"Cats"
So for those of you who have been following my twitter feed, you already know that I went to see Cats last night. And if you stuck around to catch the tweet I sent from my cell phone at intermission, you probably have a good idea of what I think of the show. Stephen has asked for an explicit blog post however, so here you go...
First of all, I need to stress that every single last comment I heard from other patrons of the show was positive. The audience left energised and happy with the show. So clearly, my feelings are in the minority, but here they are: it's Disney on ice... with cats.
I'll tell you why it's called "Cats" and not something more imaginative: it's because that's all it is, a bunch of people on stage dressed like cats introducing themselves to 80's synthesiser music... for two hours. There was no plot. There was however a lot of hard to discern lyrics (no dialogue, ever -- just singing) drowned out by grossly simplistic music. No one bothered with harmony, everything we heard was pure, monotonous melody.
Think of that painful boredom that sweeps over you when you listen to a children's choir: everyone singing the same part, none of it interesting. Now put them in cat costumes. That's it.
I can't blame the players. They were brilliant given the source material. The dancing was impressive, but in the end, just a third of what should have been a whole. Colour me grossly unimpressed.
I don't regret going to the show. If I hadn't, I would have always wondered what had everyone so excited. I do however regret staying after the first half. I could have been doing something more interesting... like my taxes, or watching paint dry.
