Return to the West End: Cats The Musical

Return of the 1980’s; Cats The Musical.

With Cats, Miss Saigon and Evita all returning to the West End within a year of each other it would seem that the dawning of another 1980’s era is upon us. I, for one, am alright with that. Some of the best musicals started out in the 1980’s. My first memory of Cats The Musical was driving round in my Dad’s Forest Green Land Rover Discovery, listening to The Magical Mister Mistofolees. Memory, the Elaine Paige version, was on every ‘West End & Broadway Musicals’ compilation CD and trust me, my Dad owned them all. Eventually, Really Useful Productions released a VHS of the original cast of Cats which quickly became one of the most played tapes in my house, along with Joseph & The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat (starring Donny Osmond). Clearly, I was a musical theatre kid. By the age of six I was taking every dance class going and eventually I got to see Cats on stage with my Dad. I remember being absolutely in awe and so stunned that everything was exactly like it was on the VHS tape, starring Elaine Paige as Grizabella and John Partridge as the notorious Rum Tum Tugger. Upon hearing that Cats would return to the West End for a limited run in the winter of 2014, I was glad it was getting another run, but never thought I’d get to see it. My Grandmother, bless her, decided she would take my partner and I as our Christmas presents. I was thrilled. That was up until I saw Nicole Scherzinger had been cast as Grizabella. I didn’t understand – surely if Scherzinger was going to be in the West End she should be in something much cooler, more hip, and more sexy. Immediately, I was turned off. Not disappointed, and never to the extent that I wouldn’t want to go, but confused at the casting choice. I thought that casting Scherzinger would change the audience; I didn’t want to sit in a theatre full of teeny boppers, struggling to see past their ‘We Heart Nicole’ signs.

My, oh my was I wrong. In the lead up to seeing the show, I tried to stay away from reviews because I wanted to be pleasantly surprised and, dear God, was I. I will willingly eat all of my words of Nicole-Nay-Saying, turn on my heel and praise her to the high heavens. Whilst her posture and cat-acting was a little questionable at times, her movement on the whole was completely on par with everyone else on stage. Her vocals were absolutely on point and exceeded every expectation that I ever had for her performance. Never have I ever felt chills like that in Memory. I was never really enamoured with the musical theatre anthem, but the way Scherzinger sings it blows my mind. There’s a massive key change toward the end of the song after, what is in comparison quite a low section, and she knocks it completely out of the ball park. No idea how she does that every night, but judging by other reviews (which I’ve now read) she does. “Sunlight through the trees in summer, endless masquerading, like a flower as the dawn is breaking, the memory is fading... ...Touch me, it’s so easy to leave me, all alone with the memory of my days in the sun.” Not only was I astounded with her powerful key change but her stamina in the lower vocal range was seriously impressive for someone, who I had so wrongly deemed, ‘just a pop star.’

Sadly there is a downside to the revival of Cats. My favourite numbers from Cats were always Macavity and The Rum Tum Tugger (of course Mistofolees will always have a soft spot in my heart.) There was a somewhat mislead and odd attempt to modernise the show by inserting a rap section. Yep, a rap section into a TS Eliot masterpiece. Why is The Rum Tum Tugger suddenly a rap star? Revolutionising the show for a more modern, ethnic audience? I would have preferred the original and so would a lot of other people I can bet. Also, they kept Old Deuteronomy on stage throughout the whole interval. Why is that? The stage hands and technicians then came out to talk to him and bring him his bottle of water. Why not do that backstage? Maybe I’m missing a huge artistic choice, but I don’t think so. If I have missed something, clue me in. To close, my thoughts on Cats have left me with some questions. Would Cats have sold so well if Andrew Lloyd Webber hadn’t cast international star Nicole Scherzinger? Why can Cameron Mackintosh afford to revive his 80’s musical hit Miss Saigon into the West End as an open ended run, whereas both Webber’s 80’s productions are only guaranteed limited runs? Anyway, that’s enough high-brow wondering for the mean time. I’m going to put the clip of Scherzy doing her thing on Memory here, and before people get all uppity about recording in a theatre – it wasn’t me. This is borrowed from YouTube. None but the first picture are mine either, so credit where credits due and it's not me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obGVYstNHwA (The magic happens from about 4:35 onwards...) Happy days.