[darkmage]

So...

Matt and I made the 45-minute hike out to the other side of town to catch Cats at the Sundome. We had always wanted to see that place. The lobby was nice, but the interior was a glorified high-school auditorium. No joke. We weren't impressed much by the venue, but our seats were fairly good. We were on the far right edge, so we couldn't see the car, but that was it. We were also in the third row so we had a lovely view of everything BUT the car/extreme right edge of the stage. Anyway, on to the show.

We all know the cast, we all know the songs. The cast was uniformly good. Unlike last year's cast, there was not a minimum 5'8 height required of the women. Everyone was regulation size, which was nice. Even Bom was only about 5'5, so there may be hope for me yet. We had a few understudies though:

Alonzo: Ryan Richardson
Bombalurina: Samantha Sturm
Mungojerrie: AJ Wilson
Victoria: Molly Wester Stewert

Samantha Sturm was one of the better Bom's I've seen in a while. The swings played their parts without a hitch. Sillabub had the nasal soprano voice, but it wasn't screechy, so she gets a pass too. And both the Tugger and Munkus had lovely voices. I showed Matt the FCLO "Thriller" video and he had to keep from laughing out loud every time Cassandra strutted around. She seemed to do that a bit more in this version than usual.

What got me were the glitches. For starters, we had the inflatable set! Mrr...I wasn't impressed. Matt thought it was a jungle set on account of its neon green-ness until we got closer. Only then did he recognise it as a scaled-down junkyard.

During the Overture, there was no UFO, and the cast didn't come running out through the audience with masks. That was disappointing, but I don't think there was a way to get backstage from the main floor. Ehh... minus one point.

During Jellicle Songs, there was no shoe being thrown, and no second chorus on the risers. That was odd and unnecessary. Strike two.

Naming of Cats was well, the Naming of Cats. The cats didn't come running through the aisles like they usually do. That having been said, that depends on the auditorium. No worries.

Gumbie Cat came out of the oven, which I heard she doesn't do with the inflatable set. *shrug* At least that wasn't changed, thank God. The tap dance was the tap dance, nothing was cut here.

The Rum Tum Tugger was good, not quite as 70's disco-ish and campy as last year. However, I wasn't sure if this was the inflatable set until he came out and when he made his dramatic entrance, the whole back of the set WIGGLED. Yes, it WIGGLED. Just like a kid's bouncy castle. I thought to myself, 'oh HELLS no.' Then I noticed there was no ceiling rigging. This comes into play later...Minus two points.

Grizabella had a fine voice, and she showed it during "Grizabella the Glamour Cat." Requisite amount of pathos, rejection, etc. Ok.

Bustopher Jones was as fat and respected as ever. *yawn*

Mungojerrie and Rumplteaser were quite good. Rumple kept getting winded though. I'd still love to get hold of the Nimrod that cut out half the song.

Old D..next!

Why, oh why, did they cut out the Pekes and Pollicles? I'll never know. Anyway, the Jellicle Ball was as good as ever. The stage was TINY though, I'm surprised they had room to move without kicking each other in the face all the time. They were all crammed in there and it was painful to watch. Not that the dancing was bad--it was superb--but because I kept expecting someone to get hurt, basically. And they slowed down the ending somewhat. Nothing spectacular, but still, I noticed. Their guitar player was pretty good, though, and they had more than four instruments, so they weren't relying as much on the synths and overdriven guitars. Whether that's good or bad depends on your taste, I suppose. Then Griz dragged herself onstage, sang "Memory," and Act I ended.

The Moments of Happiness and Gus went on w/out incident. No cuts or alterations. But then:

Growltiger's Last Stand. While I'm very happy that they're keeping that in the show, WHERE THE HELL WAS THE BACKDROP? See earlier comment about no ceiling rigging. They had the pirate ship, the pirates and the Siamese did their thing, but it was bizarre without the backdrop and frankly didn't work as well as it could have. Having the junkyard clearly visible breaks the 'play within a play' illusion. Minus one.

Macavity is where Demeter and Bom came into their own, and reminds me why those two are my faves. 'Nuf said.

Mr Mistoffelees came in through the back of the stage. It doesn't work very well for an entrance. Coming in on the rope is far more dramatic and works much better, but since they HAD NO CEILING RIGGING that wasn't possible. And the ending was severely shortened due to the cats not running through the audience like they usually do. Minus two.

Memory, was, well, Memory. It ended on the high note though. I'm still not sure which ending I like better. *shrug*

Now, for the Journey to the Heaviside Layer. Usually it's the best of the best in terms of effects, but this one was a WTF?!?!? moment in the extreme. The tire lifted off, great, came downstage, great, but Griz SAT ON THE TIRE THE WHOLE TIME. NOTHING CAME DOWN from the ceiling. Yes, you read that right. There was no ceiling rigging, no ascent, no nothing. Gah. So she sat on the tire. Yay. Minus five.

As for the Ad-Dressing of Cats, it was strange having Griz on the tire the whole time. She just sat there on the little plank that normally helps her cross to the cherry-picker thing.

