Cats @ Capitol Theatre, Sydney – 21 November 2015

Years before I saw my first rock concert, I got my first taste of live music at the theatre with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s smash hit musical Cats. Decades later I was thrilled to experience it all again.
Although I must admit I had my reservations. Or my reservation: Delta Goodrem. I’m such a fan of the Australian singer, and I think she’s a wonderful singer. But on paper she seemed woefully miscast as the aging, once beautiful cat Grizabella.

I forgot about those misgivings as the orchestra and colorful lights filled the theatre. As the cats leapt about the stage in the opening number, I was taken back to my youth. However, sadly my wonder with the musical didn’t last too long.

We all have a favourite cat, and for me it’s Rum Tum Tugger. However, where in the 80s he was a super cool rockstar of a cat, in the new production he’s a braided rapping thug wearing gold chains and bad pants. Rather than oozing the charisma I associated with the character, he seemed like he was trying hard to impress. I guess the creators of the new production tried to update things for a modern audience, but they missed the mark completely for me and my family.

While I’m griping, I didn’t feel there was the same attention to detail as there was in the earlier production. Back then, I felt the characters really were catlike in their movements and expressions. However, in the new production it was all too easy to remember these actors were simply posing as cats. I’d assume my advanced years were to blame for this perception – everything is more wondrous through the eyes of a child after all – but my mum felt the same way.

Despite my misgivings, Delta was one of the real highlights of our afternoon at Cats. I expected her to sing well, but I didn’t expect her performance to resonate with me on such an emotional level. I was choked up by her performance of “Memory,” and a few members of my family actually shed a few tears. For a person making their theatrical debut to move an audience so well is to be commended.

Gus the Theatre Cat also moved me, and Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat was so much fun. Mr Mistoffelees, another childhood favourite, had even more magic than he did back in the 80s. The special effects really took this part of the show to the next level, and his dancing rose to match it. But again, I really could have done without Rum Tum Tugger rapping over the song towards the end.

Perhaps it’s unfair to compare a modern production with one I saw back in the 80s, when everything about the theatre was so new and wondrous to me. However, those comparisons are unavoidable. I didn’t love this new version of Cats as I did the one I saw all the years ago, but I was moved by it and I left the theatre with a big smile on my face. That got even wider when I heard my seven-year-old niece talk so excitedly about it, her first theatre production. Really, you can’t ask for more than that.

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