Because the touring cast has been together for so long, Cable, a New York resident, said the show has been perfected, and although it’s sentimental because the tour is ending, she’s excited the cast can perform the best possible show for her friends and family and East Lansing.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better time to play in my home state because this show is so solid at this point,” Cable said. “This is a group of people who have not just been performing together for the last nine months, but who have eaten every meal together. … So I just really feel like the people of East Lansing are going to get such a great show.”

As the longest continuously touring show in North American theater, “Cats” was composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and originally opened in London in 1981 before hitting Broadway in 1982. The current national tour is the only production in North America sanctioned by Lloyd Webber.

After initially winning seven 1983 Tony Awards, “Cats” has been performed in 26 countries throughout five continents and is one of Broadway’s longest running musicals at 18 years.

Bob Hoffman, the public relations manager at Wharton Center, said the show has a historical value, which keeps people coming back to the theater to see it multiple times.

“It’s an amazing production, and it speaks to the soul,” Hoffman said. “The music is incredible, and the story line is just fairy-tale. And the set’s gorgeous. It’s a fun story, and I think people just want to see it over and over.”

Cable — who plays the mother cat Jellylorum — said after seeing “Cats” twice when she was in elementary school, it’s a very powerful feeling to be on stage and performing the musical she always has loved.

After auditioning three times before and getting rejected, Cable landed the role from an immediate replacement audition, where she found herself on stage in Pittsburgh just three days after her audition.

“(Jellylorum) sings a very sweet song about the oldest cat in the tribe, whose name is Gus, and then the two of them together have a flashback of when Gus was a younger cat and when he was an opera star,” Cable said.

“So the two of them transform the junkyard into a pirate ship, and suddenly, they’re in a very silly opera.”

Hoffman — who said the show revolutionized musical theater — anticipates audience members having a unique theatrical experience because of what Wharton Center has to offer and because the show appeals to people of all ages, which keeps them coming back.

“I would just encourage people who have seen it to bring their kids this time and to experience ‘Cats’ through the eyes of somebody younger or bring their parents and see it through the eyes of somebody older,” Cable said. “I think that’s one of the reasons the show has survived this long.”

Recent advertising graduate Louise Gradwohl said she’s taking her mother after seeing the show the last time it came to Wharton Center. With affordable prices for students, she said people are able to see Broadway productions for a reasonable price.

“‘Cats’ is a great show just because when you watch the actors, they really have to embody a cat,” Gradwohl said. “I think that’s one of the few shows where you’re not a normal person; you’re not a pedestrian; you are an animal, and that takes a whole different skill.”

Friday’s show is at 8 p.m., and Saturday’s shows are at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. For tickets, visit whartoncenter.com, or call (517) 432-2000.

“It’s as good as it was when it opened,” Hoffman said. “It’s just one of those shows that people want to see over and over.”