Welcome the year of Cats
I saw Cats: The Musical in London a lifetime ago. Back then, it was my first time to visit the West End, and I wanted to see all the shows. Sometimes when you want everything all at the same time, some things get lost in the blur of the moment. Fast-forward to 2010, and I get to revisit one of musical theater’s longest-running shows. Sleepy town Adelaide gets a fur ball of purr-fect inspiration with a Jellicle ball of a musical, to be followed by Melbourne, then Sydney — and then Manila. Yes, we all know that Cats: The Musical is coming to town, and we can’t wait.
I first broke the news on my twitter account (twitter.com/iamtimyap) and immediately, followers were scrambling for tickets! Add to that frenzy when I found out Lea Salonga (twitter.com/MsLeaSalonga) was going to play Grizabella (the kitty who sings the show’s most memorable ditty, Memory) and it was just too good to be true. I tried to recall what the show was about but I couldn’t remember. All I could remember was that it was a big showdown of singing and dancing cats, some even purring with the audience, but I couldn’t quite pin down the story. So when I watched the show in Australia upon the invitation of Concertus visionaries Francis Lumen and Bambi Verzo a few weeks back, along with a select group of journalists from Manila, I didn’t know what to expect.
The set looked like a huge junkyard, all adjusted to the scale of a cat — that way “you get a feel of a cat’s world,” said Bec Windsor, Cats’ company manager, who graciously gave us a tour backstage, introduced us to the cast, and even took our pictures as we tinkered around like a group of misbehaving cats, playing with their props and wearing the cast’s wigs! “Meow”-rice Arcache and Pep-“purr” Teehankee mimicked Mungojerry and Rumpleteaser as they chased each other around the stage. We were filled with curiosity — one that hopefully wouldn’t kill us — as we hopped onto the set and took photos around the theater. Bec told me that they like to incorporate things that add to the local color of their sets — so, who knows, maybe the show will open with giant plastic bags from SM or larger-than-life-sized bottles of San Miguel as the cast of Cats roars around town?
It’s showtime and I am seated beside Anton San Diego, who has been humming Memory since we got to the Adelaide Festival Theater. The roll call of cats starts and then Grizabella comes in and does a short dance solo. “Is Lea gonna be doing that?” we ask each other. Maurice points at the stage: “That’s what Lea is going to do,” with a know-it-all-I’ve seen-this-before-look that makes Anton and I calmer, knowing that this wonderfully amazing cat has led more than nine lives. We sit back, relax and get blown away.
Our pussycat pals, live!
One spectacular song and dance number after another, hopping from one genre to another — from pop to rock to classical and semi-classical, and even electro, the audience is taken into a not so purr-fect world where everyone is scrambling to get their nine lives’ worth. It took no time for me to get into the cats’ world. I grew up with 10 dogs and I can name each one and tell you their story. This is exactly what T.S. Eliot did — he wrote a book of poetry, Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, enumerating all the colorful cats he could conceive. Andrew Lloyd Webber got the text verbatim, and set it to music. There lies the genius and the power of musical theater: to give new life to an existing artwork. The marriage of Eliot’s words plus Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s music plus Trevor Nunn’s original direction equals what we will be seeing at the CCP Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo come July 24, for a limited engagement at that.
It hasn’t been all smooth sailing for this company of cats since the show opened at the New London Theater on May 11,1981 (some of us were just born around this time). The show’s original Grizabella, the great actress Judi Dench, got injured during rehearsals and had to be replaced by Elaine Paige five days before the first preview night, causing the opening night to be two weeks delayed. But all that is water under the bridge now, as Cats “has gone on to be a special success in almost every city in the world,” narrates Cameron Mackintosh, otherwise known as the man who discovered world-class Filipino talents for Miss Saigon, one of them being a former pop star named Lea Salonga.
A day after the show, I am chatting with Paul White, the show’s musical director, and we are talking about a miss called Lea. “She needs to sound... damaged,” he says. Paul is referring to how our world-class lass should tackle the role of Grizabella, at least musically. “But for sure, with Lea’s awesome musicality — plus she’s a fine actor and a human being — I’m sure she’ll be great. She’ll nail it every night magnificently!” The other cast members were equally, if not more, star-struck. “I was one of two Caucasians in the audience who watched Lea perform at the Carnegie Hall — I am deeply thrilled to have this chance to work with her,” gushed John Ellis, a young actor playing Old Deuteronomy, my favorite in the show, the eldest and the wisest among the cats.
Meeting other Cats cast members Shaun Rennie and John O’Hara who play the Mick Jagger cat and rock puss Rum Tum Tugger and the master of ceremonies cat Munkustrap, respectively, was another highlight of this Adelaide trip — we couldn’t believe it was them under all that costume and makeup! All 60 wonderful theatrical peeps are flying to our town to stage the show. “We’re pretty much self-contained. I think we are one of the few musicals coming to Manila as a full unit,” said Bec, oh-so-hands-on with everything to make sure nothing becomes a cat-astrophe.
Our cat-aracts were further entertained by Sharon Case’s showcase of wigs worn by the cats themselves and the skimpy costumes as arranged by Ron Morrison, both of them thrilled to be part of the production that will be coming to Manila in a few months. After resident director and choreographer Sharyn Winney showed us a mock-cat rehearsal, we went backstage yet again to witness the transformation of a cat, in the purr-son of cast member James Cooper (nope, not the makeup artist).
I don’t want to put any spoilers here (well, you all know the ending) nor will I spill too much on this space, for I want you to fully enjoy your Cats experience because it’s something that I guarantee you’ll “growl” to — and love. Start out by getting that Cats compilation CD or better yet, grab a copy of the Old Possum’s book to better appreciate Sir Lloyd Webber’s mastery of the musical theater art form; and of course, to enjoy the lives of the cats that you’ll meet and greet onstage and off. And then book those tickets.
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Cats in Manila is brought to you by Lunchbox Theatrical Productions, David Atkins Enterprises, Concertus Inc., The Really Useful Company Asia Pacific and All Youth Channels Inc. Presented by Citi and supported by Infinity, powered by Smart, Philippine Airlines, McDonald’s. OOCL is the official marketing arm. Dusit Thani Manila is the official hotel.
Save now by availing of Group Sales 30+ and get a 10-percent discount. Concertus offers the opportunity for corporations to host their key clients, customers, staff and friends as part of a limited number of corporate hospitality evenings where cocktails will flow in a special theme area — the best way to enjoy Cats.
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For more info, contact Concertus at 403-2099; e-mail concertus@ymail.com or Kitel Calvelo at 0915-9857830. For ticket inquiry, call TicketWorld at 891-9999 or visit www.ticketworld.com.ph. Contact Bambi Rivera-Verzo at 0917-5370539; e-mail scunsi@gmail.com.
