Dame Judi Dench is Glad She Didn't Do Cats
Dame Judi Dench is Glad She Didn't Do Cats
Dame Judi Dench is Glad She Didn't Do Cats#1
Posted: 9/30/17 at 8:57pm
lover her even more, now!
https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Dame-Judi-Dench-Reveals-She-Was-Almost-in-CATS-20170930
Dame Judi Dench is Glad She Didn't Do Cats#2
Posted: 9/30/17 at 9:13pm
I'm glad she didn't either, much as I love her. The best moment of that show is Grizzabella belting out Memory and we wouldn't have had that moment with her in the role.
Dame Judi Dench is Glad She Didn't Do Cats#3
Posted: 9/30/17 at 9:34pm
what I found most interesting is that they were going to combine those 2 roles, which I guess could work. Found it odd in the original cast too that they combined bustopher and deuteronomy, leaving only 1 sone for change of costume and makeup
Dame Judi Dench is Glad She Didn't Do Cats#4
Posted: 9/30/17 at 9:52pm
I always suspected she was let go from Cats because she didn't have the voice for "the song." Torn Achilles' tendon? It's possible...but yeah, it worked out well for everyone anyway.
Dame Judi Dench is Glad She Didn't Do Cats#6
Posted: 9/30/17 at 11:10pm
“The song” wasn’t yet in the show when Judi Dench tore her Achilles heel. Andrew Lloyd Webber was still playing with the melody during rehearsals and famously played it on a radio program the night Dench had her accident (actually her second) forcing her to withdraw from the show. Elaine Paige heard the melody on the broadcast and loved it and the next morning was surprised to receive the call to replace Dench. The lyrics came even later (in previews Paige alternated between lyrics for the song written by Tim Rice and the ones kept permanently written by Trevor Nunn).
So while the song was being planned for the character Grizabella even while Dench was attached, she never performed it in rehearsals as it was not written yet.
Dame Judi Dench is Glad She Didn't Do Cats#7
Posted: 10/1/17 at 8:31am
Good thing Ravel wrote the melody in 1928, then! :)
Dame Judi Dench is Glad She Didn't Do Cats#8
Posted: 10/1/17 at 9:09am
I thought I had heard from an interview or read somewhere that ALW first developed the song Memory for a stage version of Sunset Blvd but then ended up using it in Cats. I don't recall where I had seen/heard this though.
Dame Judi Dench is Glad She Didn't Do Cats#9
Posted: 10/1/17 at 9:09am
I thought I had heard from an interview or read somewhere that ALW first developed the song Memory for a stage version of Sunset Blvd but then ended up using it in Cats. I don't recall where I had seen/heard this though.
Dame Judi Dench is Glad She Didn't Do Cats#10
Posted: 10/1/17 at 10:26am
The story Webber tells is that he wrote it for a musical he had in mind about Puccini as he was writing La Boheme. Webber tells that he played it for his father, who was a musical expert on Puccini and asked him if it sounded like Puccini. His fathers response was “what it sounds like is a million dollars in the bank.” He was right of course...
Dame Judi Dench is Glad She Didn't Do Cats#11
Posted: 10/1/17 at 11:51am
God, that's a terrible article.
Dame Judi Dench is Glad She Didn't Do Cats#12
Posted: 10/1/17 at 12:16pm
BuddyStarr said: "I thought I had heard from an interview or read somewhere that ALW first developed the song Memory for a stage version of Sunset Blvd but then ended up using it in Cats. I don't recall where I had seen/heard this though."
I also vaguely remember reading something about this on an old Michael Crawford fansite about 12 years ago. I think there was a 3 second snippet of Michael singing what it was supposed to be a song for Norma titled One Star ... to the tune of 'Memory' - 'One star, there is only one true star'.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/28/13
Dame Judi Dench is Glad She Didn't Do Cats#13
Posted: 10/1/17 at 12:21pm
QueenAlice said: "The story Webber tells is that he wrote it for a musical he had in mind about Puccini as he was writing La Boheme. Webber tells that he played it for his father, who was a musical expert on Puccini and asked him if it sounded like Puccini. His fathers response was “what it sounds like is a million dollars in the bank.” He was right of course..."
He was right! Because the song had already been written... by someone else... and it was a success. Leave it to ALW and his thievery to "rewrite" the truth with this ridiculous story.
Dame Judi Dench is Glad She Didn't Do Cats#14
Posted: 10/1/17 at 2:33pm
I love Judi Dench and I hate Cats, but I don't think I would ever want to hear Memory sung as a smoky, husky, torch song.
Updated On: 10/1/17 at 02:33 PM
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/27/06
Dame Judi Dench is Glad She Didn't Do Cats#15
Posted: 10/1/17 at 3:16pm
“So, Judi. What do you think about Elaine Paige?” 
Dame Judi Dench is Glad She Didn't Do Cats#16
Posted: 10/1/17 at 3:26pm
I have a feeling people would buy the tickets if she played the Rum Tum Tugger, if only to sing the new rap - Dame Raps
Oh and for those who haven't seen the British show Vicious - I highly recommend it. There's an episode about Dame Judi Dench which is frikkin' hilarious.
Dame Judi Dench is Glad She Didn't Do Cats#17
Posted: 10/1/17 at 4:14pm
ALW is always making up stories like the one with his father.
Videos
