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CatsDateline: 20th November, 1998 The launch of the new Cats Video site is another milestone in the history of this amazing musical. I call it amazing because it is, quite probably, the most popular musical of all time. It is the longest running musical in the West End, and the longest running on Broadway. There are so many productions playing in so many countries around the world that you could almost say that it is playing constantly throughout the day. (I have no figures to back up that last remark, by the way. You may call it a bit of journalistic licence or a reasonable extrapolation from known facts!) Cats, perhaps more than any other musical, polarises those who go to see it. I have never met anyone who thought Cats was "OK" or "alright". I have met quite a number who thought is was "brilliant" or "wonderful" or "superb", and as many who thought it was "awful" or "boring" or "a waste of time". Webber-phobia Of course, there is an element of Andrew-LLoyd-Webbery about this. You know what I mean: ALW is either a brilliant composer or a plagiarising hack, Britain's greatest music theatre composer or a one-tune wonder. His own personality, of course, has contributed to this. His avowed intention to be the the first British music theatre billionaire and his threat to leave the country if Labour won the last election (whatever happened to that, I wonder?) gained him few friends, and even many of those who enjoy and appreciate his work (and I count myself among that number, at least for some of his shows) have to divorce the man from his work or they would be rejecting the latter because of the former. But back to Cats. It is tempting to say that any show which has run for so long in the West End and on Broadway must be good, but that, of course, isn't true, otherwise we would be considering The Mousetrap a masterwork of British theatre! But it is a very, very popular show. Why? For a start, the lyrics are good. After all, T.S. Eliot has a pretty good reputation for his poetry! The choreography is excellent and the production values are of a very high standard - one would expect no less of Trevor Nunn. But these factors are not, in fact, enough to ensure success. Eliot wrote quite a number of plays of his own and, although both Murder in the Cathedral and The Cocktail Party have their places in the canon of English Literature, that is where they belong - literature rather than theatre. Both are better viewed as words on the page than as plays on the stage. Gillian Lynne has done other work but none anywhere near as successful as Cats, and Trevor Nunn has had a long and distinguished career in theatre, but he, too, has had his less than successful moments. What is it about this show that has such an appeal? Interestingly enough, from my observation Cats attracts more non-theatregoers than any other show I know. Amongst my non-theatrical acquaintance, more have seen Cats than any other musical. This phenomenon has been noted in the US too. The Daily Iowan, a newspaper at the University of Iowa, looked at it in their issue of 5th February this year. They come up with a number of ideas:
In my humble opinion.... My personal opinion is that the fact that it is a dance show has a lot to do with its success. Girls who have been to dance lessons - and they are many! - find it attractive because it reminds them of what they did but does not make the demands that a piece from, for instance, the Rambert Dance Company does. And of course success breeds success: the more people go to see the show, the more the box office records are broken, and that engenders more interest, so more people feel they ought to see it. So far, of course, I might be seen as hedging my bets, not committing myself one way or the other, so perhaps I should say what I think. I've only seen it once, but that was certinly enough for me to form a very strong opinion. You want to know? Well... OK. here it is - da-DAH! I loved it. The tunes are great, the costumes, make-up and setting magnificent, the choreography and dancing superb. It's a thoroughly enjoyable but totally undemanding show. The "feel-good" factor is high but without descending into sentimentality. Even that song, Memory, played to death though it has been in the last sixteen years, is a million miles away from the sentimentality which oozes through, for example, Annie, a sentimentality which makes me wince when I even just think of that show! Cats sites Its undemanding nature is well illustrated by the fact that, even though it is the most successful musical of all time, it has surprisingly few websites devoted to it. There are the two mentioned above, and, naturally the Really Useful Company site, but beyond that I can only find two of any substance:
Otherwise there are mentions in online record and CD catalogues, a very dismissive reference on the front page of a Sondheim fan's site, and a listing for the Broadway production. There are also mentions in sites devoted to musicals in general, but I find it very interesting that the most popular show on Broadway and in the West End has fewer sites devoted to it than any other of ALW's successful musicals (we'll ignore By Jeeves and Song and Dance, as well as Aspects of Love, as none of them could really be described as successful). I rather think that it is dismissed and somewhat disregarded by the critics simply because it is so successful and by the theatregoing public because, being a dance show, it is rather more specialised in its appeal. A friend, whose opinions on musicals I do respect, dislikes Cats because, as she says, "I don't understand dance." Others, who are real dance fanatics, find it a bit obvious and undemanding. It's a bit sad, I think, because the show does have a lot to offer as sheer, uncomplicated entertainment. Articles Indices: |
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