Cats

Went and saw theatrebits production of Cats tonight and must say it was a bit of a mixed bag for me but overall I still went out happy. I'm sorry I don't have the program so can't mention any names. For starters, I don't know if it is an ongoing thing at the Regal but everytime I go there there seems to be some issues with microphones and getting feedback fed through to the audience. I thought the cast handled this problem very well with minimal disruption to their acting. Well done. i was also a little concerned with some lighting choices. there was a point where old deutoronomy was under some i think it was blue light and his make-up turned red. Later on in the show a friend of mine remarked at home MaCavity's make-up resembled old Deutoronomy's red face earlier in the show. Don't really know about that one. The orchestra seemed a little confused at times also, but great to hear a live band rather than just cans. Okay the stand-outs. As a fairly full on dancing show you gotta hand it to the casting director for choosing, what seemed like a very young cast, all very capable of dancing their little hearts out. Big kudos to Victoria. You have got to see this girl... Absolutely amazing, I don't think she has a spine. Mr Mistofolees was also brilliant. I have never seen such a flexible bloke before and as a bit of a dancer myself it made me feel very inadequate. MaCavity was another brilliant dancer. How she backflipped all over the stage with that huge tail I'll never know. Overall the dancing was very effective although I did get a little tired of seeing the same group of cats dancing out front all the time while the rest of the cast sat on boxes laughing and playing and doing other such catty stuff. Ohh yes the tap dancing beetles were very cute although I thought they could have smiled a bit. Even though they had helmets on we could still see their mouths and they all looked bored. Okay enough about the dancing and onto the singing. First of all the two standouts would have to be Old Deutoronomy and Grizabella. Both brilliant and very strong vocally. There was a very noticable difference between them and the rest of the leads. I was however a little concerned with some of the minor roles. Jemima for one was very weak vocally. She had the right look for the part but seemed to be struggling with the high notes and wasn't very strong. I notcied though that she is also playing Bombalarina which is a strange combination (one belt role and one sweet soprano- me thinks some funny casting going on there). would love to see her do Bombalarina and see if she fares better. Jellylorum was another who seemed to be struggling. She offered up a good rendition of Gus the theatre cat (supported by a brilliant Gus- i wish two cats could go to the heaviside layer) but then returned to the stage as Griddlebone and lost it a lot especially on the high notes. I really don't think she was right for this part. She was clearly uncomfortable with the high notes and you could tell it wasn't quite right. Low point of the show would have to have been Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer. Mainly because it is my favourite piece in the show and they had a lot to live up to but it was lacking. It started very strong but then they seemed so puffed from the choreography and huge amount of action that they lost it a lot towards the end. Although I did love that they kept all the acro in it. It was good work for such a demanding song. Absolute high point would have to be Rum Tum Tugger. Loved it! The girl chorus was so brilliant and how they got 30 girls to scream and stop on cue I'll never know. Rum Tum was very good, and in comparison to Munkustrap, actually looked comfortable to be dressed in lycra. Maybe a little too comfortable. Meow! He had a lot of fun and so did the audience. Before I forget and sign off... The chorus cats were brilliant. They all made a mention of their single lines and were always interesting to watch. It was a nice change from the usual bored faces of those in the background which seems to be the norm in amatuer shows. All in all it was a great show. Had a wonderful time. Congratulations to the whole cast you should be proud.