Cats (or shall I say) Humans - The Musical

[ThePinballWizard]

Posted: 11/25/07 at 2:33am

I wanted to post this immediately just because words really cannot express what I just saw and what I just experienced. There's been a regional theater production around this area that's been getting a lot of buzz lately because of the way that it was directed and staged. Positive buzz (no clue), negative buzz? (probably)...it was the dumbest interpretation of a musical I have ever seen...and one of the most confusing.

They staged Andrew Lloyd Webber's production of CATS....or shall I say HUMANS - The Musical.

Why humans? I'll tell you.

First off upon entering the theater I was looking at the headshots of the cast and it listed all of the characters' names. Then down below.....were the Jellicle Kittens. That's right. The Jellicle Kittens. They added children...18 to be exact...although I believe they rotated children out...they used 9 I believe in the actual show...but I was like...omg...here we go.

Upon entering the theater we notice a set. A very colorful set. No nothing like the trash heaps and the clutter and the junkyards of yore. No we are introduced to THE JELLICLE SCHOOL. A very colorful classroom filled with blocks of play things and just set up to look what looked like a kindergarten classroom.

I was thinking to myself, if they are not cats then how are they going to justify the entire show? Well apparently as the show started, the OVERTURE/POWERPOINT PRESENTATION opening tried did just that:

Miss Grizabella (yes I said Miss) is a teacher at the Jellicle School who is also run by HEADMASTER Deuteronomy. Apparently she had an affinity for all things feline, so much so that she had an obsession with T.S. Eliots Book of CATS. When she taught, her good students (think student of the month) were named after Jellicle Cats from the book she was so fond of. Each appeared on the powerpoint presentation with their Jellicle name underneath them. (next is where I laughed the hardest)

Through the years she kept in touch with all these good students (on the powerpoint it showed greeting cards that said ITS A BOY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! and such). She got in touch with them all, to tell them all that she was dying.

So on one glorious evening the students came back to the Jellicle School to see Miss Grizabella (as they knew she was dying) and to reenact the scenes from the book she was so very fond of.

The students came prancing in a mish mash and a mess of things. And they all came in hugging Miss Grizabella and excited about what was to come. I'm not good with the names but I'll just tell you what they looked like. They were all dressed as humans but with suggestions of what might be a cat (ie pink beanie with pointy ends) One looked like Rick James (with long flowing hair). Another a Red Hot Chili Pepper. Three were dressed in 40's waitresses outfits. A couple were goth rockers. One hippie. One dominatrix and a schoolgirl uniform. The rest were indecipherable. But the best was yet to come.

Miss Grizabella: The teacher of it all apparently. She looked like that evil old witch from the soap opera Passions on NBC. I was waiting for her little mini man to come out the entire show. For most of the show, she sat on the sidelines reading the book and mouthing the words as the numbers were going on onstage. Occasionally she would wander around...sometimes nostalgically...sometimes for no reason. But the director sabotaged this role because he split it into two people. YES there was a YOUNG GRIZABELLA (DRESSED LIKE DOROTHY BROCK). Apparently a ghost of what Miss Grizabella used to be. So wherever she went, the young version followed. I felt at one point that they were humans playing Cats doing Follies. In any case, when it got to the big showstopping number "Memory" Miss Grizabella was "too ill" to belt out the end so YOUNG GRIZZY took over as they mirrored each other onstage. Then they held hands and walked upstage.

I don't want to go into a mish mash of numbers or explain them because I don't even know what it is I just saw. The whole thing was an utter disaster.

I have to say though I did get quite a chuckle out of it. I wanted to see how they were going to send Miss Grizzabella off to the "Heavyside Layer" at the end of the show. I figured that because she was a "teacher" that she was stereotypically just going to retire to "Boca Raton". THAT was going to be her "Heavyside Layer". So as the cats sang, I kept singing "up up up up to boca raton." I kept expecting a huge bus to come rolling through the aisle way to take her way to Florida. I couldn't stop laughing...seriously.

So that was how they justified it. I think Cats is already a confusing show as it is, trying to throw ANOTHER plot line into the show was stupid. Most, if not all, of the audience didn't know what the hell was happening. A guy behind me was like this is NOT Cats. They lost the story. I felt like the show had no point. Grizabella wasn't an outcast, she was already beloved from the moment she stepped onstage, so there was no clear division between the others and her. It was just one giant free for all.

