History will be made in Yountville this weekend.

After serving as venue for all manner of entertainment for the past 50 years, Lincoln Theater will play host to the first full-scale Broadway musical to tour the Napa Valley.

“Cats” — the pop-cultural phenomenon that’s been performed on stage for more than 50 million patrons in 26 countries over a span of 25 years — celebrates its silver anniversary tour with four performances in Yountville’s Lincoln Theater this weekend.

Tickets for Sunday’s matinee performance — which was recently added due to strong ticket demand — are now on sale at the theater box office.

And local cat fanciers can get a discounted ticket to Sunday’s performance of the Tony Award-winning production if they make a donation of cat food to the local humane society.

What’s more, kids can have their faces painted like the felines they’ll see on stage, provided they show up an hour before one of the four performances or visit local farmers markets on Friday and Saturday.

Slated to open its wine country run at 8 p.m. Friday, “Cats” is based on a series of poems by T.S. Eliot. The magnificent stage set is a rubbish dump, three times larger than life, where the Jellicle Cats have come out to play. The actors and actresses wear unitards, tails, wigs, and thick makeup as their cat costumes. This musical is almost plotless, and consists of cats introducing fellow cats to the audience.

It is the night of the annual Jellicle Ball when their leader, Old Deuteronomy, will announce the name of the cat who will be reborn to a new life in the Heaviside Layer, a sort-of Cat Heaven.

The announcement will be made just before dawn. While they wait, the cats amuse themselves with stories of famous cats of the past and present.

This Broadway show is, without doubt, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber’s best known effort.

Just last month, the first local student production of the show was mounted at Justin-Siena High School.

Venue for touring shows

Following its recent four year, $20 million restoration, Lincoln Theater can now house large, traveling productions that would normally appear only in big cities. This small, nonprofit theater isn’t playing it safe. “This is huge! We’ve really stepped out on our faith that the Napa Valley will support a world-class performing arts center, and so far we have not been disappointed by the community,” said Deb Stallings, Lincoln Theater’s managing director.

It’s not just the cast, sets and costumes that will roll into town later this week. It takes a technical crew of over 100 performing arts professionals just to move the show in and out of the theater. Four tractor trailers packed with tons of sets, props and costumes are en route to Yountville.

“And while “Cats” is indeed one of the biggest shows in Broadway history,” added Stallings, “the stars of this production couldn’t be more excited to reach out to, meet and play the Napa Valley.”

“Cats” cast members will provide free face painting for kids at this Friday’s St. Helena Farmers Market, at the Napa Farmers Market at Copia on Saturday morning as well as for one hour prior to every performance at Lincoln Theater.

“This is really our dream come true for Lincoln Theater,” Stallings emphasized, “to present a show of this scope and caliber while making it so completely accessible to the community.”

“‘Cats’ will spark a child’s imagination. It’s a show that will give a family an opportunity to create a memory they’ll share for a lifetime. That’s the mission and role of Lincoln Theater in our community,” Stallings concluded.

‘Cats’ cat food drive

With the recent pet food recall, many area shelters are critically low on food for their animals.

To help animal shelters throughout the region, Lincoln Theater is partnering with local animal care and rescue facilities to collect cat food donations. Theater patrons are invited to donate a five-pound bag of cat food and in return will receive $5 off the price of any ticket to Sunday’s matinee performance (one discount per bag of food donated will be honored).

“Public response to this show has been so overwhelmingly positive, we thought this would be a good opportunity to benefit other worthwhile organizations in communities served by the theater,” added Stallings.

“We were so happy to hear from Lincoln Theater about the “‘Cats’ Cat Food Drive,” noted Peter L. Wilson, of the Benicia-Vallejo Humane Society.

Stallings said the Napa Animal Shelter, as well as other area animal welfare organizations, will also benefit from the cat food drive.

Tickets and donations

Local performances of the 25th Anniversary Tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Cats” are set for  Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 3 and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. Free face painting by “Cats” cast members for ticket holders 14 and younger one hour prior to each performance.

To make a donation to the “Cats” Cat Food Drive or for tickets, call the Lincoln Theater Box Office at 944-1300 or log online at www.lincolntheater.org.

‘Cats’

Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 3 and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m.

Tickets: 944-1300 or

www.lincolntheater.org.