By Kathryn McElfresh
For those that do not know me, you may have noticed in my last article my love for musicals, which is my recurring theme! “Cats” is a musical that people love to hate, and when an adaptation came out in 2019, many who loved the musical were horrified. The problem? The musical was never meant to be experienced live action, only on stage. A myriad of ideas were scrapped before 2019’s adaptation was created but one; a 1998 production where the musical was filmed on stage at the Adelphi Theatre.
This format is a great way to experience this play if seeing it live is not available. The costumes may seem crude and/or odd as they allow for the cats to be anthropomorphic, but also reminds viewers that it is a stage. There is no real plot to the musical, and the reason to see it is the music and dancing.
The music is based on the poems of T.S. Eliot in “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats,” originally written for his godchildren in the 1930s. Andrew Lloyd Webber said that his style of writing a musical meant the lyrics were written to his music, so he wanted to see if he could do this project. Thus, what was a challenge for the composer ended up becoming one of the longest running musicals on both Broadway and the West End. Each poem in the book is set to a song. If one does not leave the theatre singing, that is a surprise. I, myself, left the theatre singing “Magical Mister Mistoffelees” which is the song for my favorite character. Each song takes on a different style to showcase the personality of each cat being sung about.
Gillian Lynne was the original choreographer of “Cats” and much of her choreography has remained in all subsequent productions. The dancing in the show is quite intense, which becomes clear during the dance break “The Jellicle Ball.” The most famous dance move of the show though is done by Mistoffelees and known as the “Conjuring Turn” which has twenty-four consecutive fouettés. This is so difficult that productions remove it due to the actor being unable to perform it.
Though some songs have been cut due to time and racial insensitivity, overall “Cats” does not deserve the hate and is an amazing musical. Whether one leaves while singing “Magical Mister Mistoffelees,” “Rum Tum Tugger,” or “Memory,” it is worth seeing.
