![]() Led by director John Napier, the set and costumes featured fun, retro vibes. This was followed by action-packed, high-energy performances of songs like “Macavity, the Mystery Cat” and “Magical Mister Mistoffelees.” The dance work of Mistoffelees (Paul Giarratano) was met with several rounds of applause throughout the show. With the comedic appearance of Gus, the Theater Cat (John Anker Bow), the crowd was quickly laughing along with his jokes. In Act II, the cast was firing on all cylinders. Performed alone onstage, the track is a sort of serenade to Grizabella’s lost light and youth. With a full, rich voice, she masterfully performed the musical’s best-known song, and her expressive eyes beautifully conveyed Grizabella’s waning years. Harris, from Portland, is one of the cast’s standout performers, which is no doubt why she was cast in such a central role. ![]() This was, in large part, due to Tayler Harris’ performance of “Memory” as the aged, once-glamorous but now outcast Grizabella. By the end of Act I, the cast managed to land on its paws. Opening night had a few hairballs in Act I (an off note here and there, some phoned-in dance moves – nothing major) that can be chalked up to nerves and a new room. This production of “Cats” features a fresh young cast, 17 of whom are on their first national tour. Throughout “Cats,” which opened Tuesday night at the First Interstate Center for the Arts, the audience is introduced to a whole litter of cool cats to see who will be chosen to pass on to the Heaviside layer by their leader, Old Deuteronomy (Indalecio De Jesús Valentín). Eliot’s “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats,” the musical follows a group of cats known as the Jellicles on the night of their annual ball. "Memory" - If you know one song from "Cats," it's "Memory," sung by Grizabella.Since debuting 40 years ago, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical “Cats” has enchanted audiences with its spectacle of costume, dance and song. Mistoffelees is a magician and is usually played by a dancer because of the dance solo. "Macavity: The Mystery Cat" - Macavity is a criminal who never gets caught. "Skimbleshanks: The Railway Cat" - Most of the song titles are self-explanatory, such as this one, about the cat of the railway train. "Gus: The Theatre Cat" - Gus, short for Asparagus, is the cat we can relate to the most, because he lives in a theatre and loves to talk about the roles he's played. "Old Deuteronomy" - He is the leader of the Jellicle Cats and he is the one who chooses which cat gets to go to the Heavyside Layer, the main plot of the show. "Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer" - These cats are mischievous twins. "Bustopher Jones" - Bustopher Jones is a well-dressed fat cat. She sings the most famous song on the show, "Memory," but more on that later. "Grizabella: The Glamour Cat" - Grizabella is the most famous character in the musical, a once glamorous cat who ia no longer young and beautiful. "The Rum Tug Tugger" - "The Rum Tug Tugger is a curious cat." ![]() "The Old Gumbie Cat" - Jennyanydots is a Gumbie Cat. "Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats" - What actually is a Jellicle Cat anyway? This song explains (sort of). Here is a rundown of the 12 most important songs from the show: Most of the 21 songs introduce a different cat. ![]() In 1997, it became the longest-running show on Broadway and remained the longest-running Broadway show until another Andrew Lloyd Webber show, The Phantom of the Opera, took that number one spot in 2006. It opened on Broadway in 1982 and ran for 7,485 performances, until 2000. Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote the music using mostly Eliot's words, with additional lyrics by Trevor Nunn and Richard Stilgoe. The musical Cats is based on poems by T.S.
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