Broadway's Transition From A Distinguished & Thriving Industry To A Tourist Attraction - CATS

[CapnHook]

Posted: 5/16/06 at 3:44pm

Just a thought...

Wouldn't you say that CATS unintentionally caused the rapid transition of Broadway? People dressed as cats dancing and singing for 18 YEARS??

And CATS was all over. Commercials, I Love New York & Visa commercials, mentions in TV shows; the popularity of "Memory."

The show became a "let's go see what this fuss of people dressed as cats is about" instead of "let's go check out this story."

CATS certainly wasn't the first spectacle show in this sense, but it's the show that changed Broadway...I think.

[philcrosby]

Posted: 5/16/06 at 3:49pm

I think the change in Broadway has more to do with the escalating ticket prices, which post-dated CATS. When someone plays over $100 for a ticket to something, they expect to like it. And that means creating product that appeals to the broadest possible audience.

Risk initially got transferred to off-Broadway, but now off-Broadway is just Broadway with smaller venues.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 5/16/06 at 3:54pm

Cats was really one of the first mega-musicals that launched the idea that a show had to have a special effect. However, the "lets go see what the fuss is about" was already going in the early 1970s with the nudity in "Hair" and "Oh! Calcutta!"

Updated On: 5/16/06 at 03:54 PM

[blaxx]

Posted: 5/16/06 at 4:05pm

I never got why the CATS hate...
The set was jaw dropping in my opinion, and it was really entertaining.

But about your post, I doubt that people filled that theatre for almost two decades because there was fuss about people dressed in cat suits, that wouldn't last that long.