Cats

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 12/7/04 at 3:16pm

For those who question the value of Cats, Ken Mandelbaum addresses its popularity in his column (the second question). I saw the show in London in 1999 and immediately understood why it was such a sensation. However, I never saw the Broadway production. Perhaps it is the Broadway production that made so many jaded on the show.
The Insider

[jmaclover]

Posted: 12/7/04 at 3:18pm

"Everybody's sick of Cats...."

Sorry had to!

No, I love Cats, such a good dancing show - great music. Only Webber show I like!

[Loge]

Posted: 12/7/04 at 3:26pm

I thought it was just about the worst thing I've ever seen (and I saw DOTV and Notre Dame de Paris), and it's definitely worst shows I've ever heard. I can understand the show playing for years, it's appeal probably fades with time, but the longest running show on Broadway? How?

Posted: 12/7/04 at 3:34pm

I love CATS too...I feel like I'm in a minority on that one though.

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 12/7/04 at 3:36pm

Well, I only love one Webber show, and that's EVITA.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 12/7/04 at 3:42pm

I did like Bernadette in the first act of SONG & DANCE -- a great performance.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 12/7/04 at 3:43pm

Marti Webb is better (cast recording wise). I haven't seen either of them. And Variations is great too (the "Dance" portion of Song and Dance). I don't really like CATS either. And I think Jesus Christ Superstar is better than Evita even though I love both.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 12/7/04 at 3:45pm

Don't know the cast recordings, just know that Peters was amazing live.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 12/7/04 at 3:47pm

I bet she was. She is a great actress. I wish I could have seen her.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 12/7/04 at 3:55pm

I love CATS. It was the first show I ever saw. I was six. It's my thing. Let it go. CATS as a whole really has nothing to do with Webber or the dancing or the lights... balh, blah, blah... it's the T.S. Eliot show. Everything in it come directly from T.S. Eliot - from the text to the wasteland. It's all him and I think it's brilliant. The idea to construct an evening with the poems was his. The idea that a cat would go up, up, up to the Heavyside Layer was his. "Memory" is his. Read "Rhapsody on a Windy Night" it's all there. I think had he been alive he would have been very touched.

[broadwaybelter]

Posted: 12/7/04 at 7:18pm

i don't care too much for "Cats" i don't like the score so much....but yea...lol
ric

[cturtle]

Posted: 12/8/04 at 5:02pm

i've only seen the PBS broadcast of CATS ... well, i watched part of it and then turned it off ... i guess you had to be there!

[Addicted2Seaweed]

Posted: 12/8/04 at 5:12pm

Cats...I don't know...I can't get into it/like it. It's just too weird for me. I mean...I just can't take body suits. And just the fact that they're cats. Some people love it, but as much as I'd like to I can't.

[jmaclover]

Posted: 12/8/04 at 5:13pm

If you've read the poems, it's a nice little thing to see...

[AuBrie]

Posted: 12/8/04 at 5:35pm

I saw it on broadway years ago...I was 10 at the time i think. I enjoyed it very much. It was a huge fun spectacle with some good music. Not a great musical but it was enjoyable live. Although I enjoyed it live, I dont listen to the recording and I watched part of the pbs special and hated it.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 12/8/04 at 5:45pm

oh, hey, I'm a huge fan of the show, trust me, the video/dvd sucks as$. since it wasn't filmed live it lost all its magic. the spectacle looks like crap on tv. except for digitally erasing the lights, which was stupid, they didn't even do any kind of movie magic stuff to make some of the tricks look better on film, they just did it how you see it on stage and that was completely ignoring the medium. not to mention the fact that they cut about half an hour of the show out... it's a piece of sh*it. yuck.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 12/8/04 at 5:45pm

I saw Cats within the first year of its premiere on Broadway. At the time I enjoyed it for what it was. I then saw the first national touring company in Boston and for some reason liked that production better. I preferred Laurie Beechman as Grizabella than Betty Buckley. I then saw Cats again on Broadway in the early 90s and it was absolutely DOA!!! What a shame.