Musical - Cats

Well, this is exciting that it makes my 5th visit to see this musical, the third one in London.  I heard last year that Andrew Lloyd Weber and the original team were putting it back on in the West End for a 12 week run at the London Palladium.  It was at the time the longest West End Musical when it closed on it's 21st Birthday in 2002 at the New London theatre.   It had done a few UK tours since then (a couple of which I had seen) but this was it's first time back in London. I was slightly disappointed that Nicole Scherzinger was cast as Grizabella, not because I thought she wouldn't be good, but because I thought she would over shadow the production.  Not long after it opened in December, the run was extended with Kerry Ellis taking over Grizabella so I decided to go see it after the change.  In fact I went to see it the day before it closed (Friday 24th April 2015) when someone else was doing it for the last two nights!  And she was magnificent... "TOUCH ME!"

It ended up being a sisters outing when they both said they would come up me  which was kind.  We were up in the balcony which involved a funny dash up to the top as they were saying 1 minute till starting when we arrived and got our tickets!  The set looked as impressive as ever and I liked the way it reached up to the circle to allow the cats to interact there.

I had heard there were some updates for this production.  I was pleased that the costumes and make up and choreography seemed the same as they are what make it I think.  I'd heard there was a rap, which turned up in Rum Tum Tugger which was slightly disappointing as I had so enjoyed his Elvis-ness the last time I'd seen it.  But the rapping and rude boy ness wasn't terrible.  I didn't notice any other changes so I'm interested to do some research to see what else I can find out.  I had hoped the Pekes and the Pollicles or Growltiger's Last Stand would be improved but they weren't great.  It was interesting that for a show I like so much it can have such low bits (those two the lowest, addressing and naming of cats, the others) and yet I can like the show so.  My favourites this time were still Jellicle Ball/Jellicle Cats, Mr Mistofellees, Skimbleshanks, with Jellicle Ball probs being the top this time; the music really filled the auditorium and there poss seemed some extra guitar?

The big news was that with sisters encouragement I was finally brave enough to go meet Old Deuteronomy  on stage at the interval.  I think it's amazing that he sits there for the whole interval.  An interesting quirk of the show.  I was too scared to do so when I was 5.  Admittedly it wasn't a life affirming experience; he seemed quite bored by the whole thing!  Reading in the programme, he had been Old Deut (as he signed himself) before it closed originally and all the UK tours so he must have done a lot of stage sitting!  Interestingly a lot of the cast had done the last UK tour which is the one I'd seen so I must have seen a lot of them.

They had some cool stuff in the front of house which we got to see on our epic trip down to the stage.  Catselfies on the way out after!

I wrote quite a few extra things after I started googling and reading things on the web, but somehow those bits didn't save.  I can't remember all of them, but I did spend a long time on the cats wiki and here is the information they give on the updated production...

The most prominent alteration is the re-branding of the Rum Tum Tugger into an urban street cat, replacing his solo in the self-titled song with a rap number.  Growltiger's Last Stand has been changed to a much darker, soft shoe shuffle number and the lover's duet cut entirely. The Gumbie Cat's dance break has been replaced by a longer and more technical tap number, as well as new music.
For the first time in a British production of Cats, Pouncival and Carbucketty are both ensemble, however the kitten named Pouncival resembles chorus cat George. As an easter egg for fans, the swings appear in the press photos dressed as characters who do not appear in this production - including Babygriz, Electra, and Pouncival.
The most obvious costume alterations have been made by the Rum Tum Tugger and Grizabella. Grizabella's costume has been subtly altered to resemble something Nicole Scherzinger would wear in her solo career - a corset and lace-up stockings worn under a fur coat which has been made lighter and more stream-lined. Rum Tum Tugger now wears a backwards ball cap, his hair in dreds, a vest top and harem pants with lots of gold necklaces. Growltiger and his Raffish crew have also had new costumes, now in shades of dark charcoal. There have also been tweaks to the designs across the ensemble, with less blocky, primary colours having been used. This is most apparent in Bombalurina and Jemima's costumes.

Back to me.  One thing I remember I wrote about was the floating tyre.  When Grizabella went up to the Heaviside Layer, she and Old Deut were on the giant tyre.  It was really impressive how high it went seemingly magically and reminded me of Chitty at the same theatre.