It's the Longest Running Musical for a Reason!!
Written: Oct 16 '00 (Updated Oct 17 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Satisfies on a variety of levels: dance, music, story, sets, movement
Cons: lyrics and songs are hard to understand and appreciate
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| Nicola_Rio's Full Review: Cats |
CATS: seems you either love it or hate it, but c'mon, you have to give the play some credit, after all, its been around the longest for good reason!!
Let's break it down. Basically, the musical is about a bunch of feline acrobats who seem to sing and dance exceptionally well (and at the same time too!). In the reviews I've read, most complain about the lack of plot. I beg to disagree though!! CATS has quite a complex plot, if one listens closely enough to the lyrics that is. And unfortunately, this is quite hard to do as the sets, movement and constant action distract us from deciphering the songs' lyrics!!! Even after watching the play twice (live) and once (on television), plus purchasing the soundtrack and listening to it over and over and over, the lyrics still remain quite beyond my reach. When the audience watches the musical, more often than not they tend to figure out the story from the actions on stage. Old Deuteronomy being kidnapped, and a sad song following with the words "old dueteronomy" peperred thoughout, is probably a song about the sadness of his disappearance! Simple enough!!!
But honestly, CATS isn't given enough credit mostly because the audience simply cannot digest all of the songs and lyrics. It's a highly dynamic and visual musical that we tend to completely disregard the VERY thing musicals are acclaimed for....the music!!!
BEST THINGS ABOUT THIS MUSICAL
1. First of all, its a family experience. Anyone and everyone can watch this. Whether you understand it fully as an adult, or only partially as a child (or a slow adult), it's easy to appreciate since it satisfies on a variety of levels: music, dance, story, sets, action, movement, interaction, etcetera. Whereas something like Les Miserables is usually only appreciated by an older crowd who enjoy music alone, CATS has been favored by children, dancers, music lovers and anyone in general.
2. There is dynamism and action all throughout. I think this is what makes CATS stand out from other musicals (despite the fact that the entire cast is of the feline species that is). From beginning to end, the cats dazzle you with dancing, acrobatics, and action from all over the colorful stage.
3. Costumes, sets and colors are dazzling. To highlight all the dynamism is of course, the glitz and color of the costumes and sets. When the play starts, from the back of the theatre, the cats walk down along the aisles (so get an aisle seat if you can!!) chanting their first song and stopping eery now and then to gaze straight at you with those mezmerizing feline eyes. Its rather bewitching, and the makeup is wonderful when you see it up close. Each cat has a different style, color and texture, and combined together on the stage makes quite a kaleidescope of colors. The sets are interesting and creative as well, being set at a dumpsite in an abandoned alley. Several different items are displayed, all larger than life to make the cats appear small. In the Irish production of CATS, a huge BRA is hung across the stage. You'll find that each set is different if you view it more than once, and the cats tumble in and out, on top of and around all these sets. It's quite amazing.
NOT-SO-GREAT THINGS ABOUT CATS
1. Lyrics are tough to decipher.Because of this, the plot isn't really understood and appreciated, and the songs about obscure characters like "Rum Tum Tugger" and "Old Deuteronomy" are tough to figure out. The characters are quite diverse, and most of the plot is centered around them, and it makes it even tougher that their names are odd (like Rumble Jerry and Rumple Teaser?? or something like that). Often after the show, we tend to compare characters but we have NO idea what there names are. Therefore the cats tend to be referred to as "the white fluffy one" or ' the black stripey one that kept girating his hips". At the end of it all, the plot is basically about Grizabella, originally an outcast, who now becomes accepted by the other CATS. Little do most know that the other characters have just as colorful stories (yet unfortunately don't have a song like Memory to make us notice).
2. Besides MEMORY, the songs aren't anything exceptional. Ok, we all know and have known MEMORY even before we've heard of CATS. Even the young generation has heard of this song, and its probably the only melodic, beautiful and moving song in the soundtrack. I enjoy MACAVITE and JELLICLE CATS, but its not something that makes your hair stand, or gives you goosebumps, and they are not the most memorable of songs. Basically, you won't watch this play for the songs!!
LAST WORDS
I know most people out there are bored and sick of CATS being around for so long, and there are many elements in the musical that are underappreciated because its tough to understand CATS. So give it a chance, and take the time out to figure out the words of the songs. You'll enjoy it more, I guarantee!!!!
The best way to summarize the greatest strength of the musical is to say that its success draws from being a complete package; its an eclectic mix of song, dance, dynamism, action, glitz and characters. And most interesting of all, its about cats, not people.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Nicola_Rio
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Member: Nicola Rio
Location: all over the place
Reviews written: 23
Trusted by: 5 members
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