If CATS were still running...- Page 2

[ChrisLovesShows]

Posted: 9/15/06 at 6:10pm

...the actors would be dying inside. (Does anyone remember that old Saturday Night Live skit? OMG, that was hilarious. I think Christian Slater was the host and played the "new" Cat.)

On the grammar tangent: Yes, many students of the romance languages (Spanish and French, among others) are quite confused when learning about the subjunctive mood which requires complicated verb conjugation, forgetting that we have a similar conditional mood in Enlish. Hence "If Cats were running..." is indeed correct. Of course, "If cats were running..." is also correct because, you know, more than one cat is (was) running.

Updated On: 9/16/06 at 06:10 PM

[inlovewithjerryherman]

Posted: 9/15/06 at 6:37pm

I use dto be a mad hater of this show - after doing it this summer i've found some redeeming qualities to it but it still be one of the worst shows every written - but for many reasons.

anyways, on topic, i'm all for murney - i think she'd kill it.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 9/15/06 at 7:31pm

It would be a sign the end is near

[newsieboy23]

Posted: 9/15/06 at 7:32pm

ChrisLovesShows, i think you are thinking of the skit with James Vanderbeak as Rum Tum Tugger?

[Dollypop]

Posted: 9/15/06 at 7:33pm

You are all overlooking the obvious choice for Grizabella: Barbara Cook.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 9/15/06 at 7:36pm

There ain't a Michelin in the world strong enough, Dollypop...

[Dollypop]

Posted: 9/15/06 at 7:40pm

Oh please! There weren't any complaints when she was in talks to replace Jane Krakowsi in NINE!

[Producer2]

Posted: 9/15/06 at 7:56pm

IDINA!!!!!!

[morosco]

Posted: 9/15/06 at 9:09pm

Yes...it was James Van Der Beek (of Dawson's Crack fame) who did that Saturday Night Live skit. It was very funny and was actually shot onstage and backstage of the Broadway production. He was an eager newcomer to the production and the other actor's were positively bored to death with the show.

[ashley0139]

Posted: 9/15/06 at 9:32pm

It's definitely "were".

And please not Julia Murney in the role- she is far far too good for that.

[HumATune]

Posted: 9/15/06 at 9:32pm

It IS “were” because it’s conditional. “If I WERE A Rich Man” “If CATS WERE still running” “If Al Gore WERE president”.

(I don’t usually get into these grammar battles. It’s a casual Internet message board, not an academic forum. To me it’s comparable to code-switching between causal speech and standard speech. If something is in decent English in a causal setting, then I let things slide.)[/end soapbox]

Maybe I’m just in a weird mood today.

[morosco]

Posted: 9/15/06 at 9:39pm

It sounds funny, don't you think? If DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS ~were~ still running? If LES MISERABLES were ~still~ running? If FOLLIES ~were~ still running?

Maybe it is right to say ~were~ but it hits the ear weirdly. Seems to imply that you are referring to more than one production of an individual show.

But then again, I never were good in english class.

Updated On: 9/15/06 at 09:39 PM

[ashley0139]

Posted: 9/15/06 at 9:42pm

People not using the subjunctive correctly is my biggest pet peeve.

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 4:48am

I like to see Patti play every part..

[jimnysf]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 6:46am

"Cats" is awful. If it ever does return, and I pray it does not, it should be as a revisal and they could call it "Cats On A Hot Tin Roof".

[musical_devotee]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 7:03am

Despite what ALW's detractors will say, Cats is one of his most innovative shows, starting with the concept, the staging, story (which does exist-- showing different human personalities through cats, the Grizabella arch as a story of forgiveness and redemption...). It is one of those ALW shows that needed a couple of listening to grow on me, like, Whistle down the wind, for example.

If it gets revived, I'm sure it will have its audience again. As for Grizabella, it would be interesting to hear Elena Roger, the current Evita in London, to sing Memory.

[Princeton78]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 9:16am

"And please not Julia Murney in the role- she is far far too good for that."

But it's ok to paint her green and shoot her up to the procenium of several cross-country theatres on a cherry picker and allow her to wail at the top of her lungs much to the screaming delight of 34,567 teenage girls?

Updated On: 9/16/06 at 09:16 AM

[Marguerite Chauvelin]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 12:34pm

My avatar can play Grizabella, though it may be hard to make out the lyrics to Memory.

[tagiunagi]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 12:40pm

morosco -- "But then again, I never were good in english class."

LMAO!!!

[ChrisLovesShows]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 12:45pm

Good grief, how did I recall Christian Slater for James Van Der Beek?? It was funny though. The actors that had been cats a long time were "dying inside."

[ashley0139]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 12:47pm

But it's ok to paint her green and shoot her up to the procenium of several cross-country theatres on a cherry picker and allow her to wail at the top of her lungs much to the screaming delight of 34,567 teenage girls?

Hey- I never said that either. But that is a very difficult role, and she did get some great exposure from it. And the screaming girls scream because she is green and flying, not because she is Julia Murney. And while it's not at the top of my list, I do think Wicked is a better show than Cats...

Updated On: 9/16/06 at 12:47 PM

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 12:49pm

How a bout a combination of Cats & Lestat? This way you get Cats that live forever

[Princeton78]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 1:17pm

Seriously, i'd love to hear Marin Mazzie, Barbara Walsh, Donna Murphy, or CAROLEE CARMELLO belt out "Memory." I'm also sure Julia Murney would pack a wallop singing it too.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 5:24pm

I'm sorry about the grammar thing but I have to say this:

Yes, the show involves the plural, but it's a title of one show which is singular...

Ashley, we must refer to PDDT lol.