Talented cast makes CdA ‘Cats’ enjoyable
Two seconds after walking into Schuler Auditorium, you’ll know that the Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre’s production of “Cats” does not have the multimillion-dollar budget of the Broadway and touring shows.
The set, while ingeniously designed by Michael McGiveney, doesn’t have the wow factor of the original. It is more of a junkyard perimeter than an entire stage-filling junkyard. About the only thing it has in the way of bells and whistles is a string of lights not much fancier than Christmas lights.
The costumes, too, have a more homemade look than those expensive touring concoctions.
And you know what? I enjoyed this low-budget version more than I did any of the four high-budget versions I have seen.
Somehow, this homegrown Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre version makes it easier to separate the show from its hype. For the first time, I was able to watch “Cats” as a simple show, not an expensive spectacle. I was able to appreciate it for what it is: a modest, whimsical vehicle for a series of fun musical numbers about cats. It is, essentially, a kid’s show.
Now, when I say I enjoyed this show more than any of the other versions, you must understand that the bar is not set high. This is not – and never will be – one of my favorite musicals. No matter how it’s performed, it will always lack two essential elements: a rich, full musical score and, well, a plot.
At intermission, I heard someone say, “I don’t think I’m following the story.”
Join the crowd. Based loosely on T.S. Eliot poems, it is really just a series of vignettes about individual cats. It has a loose theme about one cat being chosen to be sent to the “heaviside layer” to be reborn, but this theme is ignored during most of the numbers.
In essence, “Cats” is an excuse to watch dancers put on their cat moves and perform a variety show using different styles: rock star, vaudeville and Roaring ‘20s shimmy, to name a few.
Which is why this production works. An immensely talented cast sinks its claws into these numbers, guided with obvious expertise by director Michael Ericson and choreographer Ross Cornell, both of whom have toured professionally with “Cats.”
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: The talent level of the Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre is easily on the level of the national touring shows. This ensemble delivered the show with loads of energy and well-observed feline body language.
“Cats” never has been a star vehicle – you can’t even recognize most of the heavily made-up performers. Yet there are some stars in this production, no doubt about it.
Steve Booth sent the audience wild as Rum Tum Tugger, a leonine cross between Elvis and Mick Jagger. Jason Snow fronted a terrific railroad-themed number as the skinny Skimbleshanks. Kendal Hartse transformed herself expertly from the roly-poly Jennyanydots into the shimmying Jellylorum. Frank Jewett and Melissa Fleck were like a classic vaudeville act with their funny and acrobatic duo of Mungojerrie and Rumpleteaser.
Best of all, from a musical standpoint, was Thara Cooper as Grizabella, the Glamour Cat. Her rendition of “Memory,” the show’s key song, was precise, beautifully phrased and delivered with careful attention to the pensive meaning of the lyrics.
With apologies beforehand to Andrew Lloyd Webber fans, the music of “Cats” is at best forgettable and at worst annoying. The orchestration is part of the problem, heavy on the cheesy-sounding synthesizers. The rest of the problem is middling melodies inexpertly matched with the words.
Except for “Memory.” This may be the best Lloyd Webber melody of all time – and one of the most emotionally resonant in musical theater. He and his producers knew a good thing when they had it, so they use this song several times, including for the show’s climax.
When Cooper sings it, is indeed a “Memory.”