Then the curtain calls came, and that was the only time the cats came through the audience at all, and then only to about the fifth row. In all fairness I wonder if it's because they just painted the place. I had my backpack on the floor, and when we got to Applebee's later I opened it up and was still getting high off the paint fumes.

Overall, I liked the cast but the set is cheap and should be sacked. No ceiling rigging? No journey to Heaviside? WTF is Troika thinking? If they keep cutting corners soon there won't be anything left to cut. Bring back the National IV set. They own it, there's no excuse not to use it. Better yet, let Equity get the rights after Troika's lapse and have them do it RIGHT again.

Final score (more or less): 85%.

[Lady Jemima]

Darkmage, thanks for the trip review. Always good to hear peoples' experiances. That's a real bummer about the ceiling rigging. Was that something that was wrong with the theatre, or with the production? (Lady J knows very little about theatres...) Anyway, I agree with you wholeheartedly about the "nimrod" who cut out half of Mungo/Rumple...I'd like to get ahold of him too!

[TheBoogie]

You were saying about how tiny the stage was...
I totally agree!! I also had the feeling they were about to bump into each other every time the dance required all cats on stage...

Besides, in Brazil, the stage was wayyy to small when the "theater" was wayyy too big.. It kinda put a "gap" between the audience and the cats, if you know what I mean... It made the show distant (not phisically) I had the feeling I was watching a famous painting on the wall sometimes, not an interactive performance-full play....

And... Something i just remembered.. I was sad that their costumes and makeups made it difficult to identify which cat was up there (except the very typical ones, like victoria, misto, tugger, etc.. whose costumes are very different form everybody else's)..
And I remember being able to compare someone's makeup (Bombalurina's maybe..) to the red Power Ranger helmet....

[darkmage]

@ Lady J: I dunno if it was the theater or the set itself. The stage was narrow side to side, but fairly deep, so everyone was set back a ways from the front of the stage. The rigging may not have fit, and in that case they'll cut it.

@Boogie: They probably just took the inflatable set to Brazil because it's smaller, lighter, and cheaper to ship. For big theatres in the US they usually use the National IV set. Every time I've seen the Troika tour before it's played at Gammage on the ASU campus and that theatre pretty much REQUIRES the large set. Even then they block some of the main stage off, it's that big. So seeing El Cheapo set was a hell of a shock. As for Bom's makeup looking like the Red Ranger, hmm...I dunno. The Bom this time had the standard white/peach/red scheme--actually she looked a lot like Donna King from the OBC.

It comes back to AZ in May and plays at the Mesa Arts Center for a three-day run. Please, please, please God, let them use the National IV set. In the name of all that is holy don't let them use the Romper Room one...

[VictoriaTWC]

They don't use the National Tour cut-up set anymore, due to costs. It's easier for them to load in the blow up set, takes only 7 hours to inflate the balloon set. Ugh. I hate it too.

When I saw the show last year at the Grove at Anaheim they also had Griz sit on the tire and no Heaviside Layer due to the layout of the theatre and also no rigging for the main stage. The Grove mostly does rock band concerts, hence the non-theatre like setting for the show. Personally, I like seeing the show only in a standard theatre, NOT these crummy band stages they seem to be renting out.

It is pretty freaky to watch Griz sit up there during Addressing of Cats. Also during the beginning at the Grove they all came out in front of the stage with the Green Eyes in a long long line and just flashed the front of the stage and then lit out of there, to get backstage for the Prolouge.

I don't think that Troika is going to do anymore like bring back the original tour set. Also, all the costumes are "off-book" too the last time I saw press photos of them. Its sad, really.

Maybe in a few years or so we can get a new Tour up and running from R+H if they renew the liscenese. If not, we are subject to these cost cutting crap. I truly long for the old days in the 80's and 90's when they played cities for long runs and could do the whole theatre up in style.

Purrs,
VTWC

[darkmage]

That's strange, seeing as the cut-up set only took about 8 hours to assemble if memory serves.

Lazy asses.

Yeah, I'm hoping some other company that will do Cats DECENTLY will pick up the licence. I fell in love w/it about the same time you did. Frankly, if they want it to still be popular and keep making money they need to stick to the classic Cats. The costumes last night were strictly by the book, though. No Janeway wigs, no brown Jelly (she was gold and silver like she should be), everyone looked great.

I think I know where the Tour IV set went: http://vyt.com/PhotoNavigate.php?Season=2006-2007&Show=Cats&Order=001

Is it just me, or does that set look *oddly* familiar??

Hopefully if enough fans bitch and whine and raise hell they'll change things back to the way they used to be. I've heard rumours that a lot of important people read/are members of this forum, let's hope one of them listens and gives the fans what they want. After all, bands who don't stop selling records. Shows that don't stop selling tickets. Maybe that's what they want?

[Matthew]

REVOLUTION!!!!
hahaha...
A word for Troika:
Cutting corners is only to prevent people from getting paper cuts!

