I saw Cats!

I want my money back! It took until half way through the second act to figure out the plot and by that time the play was over. The only good part was Memory. The woman who played Grizabella had a wonderful voice. The crescendo into "Touch Me!" was enough to send chills up my spine. How did that run on Broadway for so long?????

People thought for years, whether ALW meant anything by this show then finally they found out: no! So it closed.

The old Cats question again. Think back to when the show first opened. You could try reading up on theatre history or you could read what Ken Mandelbaum had to say in his column. It's the second question in the article.
The Insider

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I enjoyed Cats. I thought is was "magical". and yes...no plot to be seen. But that is ok. It is just a dance show. It's funny how a lot of theater people bag on Cats, just like a lot people bag on musical theater in general. People say, " I don't get it. Why are they singing? I didn't get it" or "That was completely boring, I hate the theater." Musical theater as an art form is diffidently the road less traveled. We can't put unrealistic expectations on shows. "I like Phantom, therefore all of the shows I see need to make me feel like how I felt the 1st time I saw... whatever. Cats is Cats. Rent is Rent. Chicago is Chicago. So a dance show is a dance show.
I don't like ballet. Even though I've seen several of them, I can never get the point of it. The storyline is just not obvious to me. But I don't "hate" it. It's just not my thing. But like I said, I think it's unfair to have unrealistic demands on a show. And how many of us really, really "hate" a show? Pretty strong word: Hate.

Maybe we hate the fact we spent a lot of money on tickets, but that is not the same as hating a show.

Updated On: 3/8/05 at 11:56 AM

According to an overheard conversation between two elderly matrons to a friend...

"Cats" is "about this cat who doesn't feel well and is very sad. So the other cats dance and sing to make her feel better. Then they stick her in a tire and shoot her to the moon."

I love cats as well (as you can tell.) I think it's brilliant.

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Cats is very much a product of its time.
When it first 'scampered' into the Winter Garden, people had never seen anything like it and thus the magic of the sets, costumes and choreography made it a hit. It paved the way for the Brittish mega-musicals such as Phantom and Les Miserables which, like them or not, saved Broadway in the 1980's. New York continues to thrive on $$ from tourists wanting Phantom merchandise, so whether or not you like the non-plot of it, Cats was and will continue to be a piece of theatrical history.

And please, at least Webber and Elliot did their non-plot with class. Look at Brooklyn or a certain other Twyla Tharp musical neither of which contain a plausable plot and yet are currently running on Broadway.

*BTW..I happened to enjoy that Twyla Tharp musical before people start bashing.

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It ran so jellicly long because Jellicle people couldn't get enough of "Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats", as they Jellicly danced around the Jellicle stage at the Jellicle Winter Garden theatre in the Jellicle heart of Jellicle Broadway.

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sorry, multi post, my pc sucks!

Updated On: 3/8/05 at 02:44 PM

Updated On: 3/8/05 at 02:45 PM

Updated On: 3/8/05 at 02:45 PM

Updated On: 3/8/05 at 02:45 PM

Updated On: 3/8/05 at 02:46 PM