Great Performances {Cats}
Posted by ADMIN | Posted in Musical | Posted on 09-02-2010
Tags: Cats, Great, Performances
5
Amazon.com essential video
This pop-cultural phenomenon has been performed on stage for more than 50 million patrons in 26 countries for almost 18 years, churning more than $2 billion in ticket sales. Now that Cats has finally made it to the small screen, attention must be paid not just by fans of this critic-proof show, but also by those entertainment mavens who have somehow avoided Cats until now. The video version has been restaged but, alas, not really reconceived for its new medium.
The video cast, assembled from London, Amsterdam, and New York productions, is competent. Ken Page as Old Deuteronomy, Jacob Brent as Mr. Mistoffelees, and Elaine Paige–the original London Grizabella, the Glamour Cat well past her prime–are a great deal more than that. Paige has toned down her theatrical belting of her big number, “Memory,” and allowed the faded ruin of her character’s soul to prevail in close-up. For all the “covers” of her signature song, Paige’s version remains definitive. The video is, by definition, more intimate, not always a good thing: costumes are even more Halloweeny in garish close-up, the cats less cuddly without that all-important interaction, the stage’s appropriately midnight lighting transmuted to a Las Vegas neon. And the chorus of cats in production numbers is even clunkier and more amorphous in two- and three-shots.
The one complete newcomer to the cast is the 90-year-old icon among English actors John Mills, a delight as Gus the Theatrical Cat. Sir John and his character show the youngsters how it’s done in close-up, largely behind the eyes, abetted by a heart-tugging delivery of his one song. Yet virtually all of the songs are lip-synched, further robbing the video Cats of its onstage seeming spontaneity. It’s clearer than ever that Lloyd Webber’s music is mostly twaddle, with the important exception of “Memory,” which instantly and rightly became one of the genuine theater standards not dependent on context, in the vein of Stephen Sondheim’s “Send in the Clowns.” On the plus side, most of the Cats characters and lyrics, from T.S. Eliot’s 14-poem Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, are far better defined and understood from the video version. –Robert Windeler
The songs are stupid, the acting is horrible, the concept is cheesy, what is it? It’s the longest freakin’ show on Broadway called Cats! This and the Phantom of the opera are the two most hated musicals in my opinion and still they make a lot of cash. This is just an insult to the Musical Theatre. This is a disgrace. Just horrible. And I don’t know why people are saying that this is so great and they end up loving it. Watching this DVD is very upsetting and everything about it is very dissapointing. But I do not blame the people who filmed this, just Andrew Lloyd Webber. Ok,it’s 1982 and Andrew Lloyd Webber hasn’t had a big hit since Evita and is very desperate and is dying for something to make into a musical. He goes and finds this book of poems and makes no attempt to change anything and just writes the music and just keeps what it is. Bad move. This is a musical with breif story lines which hurts it because the singers on this video are just butchering it and making it even worse. It would be cute for a pack of little kids but not for old people. I give them some credit though because they tried but this video just dosn’t help anything. It just makes it worse.
If you are in search of a GOOD musical, I reccomend you throwing you’re copy of this video of Cats and don’t even think about buying the Phantom of the opera when it comes out and go see something like Les Miserables or Miss Saigon or something. If you are an Andrew Lloyd Webber freak, I reccomend Joseph, Evita and Jesus Christ Superstar. Do you know why Andrew Lloyd Webber dosn’t make a lot of hits anymore? Watch this video and ask yourself!
Rating: 1 / 5
This is a bad acid trip flashback nightmare. I honestly rented this movie with very high hopes. I live in a small redneck town, on a dead end street, with a video store on the corner..the ONLY video store in town. So it takes some GUTS for a male to rent Cats. Thank God I only paid a lousy dollar fifty instead of fifty smackers on a ticket for the actual show. This is the sort of thing that makes countless husbands everywhere say things like, “A Broadway show…do we have to go?” and it also makes Broadway look VERY VERY cheezy to the passerby. I ignored all warnings and tried to stomach this video anyway.. COMPLETE RUBBISH!!! T.S. Elliot’s poems were fine on their own..But set to music and stretched out for an hour and a half? Not good man, not good. I think I am going to have to listen to only the ambience of the pipes in my wall for a WEEK to recover from this accident..
HEED THE WARNINGS… or this might cost you a dollar fifty..possibly more. The end?
Rating: 1 / 5
this movie isn’t really good. the only thing that you get out of
this movie is munchojerry and rumpleteazer. otherwise, it’s terrible! the costumes are weird, the plot changes and changes.
they never make up their mind about the plot! first, it’s about
the jellicle ball , then grisabella dies, and it goes on and on and on! oh, and did i mention it’s too long? it goes on for 2 hours. i can’t stay awake long enough to even see the entire movie! it’s boring. :
Rating: 2 / 5
These people dress up in cats costumes and do live music on stage. The songs are off of old stories that were written way back in the day. They did this stuff back in the 80’s traveling around the country at civic centers performing.
Rating: 5 / 5
I made a big mistake in purchasing this dvd. I thought it would be good to commemorate such a famous broadway musical by buying the commemorative edition dvd. Well, unbeknownst to me, this musical was a horrible, horrible turd. Granted I don’t like musicals, animals OR broadway, but I thought this would be worth a shot. Well, the only thing getting a shot now is ME….cause I need 30 CC’s of Uncrapulator to get this crapfest out of my mind. There is so much poop in my brain now that it’s hard to know the difference between when I’m thinking and when the poo is just shifting around. I have to keep my head completely still, or else my ears fart and poo shoots on my wall. it’s totally embarassing. Sorry for being so graphic, but I’m just trying to save you the same embarassment. Thanks SO MUCH, Cats the Musical (Commemorative Edition)…you have ruined my life.
That being said, the song Jellicle Cats is really awesome and this dvd is worth watching just for the fun of that one song. For that reason, I give this five stars.
But remember, if you don’t want your head to burst in an armageddon-style explosion of turds, ONLY watch that one scene. I’m not kidding, man. I’ve had to stop typing three different times so that I could wipe the turds off my monitor with a washcloth. (Again, sorry for being so graphic.)
DVD- No stars.
Jellicle Cats song – Five Stars!!!!
Rating: 5 / 5