Cats by Ocracy in Wollongong

Discussion about the recent production of Cats in Wollongong by The 'Ocracy.

I was involved in Cats by the Ocracy in Wollongong. Through the quite short season we played to over 3600 people. Almost all of the feedback that I have heard has been extremely positive. I cannot fathom the negativity, and outright jealousy by some members of the theatre community in Wollongong! They are a bunch of fossils and theatre snobs that seemingly cannot resist criticizing something refreshing and different!! I held off becoming a part of the theatre community because of a perception I had that it was full of theatre snobs and conservatives. Someone I know got involved in an Ocracy show and it shattered my perceptions - Ocracy were open, warm, friendly and down to earth. It was because of this that I became involved in an Ocracy show. Recently I went and saw the Rockdale Mucical Society perform Cats. It was the first live performance I had seen of the show. It was amazing to see! The costumes, sets, dancing, singing were all brilliantly staged and performed, but at numerous times the blocking and coreography lapsed back to a default position of mimicing the movie. That said though I was thouroughly entertained and would not hesitate to see another of their shows. A similar thing happened with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat staged by Merlin Live earlier this year in Wollongong. Almost the entire show was almost a direct mimic of the movie - it would have been far cheaper and easier to buy the DVD than to go to the theatre to watch the exact same thing - I am not kidding - ALMOST IDENTICAL! (sets, costumes, choreography, blocking, everything!) Again I was thoroughly entertained and some of the performances were fantastic, but it would have been nice to see some originality from the "creative" team. The Ocracy on the opposite side of the coin seem to approach each new project with fresh ideas and deliver a product that is exciting and new and different in every case. Ocracy's Cats was set on rooftops and the choreography and blocking were exciting and very different to the movie. It is all too easy to mimic a well known movie, but it takes a lot more creativity and skill to craft something original and different and have it work as well as it did. I think The Ocracy pulled it off with flying colours!! Aaron and his team are a bunch of very talented, creative and skillful people. The Ocracys show was exciting to perform; original; acted, sung and danced by some very talented people; and I believe thoroughly enjoyed by almost everyone that saw it. The choreography was amazing, the costumes were dazzling, the set was incredible. I am pleased to have been a part of this show and would not hesitate to be involved any future projects that the Ocracy put on, despite what one or 2 noisy, unprogressive, fogys and critic-wannabes say. Keep up the good work guys!!!!!!

I went to see this production of CATS by Ocracy. I was blown away by the choreography and the energy of this production. There were three performers who stood out and they were Erika Day - Jellylorum, Daryl Bryant - Gus, Daniel Downing - Munkstrap. It wasn't a perfect production - sure there were weaknesses (ie Grizabella, Jemima, Sillabub, Lady Griddlebone). It would have been great to see this production after a few more rehersals and some voice coaching for the aforementioned. I just feel there could have been a little more fine tuning. At times the lighting left the costumes looking dull. There were also a few technical problems with sound. But this was an amature production with fresh, great ideas, put together with a great deal of dedication and professionalism. The orchestra were great, the dancing electric, and the flow was well paced. Congratulations Ocracy.., I hope to see more productions in the future.

I also went to see CATS at Win, and I must say I was reluctant to spend money on another "Ocracy" production, but curiosity got the better of me!! I was pleasantly surprised, and actually very impressed. Great dancing, awesome set, sound a bit iffy at times but overall bearable, along with the lighting. The Orchestra were great also. In my opinion the standouts of this show were - Munkastrap, Growltiger, and Gus. Also the four main girls were fantastic. I actually thought Grizabella was fantastic, and although very different from the original, her contemporary voice gave new life to the song "memory", what an awesome voice! Other mentions should be given to Jennyannydots and Bustopher Jones they were very funny to watch... All in all well done to the Ocracy, keep up the good work!! RC

Even though I strongly disagree with you about Grizabella (her singing was flat and her performance unimaginative), I agree that Jennyanydots and Bustopher Jones were fun to watch! Jess

