[Luc]

I was thinking about this today... do they have like a low-budget or "school version" or "jr" of this show? Because I know lots of HSs do CATS, but I can't imagine they would be any good. That is really intense music and DANCING to learn, even for professionals!

So, does anyone have any photos or videos or descriptive information on this topic? I am very curious about this.

Thanks in advance!

Musikal_Geek

[potter_severus]

this is a amateur production in Perú from the school "La Salle"...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XQ1Qf0Q_DE

my country really needs a good productions

[Phee]

Well I went to see an amateur production just the other night, and I thought it was pretty good. Not as flashy and polished as the previous 2 productions I'd seen of course, but still a highly entertaining night out. As soon as I went to my seat before the show and saw a handful of cats scattered all over the vacant seats, sneaking up on unsuspecting patrons, and on each other, all playing around and already totally in character, I felt assured that they were taking it all seriously and would do the show justice.

The stage wasn't huge, for example when they formed the train during Skimbleshanks, they had to do it on an angle because the stage wasn't quite deep enough to have done it sticking straight out, front on to the audience. If there were pics of the set in the program then I'd scan them for you, but there aren't. The one review I've read of this performance starts out talking about the director....
Her Mixed Company productions were always done on a shoestring budget, yet managed to look totally professional, and when she was approached by the Ignatians Musical Society to direct Cats, apparently her jaw dropped when she heard how little money she had to play with to get this elaborate and demanding musical on stage. Not for her the lavish budget and the transformation of a commercial theatre into an in-the-round rubbish heap, as happened in the original London production. She and designer Scott Bagnell had to make do with cardboard and papier-mache, and leotards for the Jellicle costumes

I could scan the images from the program if you'd like to see what the costumes/makeup were like, (though most of the pics are just head/torso shots), just lemme know if you'd like to see them.

They still had pyrotechnics for Misto, which I was happy to see. Griz's ascension at the end involved her stepping into one of the wooden crates that made up the set, and some sorta mechanism hidden from view slowly raised it up until she was out of sight, so there weren't any mechanical claws dropping down from the ceiling or any flying saucers lifting off or anything flashy like that, but it got the job done.

As for the performers, reading their bios, lots of them have been singing/dancing/acting/performing in some form since they were kids, and some went on to study professionally. You could tell during the all in dance numbers that they weren't all professional dancers, but the ones who played roles like Victoria and Misto most certainly were professional standard. Everyone seemed to take their roles seriously, eg when they'd be sitting to the side of the stage, not involved with the number being performed, they were still all lounging in their cat poses with their little cat twitches and cat interactions.

There was a small (17 people according to the program) live orchestra hidden below the stage, so the music wasn't pre-recorded or anything like that.

I must admit that I'd been very curious to see how they could pull it off, having read the "jaw-droppingly small budget" bit in the review before I went to see it for myself, but it just goes to show that you can still put on an enchanting and entertaining version of CATS with not alot of money. I do wonder how a highschool production could really do it justice though.

[Pawzxx]

[Saffity]

There is an amateur production by me getting set for auditions found here http://www.thesingerstheatre.ca/audition.html , I've sent an email for an audition time, I figured I may as well try it since I'll possibly have time over the summer, we'll see.

It never hurts to try right?

And sometimes amateur productions are fantastic, I know that a number of the amateur groups around here are very professional and run things like a real theatre would because a number of our amateur actors go on to professional careers. It's good practice and can sometimes be the thing to tell you if you can cut it in the real thing.

(I personally know I'll never be professional, but it's fun to do amateur here and there)