Presented by The Sound Of Musical Theatre Company and The Academy, this was a very youthful and lively retelling of Andrew Lloyd-Webber's scoring of T.S. Eliot's poetry.
Having seen this show many times, as well as having personal connections to it..[an ex-girlfriend was in the original production at the New London Theatre, and I worked as an ASM on the show's Blackpool run in 1989], it has become something of a must-see for me every time it comes close enough to visit. I had never heard of either above producing societies before, and so had no preconceptions.
All the cast were - I am guessing - between 11 and 16, and as such, they brought a lot of energy and power to this show. The musical requires excellent triple-threats in every role (perhaps with the exception of Old Deuteronomy) and from the opening chorus of 'Jellicle Songs', the company had me hooked!
As with other Lloyd-Webber shows, 'Cats' has undergone several modifications over the years. Sadly, in this reviewer's opinion, not all of them for the better. The original version of 'Mungojerie And Rumpleteazer' is far superior to the one in the score these days, but our two cat-burglars this evening delighted with their interpretation (Maria Coffey and Bethany Palmer). 'The Awful Battle Of The Pekes And The Pollicles' is just..well, awful.... but again, this company gave it as good a shot as I've seen. This production was also the first I have seen to include the Taylor Swift song, written for the [horrific!] film adaptation, 'Beautiful Ghosts'. Sang here with true passion by Olivia Ambery.
This company obviously major in dance, as the dancing was superb and excellently performed throughout. Although, and I don't believe I am actually going to write this, in a show that relies so heavily on dance; in this show, there was too much dancing! This was true when some of the soloists were singing and were also tasked into dancing along which weakened their characters and the songs' impact. This was especially true for Grace McGinty's Rum Tum Tugger. As wonderful as the choreography was, it was at times a little distracting and stole the principals' thunder. I might also remark that scant regard to the fact that the entire cast were felines (even when being dogs, they were cats pretending to be dogs!), and this reviewer would have appreciated a little more acknowledgement in their movements that they were in fact cats. The anthropomorphism was too great - even in the costuming. Some of the costumes were, again, for me at least, too far removed from the idea of anthropomorphised cats, and this sadly didn't really help. The make-up, as far as it went, was OK. Some faces worked much better than others... but all seemed to finish at the jaw-line, leaving necks and hands in normal human skin, which looked very odd.
The set worked well for this company, but sadly I couldn't 'buy-into' seeing bare rostra on a set which should have been full of rubbish. The omnipresent and larger-than-life moon was a nice touch. Director Amy Appleton worked well with the cast to find interesting and believable characters - highlighting their differences and quirks nicely. Sadly Old Deuteronomy did not look or act anywhere near old enough, and I though Grizabella should have been a little more stand-offish, with the rest of the cats more reluctant to touch her or go near her. But those are minor points. What was of more concern to me was the actual telling of the story. 'Cats' doesn't really have much of a story, but what it does have needed to be more clearly signposted. It was not at all clear that Old Deuteronomy had chosen Grizabella to journey to the Heavyside Layer and be reborn. and her ascension was something of a let down and very under-dramatised. This was a huge shame.
I am assuming that the company utilised backing tracks throughout, since I did not see any live musicians and no musicians are credited in the programme. There are two problems with using playbacks. The first is that the music is unalterable. Therefore whoever performs that role has to sing the songs exactly the way the track has been laid down, and there is no room for error or transposition. Secondly, these tracks may not be the speed or style that either the musical director or the actor wishes, and so they have to compromise their own characterisations and interpretations. Some of the tracks were too fast this evening for the principals, and at times were also being played too loudly giving unwanted feedback and loud boom. And finally, there is no MD either in front of them, or on a TV screen in their sightlines which they can watch in order to remain in the correct tempo and come in at the right time; and this would have helped a few times this evening.
All that being said however, this zestful and sprightly cast gave this show their cumulative alls, and this paid dividend many times over. The singing was of a very high standard all evening, with some lovely harmonies. The whole cast worked as an ensemble, and despite this being a very large cast, still managed to complete some rather tricky choreographic manoeuvres. Special mentions though to a couple of the company if I may be so bold. The two dancers dressed in black with white pointy ears (dressed identically - and were a part of the Macavity dance) were a huge credit to the ensemble; whilst Lucy Parkes, one of the youngest on stage, playing the role of the innocent, wide-eyed kitten Jemima, deserves due recognition too. However, I don't think anyone will argue with me when I say that this evening the show was stolen by Paris Weber as Grizabella. Her rendition of 'Memory' was goosebump-inducing, and she rightly deserved her encore at the final bow.
A very powerful production, full of youthful talent, and the company deserves another (albeit silent) round of applause for producing a show of this high theatrical standard when still so young.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 1.6.23
on - 1.6.23
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