โCatsโ is coming.
Now, depending on your attitude toward the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, that may delight or disgust you.
There are extreme reactions on both sides. Weโll illustrate that in a minute.
First, the basics:
โCats,โ based on T.S. Eliotโs โOld Possumโs Book of Practical Cats,โ first hit Broadway in 1982 and was a megahit, running for 18 years.
The story is thin: A clowder of cats has gathered for its annual ball. The big event of the night is to decide which feline gets to be reborn.
In 2016, the director of the original, Trevor Nunn, remounted the musical. It ran on Broadway for about 18 months. It is the revival that Broadway in Tucson is bringing to Centennial Hall.
Now, โCatsโ is a spectacle. Actors in elaborate makeup portray the kitties. They crawl and leap over the stage, often over the audience, and they sing songs that you canโt get out of your head. Songs like โMemory.โ And โJellicle Songs for Jellicle Catsโ (really, itโs hard to get lyrics like โJellicles do and Jellicles can/Jellicles can and Jellicles doโ out of your head once you hear the song; go figure).
Thereโs no dialogue and thereโs not really a story. Almost all of the songs introduce a different cat. Examples: โGrizabella: The Glamour Cat,โ โGus: The Theatre Catโ and โMacavity: The Mystery Cat.โ
Some people just love it. Others, not so much.
When we threw out the love/hate question on Facebook, we found folks who were passionate about it on both sides.
โThe only thing good about that show was watching the actors being cats,โ says Tucson actress Peg Peterson. โMusic and story boring and forgettable.โ
Los Angeles-based actress Sarah Wolter definitely disagrees.
โI love Cats!โ she wrote. โIt was my introduction to musical theatre when I was 6 years old and it sparked a lifelong love of the art form. Unlike other musicals I revered in my youth โฆ I still regard โCatsโ fondly. Is it a revelation? No, of course not. But the music is catchy, the lyrics are clever, the dancing is fantastic.โ
Tucsonan Jim Purdy feels just the opposite:
โโCatsโ is turgid and interminable with uninspiring music and an unctuous spiritual premise โ plus you get accosted in your seat by those grotesque beasts.โ
Former Tucsonan Cathy Morrison has a completely different take on it.
โI loved the music, but it was much more,โ she wrote.
โIt was the feeling of hope! That there is always a brighter side of despair, the heavy side layer was the point of rejuvenation, a new beginning. Life springs eternal. We will rise above the weights holding us earthbound.โ
