Cats the musical is about to take Perth by storm

Originally published on Avenoir Magazine, in April 2016.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s record breaking musical, Cats, will be arriving in Perth this week.

Cats is one of the longest-running shows in West End and Broadway history, receiving its world premiere at the New London Theatre in 1981, where it played for 21 years and over 9000 performances.

Composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and produced by Cameron Mackintosh, Cats tells the tale of the Jellicles, a tribe of cats who live at the junkyard. The musical focuses on the night where they make what is known as “the Jellicle choice”, where they decide which cat will ascend to the “Heavenside Layer and come to a new life.”

This version of the musical is different than the previous performance in Perth because in 2014 the show was tweaked for its West End revival. Some of the changes include: updating the makeup, costumes and choreography, changing the tempo of certain songs, as well as revamping some characters to modernize them.

The tomcat character of Rum Tum Tugger has been reimagined as a street-wise millennial in “drop-crotch” leggings with mini dreads. He also raps instead of singing.

The role of Grizabella was previously an older feline who has been marginalised because of her past. Now the character is younger and more modern. This is shown in the show’s most famous song, Memory, which has been remade into a “pop” interpretation of itself.

Delia Hannah will be taking over the role of Grizabella from Delta Goodrem for the Perth and Adelaide shows. Whilst this doesn’t exactly influence my looking forward to the musical, I had heard good things about Delta’s portrayal and was interested to see it.

This will be the first time I will be seeing the musical Cats, I have heard a lot about it. Some people love it, others don’t understand it, and some downright loathe it. I am looking forward to finding out what emotions it evokes within me, and how I feel after witnessing what is deemed as a “ground-breaking production.”

Until about a month ago, my knowledge about the musical Cats was extremely limited. I never even knew that the musical was based on a collection of whimsical poems by T.S. Eliot titled Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. The book of poems focused on feline psychology and sociology.

The show has won multiple awards including the Olivier and Evening Standard Awards for Best Musical, and it’s even been the recipient of seven Tony awards. So the show certainly has quite the impressive résumé. We shall see how Perth audiences react to the updated musical.