(Pic: Jonathan Roxmouth as Munkustrap and Anne-Marie Clulow as the Gumbie Cat)Cats is alive and well at Montecasino and showing no signs of ageing!
The dance musical Cats first opened on the West End stage in 1981 and then on Broadway in 1982. The New London theatre which had been considered a white elephant for many years was completely revamped for this production, allowing designer John Napier to make full use of its revolving stage and to create little tunnels underneath the seating as well as performance spaces in the flies and above the theatre. So audience members never knew where a cat would appear from next!
The London production ran for 21 years and the Broadway production for 18, in both cases setting historical long-run records as Cats became one of the world's best known and best loved musicals, presented in over 20 countries and in about 250 cities worldwide, garnering numerous awards in the process. Based on T.S. Elliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, with music by (now Sir) Andrew Lloyd Webber, Cats was originally produced by Cameron Mackintosh and directed by Trevor Nunn with choreography by Gillian Lynne.
Eight years ago Pieter Toerien produced the original South African hit production of Cats in Cape Town and Pretoria. Performances were sold out but those who missed out on the Cats magic can catch it now at the Teatro theatre at Montecasino in Johannesburg directed by Jo-Anne Robinson (recreating Trevor Nunn's original direction) with Fiz Shapur as the Musical Director.
The London production obviously created the ultimate space for the cats to make surprise appearances anywhere in the auditorium and this offers a challenge for other venues. However, this production inventively uses as much of the Teatro auditorium space as possible and there were squeals of delight around me as audience members suddenly found a cheeky cat peering into their faces!
The setting is a junkyard. It’s dark and the moon shines brightly overhead. This is a special night when the tribe of Jellicle Cats reunites to celebrate their identities. The atmosphere is heavy with anticipation as they await the arrival of their leader, Old Deuteronomy, who will choose a cat to be “reborn” into a new life and thereby journey into the “Heavyside Layer” (heaven). As the action progresses, we meet some of the Jellicle Cats in a storyline that involves the kidnapping of Old Deuteronomy and his subsequent rescue.
This is the third time I have seen this show and each time I am captivated by the quality of the music, the dancing, the costumes, the set and the lighting as well as Cats’s own distinctive fast-paced energy. In this production, I was particularly impressed with the standard of articulation – there are thousands of words – many of them tongue-twisters delivered at top speed making even a difficult speech exercise look tame – and I heard every syllable of each word. What a pleasure!
His strong operatic voice lending power to his revered position, Marcus Desando is suitably venerable and fragile as Old Deuteronomy and impressive in his final words of wisdom - The Ad-Dressing of Cats. Anne-Marie Clulow is a delight as Jennyanydots (The Old Gumbie Cat and Griddlebone) and led a dazzling tap sequence. In a bluesy rock number, Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer (Grant Almirall and Chireen Fereirra) – double-act clowns and acrobats – enchant with their mischievous knock-about nonsense. Another character who is full of fun is Skimbleshanks (Karabo Maithufi) – the cat of the Railway Train – who is bright, chirpy and breezily efficient.
Macavity (Stefan Carstens) has to have one of the biggest build-ups in show business as crashes or shrieks identify his scary presence until we actually meet him in a brassy jazzy number which involves a dramatic fight. Jaco van Rensburg does more than justice to Mister Mistoffelees, the original conjuring cat. A rousing number filled with spectacular acrobatics, Magical Mr Mistoffelees is invariably on the lips of audiences as they come out of the theatre.
The role of the one-time glamour cat, Grizabella, is handled with her own distinctive dignity and clear, carrying voice by Angela Kilian. The role requires the actress to do little more in the first half other than appear pathetic and bedraggled, bearing the brunt of the other cats’ rejection and hisses. However, in the second half, she gets to sing the show-stopping number Memory (one of Lloyd Webber’s major hits) and gets to go to the Heavyside Layer (heaven) in magnificent fashion.
Other impressive performances come from Jonathan Roxmouth as the focal figure of Munkustrap who leads the Jellicle Cats with discipline, gentle support and sympathy when needed, and Earl Gregory who was energetically raunchy as the wayward Rum Tum Tugger of the impressive mane.
However, in my book, performance honours go to Robert Finlayson as Gus the Theatre Cat, a doddery old soul remembering the days when he used to know 70 speeches by heart. He also goes back in time to the “moment of mystery” when he “made history as Firefrorefiddle, the fiend from the Fell” – a wonderfully rumbustious scene as the daring pirate hero Growltiger fighting off Samurai warriors!
Despite the fact that the production is a “dark” one - set as it is in dark alleyways in the middle of the night - I did feel that it was under-lit. There is so much delightful interaction from the cats on the sidelines – little catlike actions like stretching, face-washing, hissing, - but you had to peer through the dark to catch it.
The dance sequences are impressive as always – choreographer Gillian Lynne originally set out to avoid accepted and known dance styles and create a unique energy for the show, challenging her dancers to portray sinuous feline movement and reactions.
Cats runs at the Teatro at Montecasino before moving to Artscape in Cape Town where it will run from November 29 to January 10. It’s a great opportunity to introduce a new generation to the magic of TS Eliot’s delicious poetry, an excellent cast, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s music with splendid orchestration, an atmospheric set and lighting design - not to mention John Napier’s stunning costumes. It’s worth the trip to Johannesburg! – Caroline Smart
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