subject: Cats The Musical. What A Wonderful Show [print this page] After more than 25 years, Cats is still one of the best-known Broadway shows in the whole world. There is something concerning the raw energy, mystery, and sensuality of Cats the musical that has taken the imagination of audiences again and again. Old Grizabella, the dashing Rum Tum Tugger, and the noble Munkustrap brought something to Broadway that had had not been there before: CATS!. Before Disney's The Lion King ever reached Broadway, there was Cats, and Cats is still one of the most popular shows ever to have graced the bright lights of Broadway.
The popularity of Cats is still going strong; when touring versions of Cats the musical visit venues across the United States and the United Kingdom, the shows are amazingly popular and tickets can be tricky to find. Cats is legendary, and both steadfast Cats fans and newcomers alike have to clamber to get a hold of the elusive Cats tickets!
Cats the musical is so well-liked that it has been performed globally in many countries and according to Really Useful (Andrew Lloyd Webber's webpage), Cats has so far been translated into 10 different languages which include Japanese, German, Finnish, Swedish, French, Spanish, and Italian!. With such a great following worldwide and in the United States, you know that Cats has some thing special that appeals to varied audiences. Cats touches on something innately feline deep inside the audience, propelling them into the world of gracefully dancing creatures so like and unlike themselves. You absolutely don't want to miss the magic and the mystery of Cats, in the event the production appears at a venue near you!
The idea for Cats the Musical began when Andrew Lloyd Webber chose to see if he could set the poems found in a favorite childhood book to music. The much-loved book of whimsical poems is called Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats and it was created by the renowned (and otherwise very serious-seeming) poet, T.S. Eliot. The collection of light-hearted poems are about the sociological and psychological workings of felines, and they so captured Andrew Lloyd Webber's imagination that it motivated him to compose the music for the musical Cats to go along with the rhymes. Actually, most of the poems from Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats were set to music almost completely in their originally published form, and the remainder of words in the production are taken from additional published or unpublished works by T.S. Eliot. The fact that Cats still so firmly maintains the integrity of T.S. Eliot's poetry is an almost entirely singular thing for musical productions.
Cats premiered in 1981 in the West End of London and it was received with a great deal of skepticism. Critics couldn't get their minds around a composer trying to set children's poems about cats to music, and having the production being directed by Trevor Nunn (a director known for his Shakespearean productions). The critics found themselves sorely mistaken when it opened and became a massive smash hit!. Broadway noticed the success of Cats in London, and quickly brought it to New York to open in 1982 with millions of dollars worth of Cats tickets sold before the show ever saw the lights of Broadway for the first time.
Cats became an instant smash hit on Broadway, with the story of the Jellicle cats and their Jellicle Ball taking the imaginations of an entire theatre-going generation with incredible dancing, singing, and costuming. It was not difficult for audience members to imagine that the actors onstage were enacting the secret lives of cats, and the graceful performances added to the illusion.
In 1983 after Cats premiered on Broadway, the production won 7 TONY Awards and 3 DRAMA DESK Awards, a great achievement for a production in one year. By June of 1997, Cats had earned the honor of being the longest running musical on Broadway and it held that title until January 2006. In 2006, The Phantom of the Opera (also a musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber) superceded Cats as the longest running musical on Broadway. Even though Cats enjoyed an unprecedented success on Broadway for 18 years, Cats officially closed on Broadway in 2000. There have been multiple touring versions of the show that travel the United States, United Kingdom, and much of the world over the years and these companies continue to entertain audiences.
Cats the Musical has left its mark on Broadway, and a version of Cats has even been memorialized in a film version of the musical. Additionally, the touring companies around the world have been keeping the Cats magic alive! Cats tickets are just as hard to get now as they ever were on Broadway, and when the touring company comes to a venue near you, you don't want to miss out on seeing the legendary musical live on stage
