Cats (musical)
Cats started the megamusical phenomenon, establishing a global market for musical theatre and directing the industry's focus to big-budget blockbusters, as well as family- and tourist-friendly shows.[9][14] Nunn initially envisioned Practical Cats as a chamber piece for five actors and two pianos, which he felt would reflect "Eliot's charming, slightly offbeat, mildly satiric view of late-1930s London".[16] Nunn wrote about the significance "Grizabella the Glamour Cat" had on the construction of the narrative: Here in eight lines Eliot was describing an intensely recognizable character with powerful human resonances, while introducing the themes of mortality, and the past, which occur repeatedly in the major poems.Nunn expanded on these concepts by conceiving the Jellicle Ball as an annual ritual in which the cats vie to be chosen to ascend to the Heaviside Layer, thus giving the characters a reason to gather and sing about themselves in the musical.At this moment, Munkustrap, the show's main narrator, explains that tonight the Jellicle patriarch Old Deuteronomy will make an appearance and choose one of the cats to be reborn into a new life on the Heaviside Layer.[16] When the show was brought to Broadway, the Winter Garden Theatre was given a similar $2 million makeover;[86] its proscenium stage was converted into a thrust, and a part of its roof was torn through to allow for the effects of Grizabella's ascension to the Heaviside Layer.[91] The costumes generally consist of a unitard, a wig that is fashioned to suggest the presence of feline ears, patches resembling body fur, and arm and leg warmers to give the performers' hands and feet a more paw-like appearance.[110] The show, directed by Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch and choreographed by Arturo Lyons and Omari Wiles, was a radical reimagining of the musical taking inspiration from ballroom culture.André De Shields starred as Old Deuteronomy,[111] with other cast members including Jonathan Burke as Mungojerrie, Sydney James Harcourt as Rum Tum Tugger, Antwayn Hopper as Macavity, Junior LaBeija (the emcee featured in the Ballroom documentary Paris is Burning) as Gus, "Tempress" Chasity Moore as Grizabella and Nora Schell as Bustopher Jones.[113][114] Cats National II, a separate sit-down production at the Los Angeles Shubert Theatre, ran from January 1985 to November 1986, and starred Kim Criswell and George de la Peña in the roles of Grizabella and Mistoffelees respectively.[125][126] In January 2019, a new North American Equity tour based on the 2016 Broadway revival opened at the Providence Performing Arts Center in Rhode Island, and was originally scheduled to run through June 2020.[129] The musical first played in Mexico from April 1991 to November 1992;[121] the Spanish-language production performed over 400 shows and starred María del Sol as Grizabella,[130] Manuel Landeta as Munkustrap,[131] Susana Zabaleta as Jellylorum, Maru Dueñas as Sillabub and Ariel López Padilla as Macavity.[121] A second national tour launched in June 1993 at the Bristol Hippodrome,[143] featuring Rosemarie Ford as Grizabella, Robin Cousins as Munkustrap, Simon Rice as Mistoffelees and Tony Monopoly as Old Deuteronomy.[180] Influenced by the show's success in Vienna, a German production by Stella Entertainment premiered in April 1986 at the newly renovated Operettenhaus in Hamburg[173][181] using a new translation by Sabine Grohmann, John Baer, and Marc Henning.[119][195] Jorma Uotinen directed and choreographed a Finnish production at the Helsinki City Theatre that ran for over two years from September 1986 to December 1988, and featured Monica Aspelund as Grizabella, Heikki Kinnunen as Gus, and Kristiina Elstelä as Jennyanydots/Griddlebone.[200] The show was also produced in Zürich at the ABB Musical Theatre from 1991 to 1993,[201] while a production by Joop van den Ende and the Royal Ballet of Flanders was staged at the Stadsschouwburg Antwerpen in Belgium in 1996.[154] Most recently, a UK production played in numerous European cities from 2016 to 2019, with tour stops in Switzerland, Croatia, Belgium, Poland, Bulgaria, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Netherlands, and Luxembourg.The original cast included Debra Byrne as Grizabella, John Wood as Old Deuteronomy, Marina Prior as Jellylorum, Jeff Phillips as Rum Tum Tugger, David Atkins as Mistoffelees, and Anita Louise Combe as Sillabub.[233] The Melbourne run played from October 1987 to December 1988, with an opening night cast that included Megan Williams as Grizabella, Wood as Old Deuteronomy, Phillips as Rum Tum Tugger, Linda Hartley-Clark as Demeter, Femi Taylor as Bombalurina, Rachael Beck as Rumpleteazer and Seán Martin Hingston as Plato/Macavity.The region has hosted numerous English-language productions of the musical, beginning with a tour from 1993 to 1994 when it played in Singapore (with local actress Jacintha Abisheganaden as Grizabella),[250] Hong Kong and South Korea.