I was involved in Cats at Win Entertainment Centre and i think that everyone involved in the production both on and off stage played a significant part in the over all success that was the Ocracy's CATS.. those poeple above who critisize certain poeple on stage and their performance have no idea the dedication and stamina each of these poeple have and the passion they have to perform.. id like to see you get up in front of 1600 poeple and nail a note or dance step that requires much concertration and hard wokr.. we had been rehursing for 9 hr days both in dance, music and singing and the amount of work that was put in behind the scenes and on the stage was phenominal.. not only did it require the hard work of all involved, but also required determination and heart, and provided a once in a lifetime opportunity for many of our performers to expeirence being part of this incredible production.. the feeling we all got on stage was incredible and no amount of critisism can change our experience of this show and performance.. Grizabella has an amazing range in her singing voice, Memory is on of the hardest songs vocally to perform and she nailed it. Sillabub and Jemima are young girls who have found their angelic voices and were given the opportunity to use those voices on stage, which they did an exceptional job, the person above who critisised them; you try and get up in front of a crowd at 11 years old and sing by yourself.. and you have the nerve to critisise Griddlebone? this girl is a classical soprano, and has performed in more plays and musicals than you would know of, you should have seen her profile in the programme.. you try hitting notes two octaves above an average note, then we'll see what ppl say about your performance..she did fabulously..all of the prnicipals studied their characters for months, not just their voice and chorregraphy, but their facial expressions, hand movements, positions of the legs and back to mimic the physiche of a CAT.. the show was amazing and anyone who wishes to critisise keep it to yourself and dont blatently pick out characters who may not have impressed you as much.. all the principal characters, principal dance cor, suporting dance cor, junior dance cor, pussycats, and memebrs of the orchestra and choir created a team of determined performers.. the expeirence that mslef and every person involved in this production had is priceless and no amount of critisism from anybody can change what we learnt, what we did, or how we performed.. we were up there on that stage doing what we do, what we love to do and what we were given the opportunity to do, and that is to perform... :)

What a shame that the only thing you concentrated on in my comment were the negative things.., I was also very positive. I did acknowledge the dedication and originality of the performance and also stated that I really enjoyed the production. But I simply pointed out that there aspects that could be worked on. If you don't want to make your next performance better, perhaps you should not be on the stage at all. Jess

i know you put in some positive comments which im sure all of us performers appreciate, but they are positive 'aspects' you were negative about the poeple which is blatently rude to single out certain performers and critisise their performance and abilities online where anybody including those mentioned performers can access these pages.u need to remember that this was a community performance not a proffessionally paid show and negativity on your part on certain poeple is just rude and not nessesary.. i was a prinicpal character in this show and it was a team effort, each person no matter their position on and off stage made it successful, and the Ocracy did an amazing job coaching all of us.. no amount of your negativity or comment in the last line of your last posting can makes a difference in the experince we had.. who are u to say who should be on and off stage? the majority of principals and PDC; we have been performing our entire lives all over the state country and the world and your attitude doesnt have any sigificance to our positive experiences in theatre and stage production.. be mature and keep negative ideas and notions to yourself Mya

In a previous post I did acknowledge that I realised it was an amature production. I am not going to turn this into a personal slinging match and it is sad that you have. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. Your post speaks for itself in regard to your maturity. I really wish you all the best for the future. Ocracy really did an amazing job with you obviously.

Did you charge for tickets. If you did then the people who came to see it certainly have the right to criticise the performance. If you lack the maturity to deal with informed criticism then you should not be on stage. Find another endeavour. Is that all there is? Well if that's all there is my friend, then let's keep dancing. www.tonymoore.id.au

Mya, I have to agree with Logos, if someone paid to come and see your show, they are entitled to have an opinion, you may not agree with it, but they are entitled to one. And i believe Jess' final comment was - "Congratulations Ocracy.., I hope to see more productions in the future" Now this to me does not seem to me to be someone who is completely negative and immature in their comments. I believe the negativity has come from the response from you in browbeating a person for daring to have an opinion that is very obviously not one that you agree with. And unfortunately for Ocracy, you may have just lost a paying audience member, and while you may say that is only one person, that person will talk to someone else who will talk to someone else, you can see where i am heading with this. And even if it is only 20 people that don't go and see Ocracy's next show, that is 20 bums on seats that you missed out on showing what Ocracy is capable of presenting. Criticism is most times not a personal attack. Just remember that. I would be interested to know what 'cat' you were tho. "Don't let the Bastards Get You Down" Carolyn

No worries guys, cheers..i guessi was upset at the fact certain ppl were mentioned, and im a passionate performer and i was just worried they woulld take offence to being named.. cheers for the feedback, take care all

wow what nasty comments off hypicritical theatre wanna be's! i was also a very big part of cats and i must say to sit and say that grizabella was "flat and unimaginative" must be a bloody good singer, i have been in many theatre productions in my career but i have to say that CATS was the most enjoyable!!! i would work for the ocracy again!!!! And how awesome performing for 3600 ppl in total and at the win entertainment center not many community theatre groups will get to expeirence that!!!! soryy for gettin upset with the comments but come off it who the hell is purrrrrrrfect lol!!!

