Cats the Musical, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s most iconic show in an impressive armoury of musical theatre hits, is currently ‘purrrrrforming’ at Crown Theatre until 8 May.
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Up until 2006, when Phantom of the Opera stripped the show of its stripes, Cats held the title of the longest running show in London’s West End (21 years) and on Broadway (18 years). Winning a sack full of Olivier and Tony Awards, it’s nine lives are far from over.
This hit revival of the show written by Webber back in 1978 and based on T.S.Eliot’s poetry collection, Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, has been reworked by the original creative team some 30 years on, and after a successful season on the West End is now wowing Australia, both gaining a new generation of fans and delighting those who are returning a second or third time.
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The immaculate choreography by Gillian Lynne and costumes and set design by John Napier, transcend theatre goers into the world of the Jellicle cats as they attend the Jellicle Ball. The felines frolic among a junk yard where they will announce before dawn, which cat will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and reincarnate into a new life.
Each character is as different in look and personality as the neighbourhood cats we meet everyday. Under the direction of Trevor Nunn and the artfully imagined dance routines of Lynne, they have captured the mannerisms and quirks of cats so perfectly, that after the show, you might be looking at your domesticated pussy in a whole new light.
Without exception, the outstanding feature of this musical is the cat-like acrobatics, as these triple threat actors dazzle, flying through the air with weightless agility and singing up storm while they’re at it. There is no question about it, these performers are the athletes of their craft.
You will fall in love with characters like, Jennyanydots, Rum Tum Tugger, Mungojerry and Rumpleteaser as their playful antics prove precisely what we have always known; cats are full of attitude under that furry facade.
Playing the iconic ‘has-been’ glamour cat is stage veteran, Delia Hannah. Hannah has a long history with the show stretching back to its first performance in 1981. She delivers her version of Memory, the most recognisable song in the score, with heartfelt empathy, an ode to the notion that beauty is fleeting.
This is a fun show that will appeal to adults, kids and cat lovers alike, so get along to Crown Theatre before 8 May and you too can see why the critics call it the cats whiskers!
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