Cats

Fantastic! The best musical and the best show of all times makes a magnificent film. It has advantage of showing everything in details and details are grand. Scenery, costumes and make-up are perfect. Music is superb (especially Jellicle Ball and Macavity). The best thing about the movie is certainly the cast. Actors not only sing and dance splendidly but also imitate feline movements and manners amazingly well. And how do they act! I absolutely adore Michael Gruber as manly and handsome Munkustrap. Elaine Paige as Grizabella would leave nobody indifferent. Veerle Casteleyn with her wonderful eyes is the most touching Jemima, John Partridge is irresistibly attractive and funny Rum Tum Tagger, Phyllida Crawley-Smith is very graceful Victoria, Jacob Brent is charming Mistoffelees, Aeva May and Rosmary Ford make a beautiful pair of adult cats: reserved Demeter and sensuous Bombalurina. Sir John Mills is a little unexpected guest star, but he is perfect Gus the Theatre Cat ("the star of the highest degree"). Eliote's text is witty, and there are a lot of amusing scenes in the show. My favourite ones are The Gumbie Cat, Mangojerry and Rumpleteaser, Pekes and the Pollicles, Scimbleshanks the Railway Cat. Watching this film is an endless joy for my family and me.

The fact that this Great Performances special, "Cats," was filmed on a stage like a performance of the show, but not before a live audience, offers pluses and minuses. The closeups reveal the actors' facial expressions very clearly, which is a great plus, particularly in the case of Elaine Page's Grizabella. Also, the sound is clearer than in recordings of this show. However, the special is a little weak on conveying the excitment of being in a live theater. Nevertheless, on the whole it was a good show.

For all the theatrical appeal, visual appeal, and the long runs, "Cats" is not the greatest thing to have ever hit musical theater. It's long on the above mentioned theatrics and visuals, but way too short on plot and substance. But it is really not a bad show by any means. The songs (Poetry from a book of T.S. Elliot's set to Andrew Lloyd Webber's music) are catchy and engaging, performed by a very energetic cast. The dancing is good, too. And as for the casting, that is also well-done. I would have loved to see Betty Buckley recreate her Broadway role of Grizabella, but Paige, who played the role in London, is not bad at all; her expressions, as I said, are... well, very expressive, and her rendition of "Memory" is just as good and moving as Buckley's. Ken Page, the original Broadway Old Deutoronomy, is also good. Sir John Mills' cameo as Gus, the Theatre Cat, is exploitive but touching. (And you can see why they cut his character's "Growltiger's Last Stand:" he may not have been able to get through it, unfortunatly)

Having not seen this show on stage yet, I think this special is a pretty good substitute for it. Perhaps you will feel the same way.

Since I first saw the musical, "Cats", in 1987, I have always wanted to see it on video. I was thrilled when it finally arrived. I immediately bought it.

The video performance was terrific: better than I expected. Instead of seeing it from the viewpoint of being in the audience, cameras were actually on stage, moving throughout the performers! The sound is terrific, and it played on my audio system wonderfully.

Of course, there is a flaw in the video. To me, it is actually a glaring flaw: a major segment of the musical, my favorite sequence in fact, is missing. Maybe it was cut for time, but I was very disappointed. "Growltugger's Last Stand" is one of the more elaborately staged portions of "Cats". For it to be removed from this performance will certainly upset many of the true fans of "Cats".

I was prepared to score a 10 out of 10 for this show, but with the editing, I can only score it a 7. Andrew Lloyd Webber himself produced this video. He should have left that portion in.

George

firstly i admit that i'm an ALW fan. my first encounter of his work was with THE PHANTOM, after which i heard about CATS, then i bought the VCD at a sale...well it was wonderful, but one of my friends commented that the show was very commercialised, and i thought she got a point there.

i'm not saying that CATS is not art, in fact as one of the comment has said, it is 'art in every sense'. the costume and the make-up was vivid, and fusion of dancing and singing was simply too great (well i cannot possibly hit a high C if i dance like that^^). and many other little details were also carefully designed (i loved that pipe organ made from a rugby ball - brilliant idea^^). no plot - sure, but there wasn't meant to be one, after all. CATS is primarily a show for laughter and relaxation, so a lot of pop factors were added, and i think that's where makes me feel it's 'commercialised'. but if one really goes into the vague storyline he may discover something there... it all depends on the individual who watches it.

i have to mention a few actors here...(yeah everyone loves them, but i must talk about them^^) Michael Gruber is among the best Munkustrap i've seen, he's an excellent dancer and actor. John Patridge finally found his place as Rum Tum Tugger(he once played Munku...i cannot imagine that^^). Jacob Brent's the most suitable person for Misto so far, he's got an innocently 'sly' look...one other actor i've got to mention is Jason Gardiner who did an amazingly good job as Alonzo the proud and arrogant second-in-command...and in my opinion he dances better than Jacob in terms of power and stability (Jacob Brent is a very *sweet* and light-hearted dancer while Jason is a more forceful one).

well...i love CATS, and i confess that its melodies 'haunt' me and i watch it every week...you can call me a freak but i simply enjoy watching Michael Gruber's smile (he's got a very elegant, warm smile...i wonder why no one mentioned about it^^).

Veteran David Mallett, who directed many music videos for great artists such as Asia, Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones, Phil Collins, David Bowie, Queen, Blondie, U2, AC/DC, The Who, Rod Stewart, Peter Gabriel, Elton John, Tina Turner, Madonna, Erasure, Rush, Roxy Music, etc., is doing a great job here, directing Andrew Lloyd Weber's wonderful music. An extraordinary distribution, excellent choreography, superlative costumes and makeup, everything superb. One of John Mills' latest films.