[Yeahyouthinkyouknow]

just to let you know in Brazil they used the Hard set from tour IV and they are sending it to Chile. Also the theaters hire the tour to come and it depends on the theater if they can use everything...so take all your problems up with the theater itself. If you hate the show that much and all you do is whine about it....ask for your money back. I saw the show and talked to the performers and they are the nicest people ever! And just to let you know it is not going to become equity again....until they can make sure it will sell out at all of the venues no one will spend equity costs. The people in the show are as good if not better than equity performers. So if all you have to do is bitch about everything make sure you know what you are talking about.

[MrsJemimaMistoffelees]

Thanks for the trip report, darkmage! Too bad about all the cuts they made because of the venue...it sucks not to see "CATS" in its rightful glory, especially when you have a "newbie" with you (which I am assuming this Matt is)

Veel Liefs,
Jemima ^_^

[darkmage]

Matt's my best friend of 20 years. He's no n00b, he saw Cats for the first time in '92. So he remembers all its Equity glory as well.

He was more than a little taken aback by the cuts and the crappy set.

[darkmage]

[kswing]

After reading your review and several of the replies in reference to the Sun City performance, I'd like to clear up a few points of misunderstanding and unfair assumptions on your part.

First of all, the "understudies" you saw were SWINGS. Coming from a swing, there is a big difference. In our cast, understudies are Playing Company members who are emergency onstage covers for other roles, should there be a problem during the show and immediate coverage needed for a track if there isn't enough time for a swing to get ready to go on. There are 9 swings, separate from the Playing Company, that cover all 20 cats, as is stated in the program. Please read your program more carefully. Being a swing is an enormous responsibility and deserves utmost respect. And remember--when posting reviews, make an effort to spell Company members names correctly--my name is Molly Winter Stewart, not what you wrote. If you're unsure, check the program.

Next, as far as Green Eyes and all audience interaction is concerned, that decision is made based on the accessibility of the venue. The design of the venue also determines the use of the Pod, Growltiger Drops, and Boot. Trust me, we would all love to do a full show every time, but sometimes the theatre won't accomodate it. How do you think we feel during Siamese when we have to push off the ship decks ourselves? The number is beautiful with the drops, so yes, it is a shame when we can't use them.

The inflatable set: Troika uses this set to make the show more accessible to cities that weren't able to accomodate the hard set in the past, such as Sun City. They're not cutting corners, they're providing a service to smaller cities. For your reference, we use BOTH sets. The hard set was used in Brazil a month ago and will be used in our upcoming sit-down in Chile.

Costumes: Troika exclusively has the only rights available in North America for the makeup, costume and wig designs for CATS and have been the same for all of Troika's touring companies. We use all of Gillian Lynne's original choreography and staging.

And lazy asses?? Do you know what loading in a set for CATS even requires?? And how many people it takes? It takes 6-7 hours for load-in in every city, and on one-nighters everything is put up and taken down in the span of a day. Our crew travels all night, showers at the venue, and gets to work without any break.

If our version is worthless to you, then why is this the 25th Anniversary of CATS and the 5th National Tour?

Take a look at "yeahyouthinkyouknow"'s reviews--they actually know what they are talking about and have some respect for the immense amount of dedication and hard work that goes into producing a National Tour of a Broadway show.

Hopefully the next time you see us, you'll have a clearer idea of what we actually do in CATS.

[Pawzxx]

Thanks for the review! Shame about all the glitches...but I think it would be a touch weird to see a blow up set too....(couldn't imagine that actually.)

Maybe it's just cos I haven't seen a blow it set bfore lol...they use the hard set for the uk tour..(Or did when I saw it)

[Pawzxx]

Actually, you might know of VTWC's vid of the troika cast doing jellicle songs on youtube. Is that the blow up set they use there?

[Pawzxx]

I don't think it is actually....

[darkmage]

[MrsJemimaMistoffelees]

[VictoriaTWC]

Darkmage, that set used for the Valley Youth Theatre is one of the UK tour sets. The plate reads different from the usual John Napier signature:

see below to your left:



S15PB is the plate number, not from the US national tours.

How they snagged an official uk or euro tour set is beyond me. How I would love to buy that out and set it up somewhere for my own uses.

Purrs,
VTWC

[darkmage]

Well, a while back I spoke to someone involved with that show (dunno who it was, but definitely the Booster-ish type) and they said that they got the Cats movie set. The individual said they got it from CA. So...your guess is as good as mine.

Clicky: http://macavity.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1810

I looked for reviews in the local papers and found NOTHING. Nada. Dunno why. So other than the costumes, which are questionable to fair (Vicki looks like she's wearing one of those traditional Russian fur hats, forget what they're called, and a leopard Demi? But I love most of the wigs!) everything else looked dead-on.

I still don't regret going to Gary Numan over this though. If it was the official tour then it would have been hard. "Childhood idol since age six....fave musical since twelve....hmm..."

As for buying the set, I'd love to have something like that if I had my own house. I'd stick it in the rec room, it'd be a hell of a conversation starter at the housewarming party.

[littlgriz]

[Matthew]

[VictoriaTWC]

Yuppers. Probably going to keep the set and rent it out forever. Its a good theatre to keep in mind for set rentals if and when I work for another theatre again.

Purrs,
VTWC