[251] Cats returned to Asia from 2002 to 2004, when an international touring company performed in Malaysia,[252] South Korea,[253] Shanghai,[254] Taipei and Beijing;[255][256][257] the 2004 cast included Slindile Nodangala in the role of Grizabella.[264] Two years later, another Asian tour was launched and is scheduled to run through 2020, with visits to South Korea from 2017 to 2018,[265] Hong Kong[266] and Taiwan in 2018,[267] China in 2018 (with Joanna Ampil as Grizabella) and 2019,[268] and planned stops in the Philippines and Singapore in 2019, and Malaysia in 2020.[282] A full-length production of Cats has been performed regularly for guests aboard Royal Caribbean International's cruise ship Oasis of the Seas,[283] starting in autumn 2014, with a cast rotating every nine months.The film starred James Corden as Bustopher Jones, Judi Dench as Old Deuteronomy, Jason Derulo as Rum Tum Tugger, Idris Elba as Macavity, Jennifer Hudson as Grizabella, Ian McKellen as Gus, Taylor Swift as Bombalurina, Rebel Wilson as Jennyanydots and Francesca Hayward as Victoria.He was also very impressed by Lloyd Webber's fitting compositions, Napier's environmental set, Lynne's effective and at times brilliant choreography, and Nunn's "dazzling staging" that makes use of the entire auditorium.Rich found many of Lloyd Webber's songs to be "cleverly and appropriately" pastiche, but panned Lynne's choreography and felt that the musical failed in its vague attempt to tell a story."[309] Edwin Wilson of The Wall Street Journal described Cats as an "anomaly", writing that "[t]he world it creates is refreshingly novel [...] and Mr. Webber has composed a score of eminently hummable tunes," but noting there was a disconnect between the immense scale of the production and the simplicity of Eliot's lyrics.[326] Siropoulos explained: Cats is considered the quintessential megamusical, because it reconceived, like no other show before, theatrical space as an immense affective encompasser, that transforms the viewing experience into a hypercharged thrill-ride and the spectator into an explorer of new and challenging aural and visual sensations.[335]In the 1980s, the success of local productions of Cats in Tokyo,[162] Sydney,[336] Vienna, Hamburg,[173] and Toronto were turning points that established these cities (and their respective countries) as major commercial markets in the global theatrical circuit.Starring Gerard McCarthy as Dave and with choreography by Arlene Phillips, the musical premiered at the 2014 Edinburgh Fringe Festival;[352] it performed at various regional venues before making its West End debut at the Ambassadors Theatre in April 2017.
Andrew Lloyd WebberOld Possum's Book of Practical CatsT. S. EliotNew London TheatreLondonEnglandBroadwayLaurence Olivier Award for Best New MusicalTony Award for Best MusicalTony Award for Best Book of a MusicalTony Award for Best Original Scoresung-throughmusicalJelliclesfifth-longest-running Broadway showeighth-longest-running West End showsong cycleCameron MackintoshTrevor NunnGillian LynneWest EndWinter Garden TheatreLaurence OlivierTony AwardsOperettenhausHamburgmegamusicalblockbustersdirect-to-video filmfeature filmMusicologistsPaul Lairdconcept musicallight poetryThe Dry SalvagesRichard StilgoeMemoryTell Me on a SundaySydmonton FestivalGemma CravenGary BondPaul Nicholasliterary executorValerieReally Useful GroupBrian Brollyovertureanalog synthesizerssoundscapeRoyal Shakespeare CompanyJohn Napierchamber piecethrough lineJudi Denchdual rolesGrizabellaJennyanydotsRoyal BalletWayne SleepMr. MistoffeleesRum Tum TuggerSarah BrightmanI Lost My Heart to a Starship TrooperpupilspreviewsChiswick11 o'clock numberTim Riceimprovisationsnapped her Achilles tendonHarry RabinowitzElaine Paigeunderwrotemortgagedown paymentcapitalrate of returnJellicle catsfourth wallThe Naming of CatsballetVictoriaMunkustrapOld DeuteronomyBustopher Jonesgentlemen's clubsMungojerrie and RumpleteazerThe Awefull Battle of the Pekes and the PolliclesRumpus CatMacavityJemimaJellylorumGrowltigerwalking the plankSkimbleshanksGallowgateDemeterBombalurinaflying saucertenor saxophonesoprano saxophoneB♭ clarinetbaritone saxophonecor anglaistrumpetpiccolo trumpetflugelhornensemble showsupporting castfine diningJemima/Sillabubfouettés en tournantMungojerrieRumpleteazermail trainspas de deuxpointedtortoiseshell kittentabby kittenGrowltiger's Last Standplay within the musicalKenneth ArdStephen TateBrian BlessedDonna KingGiuseppe Bausilio