Did anyone see Cats?

[musicguy]

Posted: 11/15/05 at 1:04am

I saw Cats in Detroit this past weekend. It was a mess. Mr. Mistofelees killed the show. I knew it was a non-equity tour....but I thought the cast was really talented. Until Mistofelees came out. It was like a really bad competition number. We all gaged!!!

Did you know they have an inflaitable set??? It looked so cheap.

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 11/15/05 at 1:11am

Yeah, I saw this tour earlier this year. Ouch and ouch. Good choreography, but sloppy in parts. Rum Tum was a highlight though. Rrorr.

[cathywellerstein]

Posted: 11/15/05 at 1:27am

i was just listening to the cd actually! i've never seen this show live, though i'd love to.

[Carl Magnum]

Posted: 11/15/05 at 1:43am

Inflatable sets? Oh my god! Please Please Please tell me someone has a picture of this....PLEASE!!!>>!>!?!?!?????

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 11/15/05 at 2:00am

you'd never know they were inflatable by looking at the pictures... but yeah, they are, very old news as well...

http://www.troika.com/mktcats.html

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 11/15/05 at 4:24am

i saw CATS on Bway and it was terrible too..don't worry.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 11/15/05 at 4:24am

i saw CATS on Bway and it was terrible too..don't worry.

[stage_door76]

Posted: 11/15/05 at 7:04am

Until you've had to master the choreography, don't knock it.

The blow-up sets however...I have nothing to say to that.

[Carl Magnum]

Posted: 11/15/05 at 9:42am

It really bugs me when people rip CATS apart. Ok maybe it doesn't have huge value as a traditional musical. But as a dance concert it is incredible. The talent of those dancers and the level of commitment they have to becoming actuall cats onstage is worth your respect as performers.

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/15/05 at 9:49am

CATS was brilliant when it first opened in New York. I'm sorry most of you didn't get the chance to experience it that way. The original Broadway cast, in its first few months, was nothing short of astonishing.

[Carl Magnum]

Posted: 11/15/05 at 10:09am

Thanks for the link btw, too bad you have to have press credentials to look at the full versions of the pictures, I can't really make out the sets. Any other links would be appreciated.

I'm with you best12. Maybe it was just the magic early on, but Cats will always hold a special place in my heart.

[peach]

Posted: 11/15/05 at 10:10am

Ditto best12bars...if you had the chance to see Cats in its heyday, you would have probably been quite impressed with it.

The dancers in that original cast were superb. The choregraphy and transofrmation is fantastic. And the dancing itself is nothing short of ummm...pretty darn challenging. Not to mention, for its time, Cats was purely something new and unique.

Steps off soapbox (which is covered in cat hair!). :)

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/15/05 at 10:21am

I've said this a few times on posts, but CATS was one of the best experiences I've ever had as a theatrical audience member.

That said, I KNEW at the time I was watching it that this show was "fragile." The show itself is poetry set to music and dance. On paper it is "paper thin." That is not to say it's bad at all, but it can't go on auto-pilot and rely on the writing. I KNEW this when I was seeing it for the first time. These poems and dances are constructed to showcase PERFORMERS, each stepping out of the group to tell a personal story. As long as you have performers that are incredibly talented, and (even above that) FOCUSED and dedicated to the magic of the material, the show will be brilliant. If you take away this laser-beam "focus," or the dedication (as a group), or the talent... well, then you don't have much left to mesmerize. Then you're left with a simple (or strange, depending on how you look at it) poetry reading set to music.

With the cast I saw, on the night I saw it... it was theatrical magic at its absolute best.

[WonderBoy]

Posted: 11/15/05 at 12:16pm

As amazing as the original company was I have to say that I found the record breaking company to be far superior.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 11/15/05 at 12:28pm

I saw the show with the original cast and found it to be a shallow, superficial, trite and boring spectacle that I couldn't wait to leave -- and I was a kid at the time. Yes, the dancing was impressive, as were some of the design elements, but even then, as a teenager (who had seen several dozen Broadway shows since the age of 4 at that point) I felt is was all flash and style and no substance. It had all the meaning and depth of a theme park ride. I didn't care about any of the characters or the "story," as it were. For me, it was all much ado about nothing.

[mirramar]

Posted: 11/15/05 at 12:37pm

This blow up set tour. . . is this the tour that's coming to the Hippodrome in Baltimore?

[mcmac]

Posted: 11/15/05 at 1:08pm

About 10 years ago when Cats was touring in my city, my acting teacher was shopping at the mall... she happened to notice a woman lick the back of her hand and then use it to push back her hair at the side of her head.
"Excuse me... Do you happen to be in 'Cats'"? My teacher asked her.
"Ummm... did I just do what I think I did?" The woman responded.
Talk about commitment to becoming actual cats, Carl!!!

[jynni]

Posted: 11/15/05 at 2:19pm

I've seen it twice - the first time would've been an equity tour and the second time was non equity. Both times it was fabulous.

It also helped that the choreography and dancers were just flat out amazing. I still can't get over the fact that Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer could do those double cartwheels and sing at the same time - without missing a note.

Cats is really a modern ballet masquerading as a musical - it's a dancer's show through and through. best12bars said it best - it's a performer showcase.

Our large community theater has the rights for it next summer. I'm very interested to see how they pull it off. I can already think of a few kids that would be phenomenal in it but I think several of them are doing college workshops and regional stuff next summer.

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 11/15/05 at 2:32pm

I saw the tour when it came through two years ago. Still had fun, even though we weren't terribly close to the stage, and I couldn't tell the set was inflatable.
But nothing compared to seeing it at the Winter Garden. I mean, the *entire theater* was decked out like a junkyard, the actors would walk right by you, the audience was allowed on stage during intermission and I even got to pet Rumpleteazer. You just don't get that from the tours.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 11/15/05 at 2:34pm

I saw it in its last week on Broadway, front row. I thought it was stunning...especially the way each and every performer took on every nuance of being a cat.

I think the show suffers from its name. Had it been billed as a modern ballet, it may not have earned its current reputation.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 11/15/05 at 2:49pm

I love CATS.

[gypsy71]

Posted: 11/15/05 at 6:45pm

I worked on the first non equity tour of CATS and our production values and cast were great. The reason for th inflatable set is so that the show could fit into small theatres in smaller towns. They producers wanted to cover a bigger market so they scheduled split weeks and one nighters in smaller venues that could not accomadate the full set. I was there when they brought it in for tests but never saw it in action.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 11/15/05 at 7:00pm

I saw it on Broadway unfortunately. MEOW

[pndmnd]

Posted: 11/15/05 at 7:45pm

I saw it recently in Chicago (having seen the Equity tour when I was in grade school), and you can't tell that the set is a blow-up set. I actually think the set is even more impressive now that I know the second one was inflatable!

[bare_nakedlady]

Posted: 11/15/05 at 11:59pm

I saw it in Detroit as well. It was my first time seeing the show. We were sitting in the tenth row and I definitely could not tell that the set was inflatable. Maybe, having not seen it before I was just overstimulated by how wonderful I thought the dancers were. To me, save a few minor things, the set appeared to be the same as what was on the DVD. But knowing now, I understand why some things were changed. I thought Mr. Mistofelees was great. It didn't seem like a dance competition at all. But my overall favorite was MUNKUSTRAP!