'CATS: The Jellicle Ball' at PAC reviews- Page 6

[Hey, Zelda!]

Posted: 6/23/24 at 4:08pm

blaxx said: "chrishuyen said: "It is kind of annoying how much the "Cats is bad" discourse has grown in the past few yearsfor the general public who may have not even seen Cats(though of course it wasn't helped by the movie), but if anything I find it more impressive that those who hated Cats to begin with were able to enjoy the show so much. As for musical theater snobs, I feel like that's practically in the job description of being a critic ;)"

The "I hate Cats" is a trend that is fashionable to follow, yet no one can pinpoint why their nasty responseor when in theater history it began.

It definitely wasn't there when it won all the Tonys, critical praise and it was impossible to get a ticket. Or though its record breaking run. It's definitely aposteriori and I've always been curious as to who was so bored to start the trashing."

It's the "guy dating your mom" of musicals.

[Broadway Flash]

Posted: 6/23/24 at 5:25pm

90s kids grew up with the big British mega musicals being the popular thing at the time.  I’m not surprised people say it’s when they fell in love with musical theatre.  I’m one of those people. 

[BroadwayNYC2]

Posted: 6/23/24 at 6:37pm

Have whatever opinion of the show you want, I don’t care. But nothing drives me up a wall more than “bUt iT DOesNt HaVE a PlOT.” 
 

We know, it never really claimed to. Use your vocabulary to formulate an argument, then let’s have the discussion. 

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 6/23/24 at 7:56pm

I watched this video essay some time ago about the movie that pretty succinctly tells the story of Cats and how the movie horribly butchered that. Definitely worth a watch. At least the first 20 minutes of the video if you don't have time for it all.

https://youtu.be/i3aK-EK5V2k?si=SR0RFVIfBYQ19dsU

[blaxx]

Posted: 6/24/24 at 2:09am

BroadwayNYC2 said: "Have whatever opinion of the show you want, I don’t care. But nothing drives me up a wall more than “bUt iT DOesNt HaVE a PlOT.”


We know, it never really claimed to. Use your vocabularyto formulate an argument, then let’s have the discussion."

^This, consider poetry doesn't have plots. They may have used a thin narrative thread to follow along in Cats; yet the show it's thematical, not story driven.

And, there are a lot of musicals with no plots and you don't hear others whining about them.

I hope this production goes far and finally makes shallow naysayers to shut up about Cats.

[pathman2]

Posted: 6/24/24 at 10:50am

SisterGeorge said: "...SPOILER ALERTShouldn't Grizabella get transformed into a glamour puss AFTER she rises up to wherever those steps take her instead of before?..."

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

Sillabub leaves that black dress out for her at the end of Act 1. She puts it on before she interrupts the ball and sings the full Memory but she still has her old (purple) wig on. And she really does transform after she goes to the Heaviside Layer, which we see when she returns for her curtain call walk: gorgeous white dress, long blond hair, etc.

Saw this Saturday night and it surpassed my very high expectations! Everything about it (cast, staging, choreography, costumes, etc) is phenomenal!!! Even though it's early in the year, it's hard to imagine this not being my theatrical highlight of the year. The curtain call walks are worth the price of admission alone!

Tacking on to previous posts besides the spoiler content above:

We bought BB101 and BB103 when tickets first went on sale (for $149 each) and they turned out to be nearly perfect. Thankfully, my husband is tall so he had no problem looking over the railing to see the judges table (expected an aisle there, not a rail!). The cats like to hang out on that rail though (and hang props on it) so it kinda made up for it. They also sit at the empty table below us, which was fun too. IMO, barring cost, row BB near the end of the walkway is a great place to sit (seats 103-115 and 104-114 on the other side). The same seats in the rows behind should also be good.

The first hate of Cats I can remember was in Six Degrees of Separation (my first Broadway play!), which ran 1990-1992. I was totally surprised by the characters trashing it since I fell in love with Cats as a kid (and still love it!). 

We ate at Metropolis beforehand and it was great! We both had the crispy snapper, which was delicious. We enjoyed it so much that we went to sister restaurant Hav & Mar (equally good) last night before Broadway Bares.

Agree that while the interior space is great, the rest of the theater is ridiculously laid out. How many doors are there?! We had to enter through door 10.

Hopefully this extends or moves. It could easily go into Circle in the Square IMO, but they'd probably have to remove the 400 section of seats like in other productions. If that happens, hopefully they can reorchestrate. I liked the added beats but the "old" sound didn't always match the fabulousness on stage.

 

[WldKingdomHM]

Posted: 6/24/24 at 11:16am

Circle would be terrible for this. They need to put it in 54 next year 

[binau]

Posted: 6/24/24 at 5:36pm

The photos do kind of look like circle in the square to me…why don’t you think it would work? 

[MayAudraBlessYou2]

Posted: 6/24/24 at 5:44pm

This production absolutely blew me away. Count me as one of the folks who intensely disliked Cats. But now I'm a total convert. The framing device of a ballroom competitions works incredibly well and I think helps with a lot of the pacing issues I normally think are inherent to the show. And for many moments, it provides really heightened stakes and/or context that makes a number even more fascinating than normal. The staging for Memory is INCREDIBLE. So simple but so effective. Mr Mustoffoles is as fabulous as you could possibly get. And Skimbleshanks as a slutty MTA worker?? I LIVE! If I had more money I would be buying more tickets.

