PORTLAND – PCA Great Performances will bring the national tour of “Cats” to Merrill Auditorium for three performances in June.

Shows will be at 8 p.m. Friday, June 29, and at 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, June 30. These will be the final performances of 25th Anniversary Tour of “Cats.” They were added to the PCA schedule as a nonsubscription special event.

“Cats” last appeared in Portland when PCA Great Performances presented five sold-out shows in 2004.

On May 11, 1981, “Cats” opened at the New London Theatre in the West End, where it is still running. Eight years later, it celebrated its first important milestone – after 3,358 performances, “Cats” became the longest running musical in the history of British theater.

In 1982, Cats opened at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York City and continued to live up to its motto “Now and Forever.” On June 19, 1997, “Cats” became the longest running musical on Broadway. It ended its 18-year run in 2000.

Based on T.S. Eliot’s “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats,” which provided many of the lyrics, and with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, “Cats” won seven 1983 Tony Awards, including Best Musical.

This is the story of “Cats”: It’s midnight. Not a sound from the pavement. Suddenly an explosion of music and light reveals a larger-than-life junkyard. Probing car lights tear across the darkened landscape of bottles and boxes, briefly catching the darting image of a running feline. It is the one special night each year when the tribe of Jellicle Cats reunites to celebrate who they are.

Tickets are $45, $52 and $60. To purchase, call PortTix at (207) 842-0800; or log on to pcaGreatPerformances.org.