPT had me at 90% locked in. The night before the nominations were announced people were sending me that. I was so nervous because I know that there are so many people who should have been nominated over the years who weren’t. I’ve seen people wait for many years to win. André De Shields got his first Tony Award when he was 73.”
“I never wanted an award to feel like the measurement of my talent. I didn’t want it to feel like the ceiling for me, but of course I would have loved to have been nominated and to be in that conversation with all the other people in the scene who I admire. Like Shoshana Bean, who I love and adore. She said to me, ‘I definitely thought you would have been there with me.’ I don’t do it for that, but it did take me aback because so many people were saying that I should have been nominated. If people weren’t saying anything prior to the nominations, I probably wouldn’t have been thinking too much about it. So I was a little down, but I’m very excited and happy for my cast and everyone involved in staging this production because we still got nine nominations including the Best Musical Revival.”
“I was a little disappointed and a little hurt, but I still put on a show every night. What really makes me feel better than that anyway is that I am still walking in my purpose and the reactions from people who come to see the show. People tell me that I’m inspiring them and how it makes them remember their good times, and that I broke their hearts. That means more to me than any award will ever.”
Lastly, what’s your favorite piece of LGBTQ+ culture or a person who identifies as LGBTQ+; someone or something that’s had an impact on you and resonated with you?
“The first thing that comes to mind is Paris is Burning. I always go back and watch that. It was so major when we discovered it years ago. My friends and I could quote every line as we watched it. It’s such a powerful representation of Ballroom. So to be working with Junior now is incredible. I’d never met Junior in Ballroom, I’d only seen him in Paris is Burning. I remember coming out of one of my vocal lessons for Cats: The Jellicle Ball and Junior stopped me in the hall and he was like, ‘This is it. You are the reason that I am here. You are reason for this whole thing. You bring this story together for me.’ He just pours so much into me. He has been like my fairy godmother in this whole situation. Paris is Burning was so inspiring for me. Octavia St. Laurent was going on auditions trying to make it. That inspired me to get out there and to do what I needed to do.”
By James Kleinmann
Nominated for nine Tony Awards, Cats: The Jellicle Ball has been extended through January 17th, 2027. For more details and to purchase tickets head to catsthejellicleball.com. Follow “Tempress” Chasity Moore on Instagram.
Read our exclusive interview with Cats: The Jellicle Ball costume designer Qween Jean.
Leave a Reply