The sound was bad (muffled), choreography was uninspired. EVERYTHING was just like it fell apart. I don't know how anyone saw this from the creative team and said great! we have a show. I feel awful for the performers because it wasn't their fault. But they tried to make due with a vision that should have been sacked during the preliminary round. And to make matters worse, it was a reputable Equity house. I just couldn't figure out what they were smoking when they decided the concept.

And then I thought to myself how in the world did they get this by RnH Theatricals?

In any case, it made me think. What shows out there absolutely do not work reimagined?

Talks amongst yourselves.

[DrTheatre]

Posted: 11/25/07 at 2:40am

You must have saw The WILLOWS production here in California.

I think there is even a thread on this already about how someone saw a posting for the "Revival" of Cats in NYC and I think I responded by saying that if the Willows production was good enough there may be talks of it going to Broadway, in a revival of the form you saw.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 11/25/07 at 2:42am

Wait...does this happen to be in an area where you can buy yourself some skis, go have ribs, and some imported Indonesian wall decorations all in the same afternoon as a day at the theatre?

Because hahahaha if it is! I am totally not surprised after they ruined the Les Miz school edition.

Edit: Dammit, beaten by DrTheatre!

Updated On: 11/25/07 at 02:42 AM

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 11/25/07 at 2:49am

http://willowstheatre.org/PressRoom/CATS/Cats_Photos.htm

[BDrischBDemented]

Posted: 11/25/07 at 3:27am

Dear lord. It's like the gay community players do "Godspell" via "Cats".

[ThePinballWizard]

Posted: 11/25/07 at 3:39am

I told you all. And I'm glad that there are now pictures to back up my post. :)

Awful...in the worst sense....

oh my god...that picture towards the end with young and old grizzabella...

young grizabella's costume wasn't even that one THANK GOD. But it was still awful.

Updated On: 11/25/07 at 03:39 AM

[dramarama2]

Posted: 11/25/07 at 4:39am

I once heard of Jesus Christ Superstar re-imagined to the story of Noah's Ark. The funny part is...i'm actually not joking...

[LuPonatic]

Posted: 11/25/07 at 8:17am

"I once heard of Jesus Christ Superstar re-imagined to the story of Noah's Ark. The funny part is...i'm actually not joking..."

yikes

[jaystarr]

Posted: 11/25/07 at 9:19am

beyond words......









Updated On: 11/25/07 at 09:19 AM

[jaystarr]

Posted: 11/25/07 at 9:20am

oops..sorry double post


Updated On: 11/25/07 at 09:20 AM

[EdmundOG]

Posted: 11/25/07 at 9:22am

The concept, the kindergarten thing is horrifyingly bad. The set is hideous. But the costumes... there's a germ of a good idea in there.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 11/25/07 at 9:37am

My God.

I once attempted to write a play version of the miniseries, "I, Claudius" set in the 19th century. What the sam heck was I thinking.

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 11/25/07 at 1:56pm

Wow, I wish I could have seen that. Haha.

~Steven

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 11/25/07 at 2:21pm

At first I thought, "Good for them, for trying to make sense out of that piece of crap musical." THEN...the pictures...
WOW. There are no words...

[TomMonster]

Posted: 11/25/07 at 2:31pm

How did they ever avoid a "cease and desist" from Webber? Someone should send him a link.

Even though the original felt criminal (and I worked on it, ugh!), this one actually could be!

[brdwybound2]

Posted: 11/25/07 at 2:40pm

I have a question.. I know you said this was a regional production, but were these legitimate performers with talent? I mean, obviously this idea sounds absolutely terrible, and you said the dancing was uninspired, but did the performers posess some sort of dancing or singing ability? I am just curious who thought it would be a fun show to be cast in.

[Taka]

Posted: 11/25/07 at 2:43pm

Just out of curiousity, how did they play the Macavity/Mr. Mistoffeles segment? I mean, one of the students couldn't have kidnapped the principal.


As for the rest of the production, that's just. . .wrong. The play's supposed to be about all of the cats, not just about Grizabella. And the classroom setting is laughable.

