In honor of the revival - CATS! Original Production Photographs

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 7/8/16 at 3:01am

Since it's returning to Broadway I thought it would be cool to shares some great shots of the original Broadway cast, featuring Betty Buckley, Ken Page, Terrence Mann and many others. I know the show's look is hardly an unfamiliar one but these amazing shots by Martha Swope really capture it well. I have my issues with the show as a whole but actually love the score a lot, and despite these issues the show's production design is always  fascinating to look at. 

[¿Macavity?]

Posted: 7/8/16 at 3:23am

Much appreciated!

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 7/8/16 at 4:00am

Glorious. Thanks, Mr. N

[10086sunset]

Posted: 7/8/16 at 5:57am

Wow, the photos are striking.  

Thanks for sharing these.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 7/8/16 at 9:30am

I used to have a paperback book with photographs from the original production of Cats (not to be confused with the souvenir brochure). I have no idea what I did with it, but the photographs were gorgeous.  I saw the original production and liked it.  I also saw the first national tour in Boston, and liked that production as well.  I look forward to seeing the current revival.

[castlestreet]

Posted: 7/8/16 at 10:05am

Great photos of the Original Broadway production...I remember reading the liner notes to Buckley's Concert at Carnegie Hall album about how many of the original cast members were lost to AIDS in the 1980's.  So many young, talented lives gone entirely too soon

[tazber]

Posted: 7/8/16 at 10:08am

I love this show too.

 

I can't wait to see the revival!!

 

thanks Mr Nowak

[rangersrule132]

Posted: 7/8/16 at 10:09am

These are beautiful, as someone who has loved the show forever it's great to see some nice shots from the original production before seeing the revival. Thanks so much!!

[sbflyfan]

Posted: 7/8/16 at 12:36pm

Is it just me, or did the faces of the original London cast look much more "human" than the original Broadway cast? 

Does anyone know if the makeup underwent a re-design for Broadway, or am I just confusing new designs on later tours with the original designs?





 

Updated On: 7/8/16 at 12:36 PM

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 7/8/16 at 12:48pm

Yes, the show opened in London with a far simpler hair / wig and make up design, which was changed later on to the now iconic design.

[rangersrule132]

Posted: 7/8/16 at 1:18pm

Looks like grizabella is gonna be flown this time around

[musicals1989]

Posted: 7/8/16 at 2:19pm

the tire still exists. fog and all. don't know where this flying happens, though. 

[rangersrule132]

Posted: 7/8/16 at 2:31pm

musicals1989 said: "the tire still exists. fog and all. don't know where this flying happens, though. 

 

"

Im assuming it would occur during her accend into the heaviside layer. Substituting it for that giant hand crane ladder thing 

Updated On: 7/8/16 at 02:31 PM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/8/16 at 2:33pm

I was hoping this time they really would put her on a tire and shoot her through the roof.

[rangersrule132]

Posted: 7/8/16 at 2:35pm

Jordan Catalano said: "I was hoping this time they really would put her on a tire and shoot her through the roof.

 

"

Im still unsure of why they did not put you on this creative team. It would just be like the glass elevator from Charlie and the chocolate factory

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/8/16 at 2:38pm

"Bye, Grizabella!!!"

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 7/8/16 at 3:13pm

No staircase? What a bunch of cheap bastards.

[Brian07663NJ]

Posted: 7/8/16 at 3:22pm

I'm on the "I love Cats" side of the fence. Always had fun memories (no pun intended) because I went many times with different members of my family. It was my first Broadway recording - on cassette tape too! Probably my favorite memory was the time I was about 18 and I took my great grandmother. We didn't tell anyone where we were going. My grandmother called my mother and said "Do you know where my mother is?" and my mother responded "Do you know where my son is?" No one had cell phones then so it wasn't as easy to be tracked down! Oh I miss those days! hahaha

No one would take my great grandmother - then a bit frail and probably close to 90 at the time. I don't recall the exact age but I could do some legwork to dig up the ticket stub which I am pretty sure I still have. 

When my great grandmother died...I finally revealed our secret to the family. I placed a Cats Playbill with her in the coffin. She loved the show and cherished that I went to all the trouble to get her into NYC and out without us getting in "trouble". hahhha

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/8/16 at 3:28pm

I saw the full OBC about two months after the show opened, then saw it again about 14 years later. The OBC was fantastic, but the show was in very good shape (after a big dip, so so I understand) when I revisited it.

I'm on the "love" side of the fence. A wonderful mood-piece of a show. And yes, I like cats in general, too.

 

EDIT: And these photos served as a reminder of just how special it was when it opened.

Updated On: 7/8/16 at 03:28 PM

[Roscoe]

Posted: 7/8/16 at 3:39pm

Somehow I got my hands on the original London cast album before it opened here and rather liked what I heard.  I saw it soon after it opened, all those years ago.  I remember not hating it but not loving it all that much -- it seemed to take itself rather more seriously than was really warranted, and I didn't always appreciate the changes made to the cats in Eliot's poems.  The show's version of Macavity, for instance -- I mean really.  And Ms. Buckley's Black & Decker drill-like screech rendition of "Memory" didn't help matters, especially in comparison with Elaine Page's.  I don't know, there's just no there there, somehow, for all the smoke and tires and leg warmers.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/8/16 at 4:15pm

 

My best friend, the late Reed Jones, as Skimbleshanks:



Reed loved playing Skimble--but he hated being upstaged by that damn train!

 

Here he is, applying the Skimble makeup.



 

 

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 7/8/16 at 4:22pm

Remember the commercials?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g9EVBBgXeo

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 7/9/16 at 12:39am

Wonderful memories : ) it must have been something to see it before it hit phenomenon status, with all those wonderful performers.

Here is the only photo available of the aforementioned train:

Updated On: 7/9/16 at 12:39 AM

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 7/9/16 at 1:33pm

It's interesting to read the original New York Times review. I think he described the show's success perfectly.

"It's a musical that transports the audience into a complete fantasy world that could only exist in the theater and yet, these days, only rarely does. Whatever the other failings and excesses, even banalities, of ''Cats,'' it believes in purely theatrical magic, and on that faith it unquestionably delivers."

http://www.nytimes.com/1982/10/08/theater/theater-lloyd-webber-s-cats.html?pagewanted=all

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 7/9/16 at 3:01pm

Did a blog post about my love for Cats and how I'm excited to see the revival. I'm wondering if "Pekes and Pollicles" and/or "Growltiger" will be in this production.