[Pounce]

Notice I didn't say if.

Sweeney Todd was reconceived for its revival and I suppose most shows are. So do you think a revival of CATS would change the show in any significant way and if so, in what way?

[darkmage]

The technology would probably be better, they can now rebuild a good chunk of the set/lights so they'd run under computer control. And they can now use better and cheaper materials for the costumes.

Other than that they need to keep it the same.

[Bill_Calhoun]

It wouldn't work with a major overhaul, it wouldn't be... Cats anymore!

But yes, I agree with what Darkmage said

[Drumdraper]

I wouldn't mind seeing Cats take place somewhere else other than a junkyard. Keep the same storyline and songs with updated technology, but maybe take the felines somewhere else.

[Dvarg]

[~Bal~]

I don't know if it would be at all reimagined (maybe the costumes would evolve a bit, as they are wont to do...).

After all, the new revival of A Chorus Line on Broadway has reproduced the costumes from the seventies *exactly*.

[Jemibub]

The one thing I worry about is the whole "computerized symphony" that seems to be taking theatres by storm.

[Pounce]

[Balurina]

Undoubtedly there would be some changes to the show, some minor some major. I could easily see some of the technical aspects being redone such as designs etc. (btw the lighting in bway houses, including when Cats was still running is generally computerized, they just need someone to hit the go button ) It would be interesting to see a new place, new lights and a new look to the kitties.

As far as being eligible for the Tonys, well I believe it would be but whether or not it would be nominated is another question. When Cats first premiered on Bway it was something new and creative and hadn't been done before, now the Tonys seem to be looking at other aspects of creativity involving shows. I think to be nominated there would have to be something that caught the nominators eye, something that differed it from what it was before. But that's just one kitties opinion

Denise

[Jemibub]

I could see some updates to the props used in the set. Maybe some over-sized video game boxes? a thrown out nintendo64? maybe a broken down Whirprool dryer instead of an oven? The car trunk could be updated; maybe a HONDA ACCORD?

lol; that's the only thing I can see updated without any damage to the musical.

[darkmage]

OMG that would be hilarious. The Pekes and the Pollicles having old videogame boxes on their paws--after all, no one smokes anymore and cigarettes are passe.

Don't forget junked CDs/DVDs littering the set, too. As for the car, make it an SUV.

[Jemibub]

LOL! and on the stage (the floor) are old movie posters.

[Drumdraper]

When Mistoffelees comes down from the ceiling and he lights up the entire stage, what he illuminates should be old cracked CDs and DVDs. They should glow with a silver light and throughout his song he should change the lighting effects and colors.

[Jemibub]

and instead of a boot thrown in Jellicle Songs for Jellicle cats it could be an AirJordan or something

[Alonza0]

I think they also might consider adding new characters, perhaps replacing old ones. It would make the show a little more interesting for those who know the show, and might entice fans to see it more.

[Rumblepurr]

This is my opinion and not the "authority of the Moderator"...
Just me, the Writer Cat...

I like some of the suggestions about changing some of the props and set pieces - a more modern junkyard... Just remember - all props and set pieces need to be "three times their normal size" to keep with the Napier design specifications. After all, the props and set are wonderful toys for cats to play with...

Technically, lighting and lifts and flying are always evolving - look at the difference seen in the Intelligent Lights versus the "dumb" ones. Lighting is becoming more computerized - right up with audio. Set pieces are next... Part of the appeal of CATS from a Tech's angle was the State of the Art approach to presenting the show. John Napier broke some barriers not only with the set, but some of the uses of it.

The funny thing about change... CATS is based upon the poetry of Thomas Stearns Eliot. Even the lyrics that were used to make "Memory" and "Song of the Jellicles" and a few others in the musical were taken from lesser known poems or paraphrased by Trevor Nunn. To change these "lyrics" would be to change the show - you would have to label it CATS-2 or CATS II or CATS: The Sequel because it would it no longer maintain the lyrics upon which it was based...

Characters... Think about this... As a fan, would you WANT to see other characters become mains? I do not know about others, but I want identity when the cats come out. A silver tabby is Munkus... the Red Queen is Bomba... the white kitty is Victoria... the small black & white is Misto... et.al. If anyone should be included - Oi says bring in auld Cat Morgan, says Oi... If Growltiger needs cutting down, they can always sub Cat Morgan for it... Asparagus can do him or Growlie...

Choreography... Creativity might find its way in here, but it is hard to want to remove the Gillian Lynne choreography. That, too, is a signature of CATS. However, it might have been interesting if Bob Fosse had done the Broadway version. (Would ALW have liked that, I wonder?) I would go along with a new choreographer, but it might be hard to outshine the original...

Change a show too much, and it stops being the same show...

Respectfully submitted,
Rumblepurr
The Writer Cat

[Balurina]

I'd have to agree with Rumblepurr about the characters. I don't think it would really help the show to add or take away characters. I too like to know who I'm looking at and there are just certain things that you get from certain characters. Besides most shows that you see revived the characters are the same..they don't add or subtract, save for maybe a few ensemble members, the main characters stay the same.

Rumble you made me giggle with the comment about Intelligent lights and "dumb" ones. As a lighting designer/director I sometimes think the "dumb"/conventional lights are smarter than the "Intelligent"/moving lights at times, sometimes moving lights are more of a hassle than they are worth. And it is oh so true about lighting becoming more and more computerized...most if not all major theatres now control their lights through some sort of computerized board. And I know I mentioned all you needed was someone to push the go button..I just remembered in the tour that I am going out with in the fall...I don't even have to push the go button...everything is controlled by one system..the video/sound/lights are all run by the computer..I just have to sit at the board in case the computer 'burps'

Denise

[darkmage]

If memory serves, the American composer ALW was thinking of for the US version of Cats was Michael Bennett. But he was dying of AIDS at the time, I think he died in 85, 86? Something like that.

Changing the characters or the choreography is heresy in my book.

[demeter_cat2010]

I would'nt mind seeing CATS change a little bit. But personally, I love the junkyard set and love it just the way it is.. NO changes...(except maybe an SUV car..that was funny)

[Pounce]

[Pounce]

[Jemibub]

I can see maybe a a few minutes of just pure dialog between each song; sure it would make the show longer but in that time it could also boost the story.


I can see an adding of characters; given that they are behind the scenes mostly. Neutural Colors.


Maybe for the set, since this will be the US version, in the far distance of the background you see the new york city skyline .

I can see kittens fitting over an over-sized liter bottle soda. Or a cat sitting in an over-sized stroller.

[Drumdraper]

No! Stay away from Cats II or Cats: The Sequel. Disney was trying to gain the rights to the poems, but Valerie Eliot, his wife, refused to sell them to Disney because she felt they would have become cutesy cats. Valerie Eliot felt that Dsiney's views/themes were not what her husband had in mine for his cat poems.

I can easily imagine what would have happened with those poems today if Disney had made a movie from them. We probably would be seeing Cats II or something like that being churned from the cheap-quel factory. By now they would be working on Cats III, since Disney is running out of titles to make sequels to.

But no, leave the characters as they are. Perhaps reimagine the costume designs:" making the cats' coloring the same, but different markings or something. Leave the songs, add maybe something or take away something like Bustopher Jones.

But take it all away and as people have mentioned before, we would not have Cats anymore.

[Jemibub]

I can actually see them going back the original idea of Rumpleteazer and Mungojerrie as Puppets ... Minues the horrid clown costumes.

A cat, doesn't have to be Misto like it originaly was, sits in the corner with two small puppets who look like the real Rumpleteazer and Mungojerrie; the other cats watch the puppet show as the real ones perform the song.

[darkmage]