Posted: 10 April 2009 2303 hrs
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Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats returns to Singapore for the third time. | ||||||||||
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SINGAPORE : Who would have thought that a musical based on a collection of children's poems which are just about cats would be a phenomenal success for the past 28 years!
“CATS”, featuring award-winning music composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, has become one of the world's best-known and best-loved musicals since it first opened on West End in 1981.
And its popularity is still growing. This brilliant song and dance spectacular has travelled the world over and is back in Singapore for the third time.
But don’t give "CATS" a miss just because you’ve seen it before. The long-running musical has been constantly kept alive and fresh with new cast members, in fact, you can expect a different show every night.
Director of the original West End production, Trevor Nunn, always believed in not teaching new cast members the show so they will bring spontaneity to it.
“Trevor Nunn always used to say to me, ‘don’t teach the show,’” said Resident Director Jo-Anne Robinson. “It’s the cast that bring the vitality and the spontaneity to it (the musical), so each time you get new cast members, they bring something new to it. They have to create their characters by themselves.
“You look at these kids - they are 16, 17 years old - and their skills of doing tricks, they are so game to do anything. And the physicality of the cat actually gives them licence to do this so you won’t see the same format every single night.”
Adding to the spontaneity of the show is The Rum Tum Tugger, a fickle, free-spirited character played by John O'Hara.
“There’s moments of improvisation within the structure of the show. There’s a lot of audience interaction from Tugger. He’s quite the rock star and the celebrity so he gets amongst everyone and stirs it all up to make everyone have a good time,“ said O'Hara.
“We might go down into the audience, we might not, it just depends on the vibe of the room that night.”
While they expect a response from the audience, nothing’s for sure during a live show.
“But that’s what makes the show exciting is that we do have to be quick on our feet, and that’s what theatre exciting,” said O'Hara.
Apart from the cast, cast member Delia Hannah feels that message of the show is also what keeps this 28-year-old musical evergreen.
Hannah who plays Grizabella, the “Glamour Cat” which has been through a terrible time and ends up “in the gutter”, said “It’s about not judging how someone looks on the outside , you need to look inside a person and value their life, the experiences they’ve had to bring them to this point of their life.
- CNA/il
☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
THE STORY
Cats is based on a series of poems by T.S. Eliot. The magnificent stage set is a rubbish dump, three times larger that life, where the Jellicle Cats have come out to play.
It is the night of the annual Jellicle Ball when their leader, Old Deuteronomy, will announce the name of the cat that will be reborn to a new life in the Heavyside Layer.
The announcement will be made just before dawn. While they wait, the cats amuse themselves (and us!) with stories of famous cats of the past and present.
Dawn comes, and Old Deuteronomy gathers the cats together for his announcement of the name of the cat to be reborn.
"CATS tells the imaginative tale of a tribe of Jellicle Cats and their life stories as they reunite in celebration of who they are at the annual Jellicle Ball. At this annual celebration, the leader of the tribe chooses one of the Jellicle Cats to journey to the Heavyside Layer to be “reborn” into a new life. While they wait, the Cats amuse themselves (and us!) with stories of famous Cats of the past and present. They emerge singing of their unique abilities and special traits."
Grizabella
The Glamour Cat reminds me of Norma Desmond from Sunset Boulevard Interestingly, Betty Buckley has played both roles! She's an aging former beauty, a passionate cat who has lived an adventurous, dramatic life. She's moody, sensitive and still vain about what's left of her looks... her claws are long and painted red and she wears a sexy black dress underneath her ragged coat. But she has become introspective with age and experience and she finally wins the other Jellicles over by sharing the wisdom she's gleaned from her memories. As Old Deuteronomy might say, she has had the experience and has not missed the meaning. She is selected to ascend to the Heaviside Layer to be reborn.
Rum Tum Tugger
This curious cat is sexy, full of fun and full of himself. He looooves to be the center of attention. He flirts with many of the females... Bombalurina in particular... and he's sexual catnip to the female kittens... sort of a cross between Mick Jagger & the Fonz. He's rather arrogant and sometimes sets himself apart from and above the rest of the tribe but he also has tremendous respect Old Dueternonomy and his authority. He's also a huge admirer of the magical Mr. Mistoffelees. The guy knows talent!
Adding to the spontaneity of the show is The Rum Tum Tugger, a fickle, free-spirited character played by Australian John O'Hara.
“There’s moments of improvisation within the structure of the show. There’s a lot of audience interaction from Tugger. He’s quite the rock star and the celebrity so he gets amongst everyone and stirs it all up to make everyone have a good time,“ said O'Hara.
Munkustrap
A natural leader, intelligent, responsible and rather serious. Munkustrap is second in command (after Old Deuteronomy), respected by his fellow Jellicles and always ready to help and defend the tribe. He acts as master of ceremonies in the show and is pretty much "in charge" of the junkyard... as much as anyone can be in charge of a bunch of cats
just finished watching this classic musical today...
with just knowledge of the song Memories, and some snippets of the televised stage show on Arts Central... I went into the show, not really knowing what to expect...
and i thought it was a very interesting way to develop a story...
it has no clear story plot, but combines various short snippets of little stories about each Jellicle cat...
it is after all adapted from a collection of short poems.... so the scattered structure still stays....
Crowd faves include Rum Tum Tugger (Australian John O' Hara), Munkustrap, and Grizabella (New Zealander Delia Hannah).
i thought it was quite a different experience from traditional musicals like Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables.... and i found it quite entertaining...
but sadly to say.... my experience was kinda tainted by the loads of secondary school students in my seating area during the matinee (though quite far from me), and they were rowdy, noisy, and unappreciative of the musical...
in fact my friend overheard some people mentioning in the restroom that the teachers shouldn't bring the students to watch something like this as they won't be able to understand or appreciate the show...
and indeed...
they CAN'T...
AT ALL...
we overheard a group of students discussing after the show about how boring it was, with no clear plot, they dunno what the aim of the show is, and what message it is trying to tell...
how sad indeed, while parents lug along young kids (like 6 years olds... or even younger.... cos one family sat beside me, and the little girl was like 6 or younger and she enjoyed it, singing along to the songs...) to watch the show, and kids dun complain about not understanding a thing... but the teens come out of the show grumbling about boredom and incomprehension....
this makes me wonder how we're gonna be a gracious and cultured society in future, when our teens are like this....
☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
专属天使の悪戯なKiss m(~_~)m
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