[DrTheatre]

Posted: 11/25/07 at 3:27pm

From what I know Webber and R&H gave them permission to do this production. They had to, they would have not advertise it the way that they did.


Also, yes, there are Equity and Non-Equity performers in the production. Willows usually only hires Equity performers, it's an equity house, from what I know.

[jbdc]

Posted: 11/25/07 at 8:38pm

As long as you don't change the script, you can stage things however you want. I say, Good for them for making it their own and not doing a knock-off of the original production. I don't want to see it, but good for them...

[DrTheatre]

Posted: 11/25/07 at 9:27pm

jbdc? When you say "Change the script" does that mean the dialog only? Cause, technically I think in the script it says where it takes place and what time etc, so if it does, then they changed script because the location they set it in does not take place in what the script says.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 11/25/07 at 10:07pm

The Sanrio Chococat is a nice tough. *snort*

[adamgreer]

Posted: 11/26/07 at 12:01pm

This looks like the sort of delightful trainwreck that would have been fun to watch.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 11/26/07 at 12:56pm

These people loved it. Eh?!
http://www.beyondchron.org/articles/_Cats_in_Contra_Costa_is_..._5131.html

[ChiChi]

Posted: 11/26/07 at 3:17pm

I have never heard of any Regional/Community production being anything OTHER than bad. Possibly there have been. I'm not saying there hasn't, but all of the ones I've gained knowledge of (This one included) have been very poor concepts and or attempts.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 11/26/07 at 8:53pm

I have not read a review like this since...
I won't say, but if Corine ever needs help at the Corner...she need not look any further:

To say that this version of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical is better than the original staging of the hit show, would not be an exaggeration. In the original the actors wore tights that had designs on them to make them look more catlike. I never thought that they looked like Cats, but more like aliens...

They’ve taken the dreariness out of it and made it a fun playhouse for those mischief minded cats. The classroom is a Cat’s dream house. There are all kinds of curvy and round things, besides every cats delight high places for the cats to lounge or jump on.



Director Andrew Holtz has done a “Wizards” job with this musical. There is the usual Cat characters from the original, “Rum Tum Tugger” and others. But Holtz has added others. Into the Cat mix is a bunch of Cat Kids. These are really young people in a myriad of Costumes that look like they came right out of a “Harry Potter” story. This fits perfectly into the Classroom set, as the kids, being very agile, cavort around the stage. Some wear Capes, one is a magician and one looks like Johnny Depp. I have to say…even real Cats would be endlessly entertained by the magic of it all. I know this, because I live with one.

The music is the same as in the original “Cats,”, which was based on T.S Eliot’s "Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.” In fact, when the Willows leased the rights to the show – they only got the songs sent to them. Since there basically is no dialogue, the Willows were able to improvise the show, as long as it didn’t tinker with the music. And Holtz has run with it, and given us a Biff! Pow! Wham! Evening. Take the Wizard of Oz, Harry Potter and Babes in Arms, mix them all up together and toss them on the stage and you don’t get Kitty Litter. What you get is the Willows re-imagining of “Cats.” When they produce a new version again on Broadway – this is the one they should model it after.




In this show you will be dazzled by a Costume Ball, some really great dancing, puppet show, light Hip Hop and a skull and bones on a pirate ship plus a snow princess who sings “Memory” at the end of the show as she leaves for Cat Heaven in a puff of mist. Actually it’s a duet with older Grizabella (Barbara Grant) and young Grizabella – (Brandy Collazo.) Usually this song is so sad – that you want to leave the theater and commit suicide. However, the Director has managed to make going to Cat Paradise when you die – not so bad. I doubt if young children will really know what is happening. But, one thing that I know for sure is that the song will stick in your mind forever. It’s gorgeous.



Mariana Cassia-Rowland has created by perfect Scenic Design, Robert Anderson’s Lighting was great and the Costume Design by Robin Speer is a total wonder.



It all comes down to this: This “Cats” is MORE fun. The stage blossoms with talent and imagination. It was like watching a stirring ‘Wide Screen’ version of “Cats”. And finally – “you’ll be hooked”!

RATING: FOUR GLASSES OF CHAMPAGNE!!!! –trademarked- (highest Rating)


Wow, I hope it tours!

Updated On: 11/26/07 at 08:53 PM