 

I actually think this would work perfectly well at Circle in the Square if they wanted to move it. I would say they should go there or not transfer at all. Studio 54, or any other theater, would require too much costly renovation to make this work. And with the production costs of Broadway, I would worry any more reno/ripping out orch seats/etc would balloon the costs too high and the show would never be a financial success.

In any case...RUN to this function. 10s across the board. No notes.

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 6/24/24 at 5:50pm

My main concern about Circle in the Square would be that it could feel too small/cramped for all the things they do.  Of course they could adapt the staging and I think it would still fit, but it's so perfect at PAC now that I'd hesitate to change anything (then again, I'm not a director).  I'm surprised they haven't announced another extension given the reviews, so I'm wondering if this is it for the PAC run.

[Wick3]

Posted: 6/24/24 at 6:32pm

I think it will be quite intimate at Circle in the Square if it goes to Broadway. I sat in orchestra J9 and the view was great (green band.)  No cats came to me and I'm totally ok with that. 

I do hope it transfers to Broadway. While it's not easy to recoup at Circle in the Square, it is possible as we saw with Enemy of the People. The upcoming Romeo & Juliet will most likely recoup as well.  The last show that recouped at Circle in the Square before Enemy of the People was Fun Home. 

Has Andrew Lloyd Webber seen the production yet?

[Broadway Flash]

Posted: 6/24/24 at 7:34pm

American Buffalo didn’t recoup?

[jkcohen626]

Posted: 6/24/24 at 9:19pm

Broadway Flash said: "American Buffalo didn’t recoup?"

American Buffalo was not at all a hit. It averaged around $500k per week and was regularly under 80% capacity. That whole 2021/22 seasons was particularly rough for plays. A lot of stuff that would do a lot better if it was on broadway right now. 

[Wick3]

Posted: 6/25/24 at 12:26pm

Got extended thru August 11th!

[WldKingdomHM]

Posted: 6/25/24 at 12:59pm

Does anyone have pics and prices of the merch stand 

[Kad]

Posted: 6/25/24 at 1:15pm

TaffyDavenport said: "FYI, code QUEERCATS works for 20% off. Discount is reflected in cart. Once again, don't be afraid of lower balcony P 241 and 242, $68 seats marked partial view. Pic from P 242 is in my postabove, and I had zero complaints about the view."

Took your suggestion and grabbed P242 for one of the extension dates!

[SisterGeorge]

Posted: 6/25/24 at 1:29pm

WldKingdomHM said: "Does anyone have pics and prices of the merch stand"

That's another weird thing about this theater. At least when we saw the show (third preview) the merch was only in the lobby, which is several floors away from the auditorium, so not at all conducive to intermission impulse shopping, which is too bad because we were on such a high at the end of Act I that we would have  bought anything they offered. Then when we left at the end of the show, after making our way down several flights of stairs, the lobby was so dark and gloomy that we could barely see what was being sold and ended up leaving empty-handed.

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 6/25/24 at 1:37pm

WldKingdomHM said: "Does anyone have pics and prices of the merch stand"

Some pictures from when I went, there was also a hat but I didn't grab a picture of that.  The umbrella was $30, fans were $18, and I think the shirt was $25 and hat was $20

[Wick3]

Posted: 6/25/24 at 3:00pm

Yes I saw the merch table upon entering and bought a rainbow fan. It cost $18.

[Broadway Flash]

Posted: 6/25/24 at 3:11pm

The phone line is constantly busy. I’ve been trying to get a ticket, they actually called me back and left a message but I wasn’t able to pick up.  Hopefully I can talk to someone soon

[JSquared2]

Posted: 6/25/24 at 3:30pm

Broadway Flash said: "The phone line is constantly busy. I’ve been trying to get a ticket, they actually called me back and left a message but I wasn’t able to pick up. Hopefully I can talk to someone soon"

 

If only there were some other way to buy tickets...some sort of "magical box" where you type stuff in and then select the exact seats you want!

 

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 6/25/24 at 3:42pm

PAC's discount tickets are only available over the phone.

https://pacnyc.org/visit/ticket-savings-programs/

[Dan6]

Posted: 6/25/24 at 4:36pm

Wick3 said: "Got extended thru August 11th!"

Going to be in NY two weeks later and desperately hoping for another extension. I assume from the fact this wasn’t announced as “Final Extension” that the odds are good…still, this two weeks at a time approach seems unnecessary if they plan to run for much longer. 

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 6/25/24 at 5:13pm

There’s no way to know if this will run longer than the current extension. For all intents and purposes, PAC is no different than a regional theater programming a season. It’s not going to run in that space forever, and their ability to extend is likely limited. Whether it will transfer or not remains to be seen, and is mostly based on the assumption the current demand will last and that there’s a commercially viable space where it can fit.

Long story short, if you’re in the city after it’s set to close, don’t count on seeing it; but leave yourself space in your itinerary to buy a ticket if and when it extends again. Theatre is ephemeral; not everyone will get to see this.

[yyys]

Posted: 6/25/24 at 7:22pm

any promo codes applicable to the extended dates?