CATS leaves you meowing for more!
Reviewed by Laura Mackenzie, Year 12 student & site user | |
|  | | CATS the musical |
| | Laura reviews CATS - one of the world's most successful musicals that is showing at The Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham. |
| | | I went to watch a performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Cats’ at the Alexandra Theatre. On entering the theatre the set was breath taking, the stage had been constructed as a giant junkyard, full of over sized wine bottles, salad cream jars and even an oven.
The problem was that the decorative and intricate set restricted the view of those sitting on the front row. It was difficult for some to see over the heaps of newspaper and rubbish packets piled along the front of the stage.
'The Jellicle Ball'
The plot line was simple enough to follow. On one night a year a tribe of cats, known as ‘Jellicle Cats’ gather to celebrate their identities, abilities and traits.
On this special night their leader ‘Old Deuteronomy’ chooses which one of them will be reborn into a new life.
Throughout the performance the cats introduce different members of their tribe to us, via poetry, song and dance.
The performance itself was extremely good, however I was quite disappointed to hear a long list of understudies announced on my arrival.
Wonderful dancing
The dancing was wonderful mostly ballet and jazz orientated. The singing was also very impressive apart from in the ‘Macavity’ number, in which I hope the actress playing Bombalurina was an understudy, I’m afraid they hit rather a few dodgy notes!
The best number by far was ‘Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer’ the duo added a comical element to the performance, which proved a hit with the audience.
However quite a few children were alarmed as various cast members ran off stage, one even pinching their sweets!
On the whole it proved to be an enjoyable show, which captivated adults and children alike. I just wish I had been able to see the ending through the fog, which covered me from the smoke machine.
Laura Mackenzie. | | | |
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