Still Purrrr-ing after all these Years

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s CATS, the 20-something year old road horse, is currently on a week-long stopover at ASU’s Gammage Auditorium as a “special” part of the M&I Bank Broadway Across America season.

One would think that a show that is billed as “Now and Forever” and that has amateur rights available for regional theatres would be tired and shoddily produced as it continues on a national tour; not so.

In fact, I believe this current tour to be the best production of the family friendly entertainment vehicle I have seen in years. The production is tight and runs at a nice clip making the actual running time of nearly 2 hours and 20 minutes only seem like 80 minutes. A lesser production could make the same running time almost unbearable.

This production of CATS still boasts the now iconic striped, fuzzy spandex body suits and oversized junk yard items, including the tire that ascends to the “Heavyside Layer”, we have come to expect from the show. The sets and costumes, originally created by John Napier, are re-created for this tour by Raymond Huessy. Huessy’s recreations are vibrant, sleek and a feast for the eyes, making the journey into the dilapidated junk yard visually interesting.

Obviously, CATS would not be CATS without the singing and dancing, well, CATS. The show’s ballet, jazz and tap infused choreography, originally created by Gillian Lynne, is meticulously and masterfully re-created by Richard Stafford. Stafford, who also serves as the tour’s director, keeps the dance numbers and other musical staging taught and moving from number to number with precision and energy.

The CATS ensemble of singers/dancers/actors all deliver strong and energetic performances. The only unexceptional performance was of the dance number of “Mungogerri and Rumpleteazer” played by Jonathan Burke and Erica Cenci, respectively. The duo seemed to struggle a bit with both the choreography and the song; noticeably huffing and puffing through the tongue twister phrases and marking the dance steps.

The singular standout performance was that of Anastasia Lange, who played the outcast and forgotten Grizabella the Glamour Cat. Ms. Lange’s physical performance captured the rickety, arthritic and dejected qualities needed to evoke sympathy instead of giggles from an audience waiting for character to launch into the power ballad/aria that is “Memory”. Although Grizabella has very little stage time, Ms. Lange commands the stage with every entrance even if it’s for a moment. Ms. Lange possesses a fantastic rangy voice with a vibrato that caresses each note as they soar to the rafters. When her beautiful mix of chest and head voice launched into a full-fledged belt of “touch me, it’s so easy to leave me…” the hairs on my arm stood on end as the tones ran straight through my body; she stopped the show. In my opinion, her performance of “Memory” rivaled that of Betty Buckley, Elaine Paige and yes, Barbra Streisand.

Based on this production, CATS is truly “Now and Forever” and will continue to delight and entertain audiences young and old for many years to come.