Cats! at The Paramount Theatre

Nostalgic! When I was in school we had a music teacher who got us to sing song from Cats... So a I knew a lot of the words of the songs :) How do we remember things from so many many years ago!

-----------

The tremendously popular and critically acclaimed Cats premiered in 1981 in London and has been delighting audiences ever since, winning numerous awards, including the Laurence Olivier Award and the Tony Award for Best Musical. For those unfamiliar, the musical was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and is based on T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. It is about a tribe of Cats who gather once a year at the Jellicle Ball, at which their elderly leader, Deuteronomy, chooses a member of the tribe to be reincarnated. The musical showcases feline characters who, not surprisingly, represent archetypes of human characters. Their stories are told through the poetry of T.S. Eliot, and relationships are presented through choreography.

The first audience grabbing song was The Rum Tum Tugger, delivered flamboyantly by Adam Steiner as, of course, The Tugger (he’s a curious cat). Ryan William Bailey as Bustopher the fat cat added comic relief and an operatic element. Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer, the pranksters, played by Jonathan Burke and Eva Kozmowski, entertained with their synchronized dancing, sexy costumes, and silly antics. The Jellicle Ball, performed by the ensemble, highlighted the effectiveness of the lighting and fog effects to set the dreamy mood. Act I ends with the show-stopping “Memory,” the shunned Grizabella’s (Anastasia Lange) lament, remembering the time before she left the tribe.
In Act II the energy level soared as the cast pulled out both the stops and the props in numbers such as “Growltiger’s Last Stand,” featuring colorful costumes, glitter- adorned Siamese cats, and the comically operatic singing of Ryan William Bailey as Growltiger and Lindsay O’Neil as Griddlebone. The sultry and sexy Demeter (Jennifer Knox) and Bombalurina (Cara Cooley) introduced us to Macavity the Mystery Cat. Jonathan Mercer as Mr. Mistophelees stunned with his dancing (how many spins can one man do?) and again we were treated to Steiner’s energetic vocals. The show-stopper was, once again, Lange’s rendition of “Memory.” Lange explicitly held back the emotion until the line “touch me . . . it’s so easy to leave me . . .” when her voice and emotions crescendoed to the point that brought some audience members to tears. This was what we had come to see and hear. Steiner and Lange received the most applause at the end of the show, and it was deserved.

Cats is a show that deserves its acclaim. It combines elements of ballet, opera, jazz, burlesque, and traditional Broadway showtunes and dance numbers: there is something for everyone. This show is not so much about the story as it is about taking a journey to a mysterious, magical place that we want to visit again and again.