CATS broadway revival!!!- Page 4

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/27/14 at 3:38pm

The first four rows in the orchestra were mounted on the turntable. It turned only during the overture. That's where I sat!

[Pasdechat]

Posted: 6/27/14 at 3:41pm

Me too, front row!! go 80's!!

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 6/27/14 at 3:49pm

Thanks Matt and Pasdechat! Very cool. Looking it up, it is the special Tokyo theatre where all the seats turn.

Whatever one thinks of ALW's talents, I do think the score of Cats is ingenious in the way he sets the poems--reading them without the music, the choices he choose which mostly work so well are rarely the obvious ways one would think to set the words. Sometimes this does show ALW's problem with placing the stress on the wrong words--but they are not easy lyrics, and for the most part he manages to avoid that.

It's hard not to think of Starlight Express (as much as it was somewhat of a guilty pleasure when I was still a kid) as a very cynical retread of Cats which really lacks any of the heart Cats has.

[Brian07663NJ]

Posted: 6/27/14 at 4:02pm

Eric... I too share the guilty pleasure of loving Starlight Express. Have both the NYC concept album and also the London recording.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/27/14 at 4:14pm

I do think the original version of Starlight Express actually had quite a bit of heart. Besides the fact that the technological aspect was a jaw-dropper in the mid-80s, the commitment of the original cast probably had a lot to do with the show's quick success in London. My parents saw it when it first opened and loved it (and I remember being quite moved by scenes in the first US tour). By the time I got to see the London production in 1999 with my dad, the entire cast phoned in a theme park performance and I knew I was seeing only a ghost of what it once was (my dad was FURIOUS). The endless changes and desperate attempts to update the material only deteriorated the show further.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 6/27/14 at 4:22pm

If anyone has ever been curious as to where the aria came from, it's still Eliot and a loose Italian translation of a previous lyric from the Growltiger song.

"Now on a peaceful summer night, all nature seemed at play
The tender moon was shining bright, the barge at Molsey lay
All in the balmy moonlight, it lay rocking on the tide
And Growltiger was disposed to show his sentimental side"

Updated On: 6/27/14 at 04:22 PM

[Scripps2]

Posted: 6/27/14 at 5:21pm

She flitted about the no-man's land,
from the



to the

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 6/27/14 at 5:25pm

Excellent, Scripps!

[Scripps2]

Posted: 6/27/14 at 5:27pm

I thought you might appreciate that Reggie. Updated On: 6/27/14 at 05:27 PM

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 6/27/14 at 5:44pm

"If anyone has ever been curious as to where the aria came from, it's still Eliot and a loose Italian translation of a previous lyric from the Growltiger song. "

This sounds bitchy, and I don't mean it to be, but isn't that obvious? It's the same melody too--I just always assumed it was an Italian version of the same lines (prob one reason I don't like it as much.)

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/27/14 at 6:09pm

I saw the original cast four times--FOUR TIMES!--not because I wanted to but because I had a close friend who was one of the kitties. And how do you say "no" when a friend is in a Broadway show, especially a BIG Broadway show in the goddamn Winter Garden

Please, NO, do I HAVE to sit through that Jellicle Ball and the Heavyside Layer AGAIN, no please, please, PLEASE!

I don't want to see it revived, but I would want even less to see it "reimagined."

Just leave it the way it was and hope it doesn't run "forever" again.

OhWellINeverDidYouEverACatSoCleverAsMagicalMister
MistofoF*CKF*CKfuCF*CKF*CKCATSCATSCATSCATS...

Updated On: 6/27/14 at 06:09 PM

[Scripps2]

Posted: 6/28/14 at 3:23am

I would want even less to see it "reimagined."

I would like to see it staged with the Hal Prince concept, namely that Grizabella is Queen Victoria and two of the other cats are Gladstone and Disraeli.

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 6/28/14 at 3:48am

Can someone explain this business of the first few rows being on a turntable?

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/28/14 at 1:01pm

What do you mean? The first few rows of seats in the orchestra were mounted on the edge of the turntable. When the show started, the moon was behind these seats. During the overture, the turntable rotated 180 degrees so the seats were facing the moon.

[theatreguy]

Posted: 6/28/14 at 1:17pm

Here's the seating chart from when Cats was at the New London that might help:


The thrust part of the stage and the first for rows of seats were all on one giant turntable.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 6/28/14 at 2:16pm

As someone who never saw the original in all its technical glory, I'd love to see that remounted. All I've seen is that crappy inflatable set.

I doubt they'd remount a full-scale version. I mean, if they're remounting a half-assed Les Miz, then this probably won't get a full treatment, huh?

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 6/28/14 at 3:50pm

Okay, that sounds pretty interesting. Did the audience just think the show would be in the round? And was this for New York as well, or just London? I'd also love to see a full production. I've only seen the cheap tour and the VHS.

[theatreguy]

Posted: 6/28/14 at 3:59pm

It was only for the West End production and even then only because the New London Theatre has that giant turntable built-in. It didn't add much to the show other than being a cool trick as the stage and seats spun into place during the overture.

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 6/28/14 at 4:37pm

Well it sounds very cool! Haha

[IndyTheatreGeek]

Posted: 6/28/14 at 8:56pm

Yes the front rows (about 5) were on a turntable and rotated into position at the start of the show. The second time I saw it I was in row D and went for the ride

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 6/29/14 at 3:40am

I'm surprised the audience members in the first 4 rows weren't required to sign waivers.

[blaxx]

Posted: 6/29/14 at 5:21pm

Here is a vid of the Mexico City cast doing the Growltiger aria on the ship:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZLxO3Y7ekw

[gfaustswa]

Posted: 6/29/14 at 5:54pm

I'm shocked people are even excited about this happening. (This is where I get criticized for my opinion). Two of the most popular/longest running shows were two of my most despised. Les Miz and Cats are possibly the most boring shows I've ever seen. Les Miz is three hours of boredom (I couldn't even get through the movie with Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway). I'm still trying to figure out how Cats is even a show. A bunch of misfit cats singing songs. Please don't waste a theaters space bringing Cats back. I'll even take a musical version of a movie over Cats. I know....here come the responses on the other side......

[RippedMan]

Posted: 6/29/14 at 10:09pm

I think if you scroll down there's a pic of the set? Although it doesn't look in the round so I'm not sure what it is.


and I'm more curious as to how the pirate ship worked. Was it there the whole time or where'd it come from?
SET Updated On: 6/29/14 at 10:09 PM

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 6/29/14 at 10:32pm

When I'd seen the show on tour back in... 2004, I think... maybe even the first time I saw it in 1999, they dropped a faux "Growltiger" show curtain in the middle of the stage at the beginning of the song and built the ship behind it. Now it's not nearly as large a set piece, but I'd imagine it was similar to that.

When I saw it 2011 or 2012 they'd cut the entire ship and opted to put a sail up behind the tire and a steering wheel on the tire with all of the action taking place on the stage.