Hey all I also was involved in cats and must say I loved it. I understand that this is a public forum and that everyone is entitled to there own opinion its one of the great things about the net being able to bounce of one another like this. I was a named role in the PDC and must say I have never met a bunch of warm, loving, understanding, funny and down to earth people in my life. I had done productions when I was young and had a few years off. Now being 20 I forgot how much fun it was. We preformed to the community but really we had made our own community within the show its self. The cast had a large age range from old to very young and it was amazing to see a group off people come together and create something that ended up being amazing. I only wish I could of sat in the audience to see what you guys were seeing. Now 3 or 4 weeks after the show has finished I miss it so much and I bet I’m not alone with that. I’m not sure what member of the cast has written in here but I know where they are coming from our cast was a very close nit group and we all went through a lot during the months putting this show together and as you do when you have been chucked into a room with amazing people you develop strong relationships on bonds almost like a second family, for some of us it was family. So when we hear comments made about our family members, who wouldn’t speak up and say hey settle down. Id just likes to say that I loved cats. Not only the feeling I got when I first stepped onto the stage in the overture of the first show and seen that amazing audience but the feeling I got when walking in the door of Figtree high school hall and seeing hundreds of smiling faces. That’s what I will remember most. Ps has anybody seen skimble?

I think it is disgraceful that people engage in productive criticism, especially in a public forum such as this website. Doesn't anyone realise that having an contradictory opinion should not be tolerated? I think that anyone that has ever been involved in a production, in any way, should get nothing but praise and that any hypicritical (sic) wanna (sic) be's (sic) that wanna criticise anyone should go fuck themselves. Excuse my language, but I do feel strongly about this. I did not see this production of Cats, nor have I ever been to Wollongong, but I have to say that it was the best fucking (sorry again) show I have ever seen in my entire life. If you didn't appreciate every nuance of this production, you're fucked.

Haha! Love the sarcasm! (I'm being serious) Sticky Apple Legs www.freewebs.com/stickyapplelegs Puppets in Melbourne www.thepromptcopy.com/pip

Yeah, cool daniel. Of course a show is brilliant if a bunch of people have fun putting it on. Who cares what people think about it. Is that all there is? Well if that's all there is my friend, then let's keep dancing. www.tonymoore.id.au

I was in CATS. It was fun, and good to do. From Paris to Berlin, should have been the name though. The dancing was okey, though more could have been done with various numbers. Grizabella was excellent. The lady playing that roxked, as did Gus and ZJellylorum. (NOTE TO NEGATIVE GRIZABELLA-HATERS ABOVE: GRIZABELLA FRIGGIN ROCKS. ID LIKE TO SZEE YOU ALL SING AS WELL AS SHE DID) - 1 2 3 4, HI 5! The singing should have been done more together though. Maybe everyone should do the warm-up where ytou hide your eyes and count to ten. The singing was okay. The acting was fairly good. Munkustrap was awesome :-D .. very impressive for a boy who looks so young. He was great! The acrobatics was very entertaining. And the girls who sung Macavity were sexy! There was a tiny bit too much smoke in sections, though. well that's my opinion. Not worht much, but oh well. GoodNight!

Sorry, have to agree with Jess. Grizzabella was not the best on Saturday night when I went. If this offends those who are her friends I'm sorry, but she really wasn't very good. Rob

OK, I have only just seen all these comments about Cats. I went and saw Cats in Wollongong, and I have to say that it was Awesome! I am glad someone mentioned Jellylorum, because when she sang I got a chill up my spine (which is a good thing)! And Gus, Munkstrap and Jennyanydots were really good and funny too. I refuse to say anything bad about anyone and my taste may not be the same as others, but I think it is good to mention performers who really stood out for me... other performers who stood out were mostly dancers. The four main dancers were excellent. There was a lot happening that I wish I could have gone to see it again to see some of the bits I must have missed. Well done Ocracy, looking forward to your next show!