Review: CATS at Paramount Theatre Aurora, IL

The newest production – and it is new in every way – at the Paramount Theatre in Aurora is Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats. Director Trent Stork and a cast of 31 will leave you breathless with this new interpretation. Same story. Same songs with some new lyrics added. Same cat characters. The twist? It is set in a circus but it is a definite lean to Cirque du Soleil. This is not the Cats as was presented for the first time in London’s West End in 1981 with Elaine Paige as Grizabella and then it’s 1982 Broadway debut with Betty Buckley in that role. This new production is spectacular.

There are jugglers, a magician, a Cyr wheel (looks like a big hula hoop with a person on the inside), hanging silks and a trapeze. There is no net. There is a lot to look at and take in. Choreographer Kasey Alfonso and Circus Choreographer Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi (4 time Jeff Award winner) have combined these two elements together flawlessly. Izumi Inaba’s cat costumes are vibrant. The costumes for Grizabella (Emily Rohm) and Old Deuteronomy (Lorenzo Rush, Jr.) are the only costumes in gray. They are the elder cats.

Scenic designer Jeffrey D. Kmiec and lighting designer Greg Hofmann have transformed the Paramount stage into an eye-popping circus set. Kory Danielson conducting the Paramount orchestra fills the theater with Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s memorable score. It is a sung through musical. The story centers on Jellicle Cats waiting to find out who will be the Jellicle Choice chosen by Old Deuteronomy. It is a high honor to be chosen. The Jellicle Choice will then be able to come back again with nine more lives. All of the cats are related to Old Deuteronomy. A tough decision for him.  Grizabella shows up several times. She is elderly and somewhat bitter. The cats all want to be the Choice and try to persuade Deuteronomy. In the end, he does choose Grizabella. In an amazing moment, she ascends to the Heavyside Layer and returns the same way back to the Jellicle Ball. 

This is a production which needs to be seen. Words do not do it justice. This cast will amaze you. They move like cats. They even purr at times. The singing, dancing and circus movement combine in goosebumps and the holding of breath. Children will love it. T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats is brought to new heights. I think he would like this. Paramount, again, has created magic.