[littlgriz]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7867579786068897809&q=Cats+the+musical

[Etcy]

wow!! I'm VERY impressed! How old are those kids...forgive me if they said it...I'm in class watching it without sound right now lol...but the set looks amazinging...their costumes are very well done and their dancing is very together....wow....I'd pay to go see this version!!

Thanks for showing that sis

*Etcy*

[Matthew]

the Victoria is pretty good.

[darkmage]

Hehe, that was our local production here back in August. The theatre was the Herberger in downtown Phoenix.

Thank GOD they replicated the original choreography. All they were missing was the correct costumes. If they had those it would have been perfect. Perhaps next time...

Thanx for finding that!

[littlgriz]

[tmg]

I didn't particularly like the wigs (looked like Victoria's was about to fall off), but other than that I liked the costumes. I also liked how they segued into Jellicle Songs at the end of Addressing. I always hated how the show ends on such a slow, down beat number. I think going back into Jellicle songs made it a much more exciting ending.

[Milleh]

Those kids were AMAZING And to be so brave to dance like that and be in that kind of show - it looked fantastic

[Drumdraper]

My gosh! Costumes not that great and neither is Misto's voice, but awesome show! They are acting and putting more energy into that show than they are putting in the national tour. My favorite part is between Jemima/Sillabub and Grizabella near the end when Tugger has to restrain her from touching Grizabella. In the tour that part is very stotic and the actress just parrots what all her predecssors have been doing. Here we have actual emotionand longing to help Grizabella. Some of these kids can teach the touring company a few things about acting.

[Pawzxx]

God that does look like an awsome show! I would've loved to have seen that...v.cool

[alexandrez]

oh my god.
that was so awesome.
hahaha
the only thing i didnt like much is munkustraps voice. i dunno y.
but it was awesome.
did they have a band playing there? and who was the drummer? (im a drummer so... yea. hhahaha i like playing cats also)
anyways, im blow away.

[kencarson]

I don't like when local companies use the original choreography. When you purchase the show, you purchase the rights to put it on, not steal the original way it was done. There's so much chorography theft out there. I wish more choreographers felt like being creative and doing their own thing.

~Alex

[Pawzxx]

I dunno, while I agree that maybe local productions should do thier own thing choreography wise, I thought it looked better that they did keep true to the show choreography or most of it...

I just find that with some local production vids I've seen they have masses of extra cats and at times their choreography looked a bit.....messy.

But hey, big up to anyone in a show of cats cos I'd give my left arm to do it!

[kencarson]

then maybe local theatres shouldn't do a show that they can't produce without stealing from the original. Don't get me wrong. This production was very well done, it just wasn't very original.

~Alex

[darkmage]

If I'm paying to see Cats, I'm paying to see the original or a reasonable facsimile thereof. I'm not going to cough up $60 for something that just uses the music and nothing else, for that I'd rather just listen to the CD.

[kencarson]

So you don't appreciate original artistic interpretation? I guess that's a choice. I sort of like to see how different people interpret the same work. If you're paying for the same show every time you go to see it, save some money and buy the DVD. I think the most fun thing about seeing the tour is the different actors and how they interpret the role differently from the previous.

[darkmage]

Interpreting the roles differently is different than overhauling the whole show. I like to see how different actors do different characters, but the real skill is putting the individual stamp on the part within the prescribed framework.

[kencarson]

Granted, within the framework of the character, not the choreography. And I was taking that "interpretation" analogy into the creative staff. I like to see how different choreographers interpret the prescribed music. Too often people fall back on the original choreography because it's HARD to choreograph Cats. It's much easier to let yourself fall into what is already there. And when people do the choreography from the original show, it is SO watered down because they're just watching the DVD with no idea of the intent behind the movement (therefore what the movement really is), or even what the different sections of the ball are called!

~Alex

[darkmage]

Suit yourself, I meant within the proscribed framework of the show INCLUDING the choreography. It may be hard to choreograph Cats, but I expect the directors to do their homework and reproduce the show. Period. That's what I'm paying $50-60 to see, not some counterfeit knockoff.

[kencarson]

I'm saying that orginal choreography isn't a counterfeit knock-off. It's creative. That's like saying Terrence Mann was was a knock-off because he didn't watch and recreate exactly what the first Tugger did. Anyway, agree to disagree.

~Alex

[darkmage]

Hehe, fair enough.

I sat through one of Marc Robin's *ahem* 'interpretations' of Cats. Most boring thing I've seen in my life, right up there with Written in Ashes. All they did was walk around for two hours. *YAWN* If I were God, he'd be choreographing junior high productions of 'Pirates of Penzance' the rest of his life--this would be an appropriate challenge without overtaxing his abilities.

A friend of mine said I would have enjoyed it more if I had had a full bottle of wine during dinner, instead of just one glass. I'm not so sure...