Cats (2019) (1 Viewer)

[TJPC]

The best way to experience this show is as a cast album.

 

[Johnny Angell]

The best way to experience this show is as a cast album.

The best way to experience this show is as a stage show. I have always loved it.

 

[Jake Lipson]

The cast albums don't give you the extraordinary dancing. The plot, if you could call it that, is paper-thin, but where the production succeeds is on its visual spectacle and great choreography.

I don't think Hooper will be able to use his extreme closeup tactic on Cats as much as he did with Les Mis, because if you're in a closeup on somebody's face, you're not seeing their feet dancing or their bodies move, which is an essential component for this show that wasn't really as prevalent in Les Mis.

 

[TJPC]

Sorry, but I have attended hundreds of musicals in my 67 years and literally have every broadway CD available and my reaction to my 3 viewings of CATs was: ,
although I love the music.​

 

[MielR]

I still have my sweatshirt and double-LP from when my mom took me to see it at the Winter Garden in 1984. Betty Buckley had already left the show (and honestly, if you hadn't told me, I wouldn't have known the difference), but fortunately we were able to see the great Terrence Mann as Rum Tum Tugger. I remember seeing this video on TV back in the 1980s:

 

[Jake Lipson]

In a gender swap, Judi Dench is Old Deuteronomy.

https://variety.com/2018/film/news/...uhI1oxJM5hyEXP40YZXS-bwdnVLDDpzEWi_V2PXUvOqeE

 

[Johnny Angell]

In a gender swap, Judi Dench is Old Deuteronomy.

https://variety.com/2018/film/news/...uhI1oxJM5hyEXP40YZXS-bwdnVLDDpzEWi_V2PXUvOqeE

That article says Dench was scheduled to play Grizabella in 1981 but an injury sidelined her. That character sings Memory and requires a great set of pipes. Was/Is Judi Dench in that category?

 

[Jake Lipson]

Was/Is Judi Dench in that category?

Yes she is. Among other various credits,she played Desiree in A Little Night Music in London in the '90s and there is an out-of-print cast album of that production. She could easily have handled Memory and done a terrific job with that role.

However, then we wouldn't have had Elaine Paige doing it, so with respect to Judi Dench, I think that worked out very well even in her absence.

 

[GlennF]

Yes, she certainly does not have the voice of Elaine Paige in her prime. Would have been a totally different sort of interpretation of the song. However, for a project I still have my doubts about, (not sure how they are going to handle the cat make-up) with the addition of Judi Dench and Idris Elba it has moved up to...gotta go. I love me some Judi Dench.

 

[GlennF]

Go the link above and you can hear Judi Dench singing Cabaret in 1968. She was the London Sally Bowles.

 

[bujaki]

Go the link above and you can hear Judi Dench singing Cabaret in 1968. She was the London Sally Bowles.

Sally Bowles is a "third-rate" chanteuse in the original stories. Thus was she conceived in the original play and movie starring Julie Harris. Jill Haworth, in the original Broadway cast, continued the tradition; and so have subsequent revivals. The super-talented Liza Minnelli was a glaring mistake in the film version because someone with her blazing talents would have never played in such a ratty hole of a cabaret.

 

[Matt Hough]

I have seen very talented people playing small time cabarets hoping to get noticed. Liza's casting didn't bother me at all especially since she was no beauty, something prized even more than talent back in the 1930s. Everyone has to start somewhere.

 

[bujaki]

I have seen very talented people playing small time cabarets hoping to get noticed. Liza's casting didn't bother me at all especially since she was no beauty, something prized even more than talent back in the 1930s. Everyone has to start somewhere.

Even Streisand had to start somewhere. However, I'm referring to Sally Bowles's talents as described by Isherwood in his Berlin Stories. The talents were not first rate, not even second rate. That's why all the cast albums feature singers who are not first rate singers (or at least affect not to be), whereas Liza doesn't fake her first-rate talents at all. Sally is supposed to be a mediocre talent in a seedy cabaret. Think The Blue Angel cabaret.

 

[Matt Hough]

But Cabaret on film is only loosely based on Isherwood's Berlin Stories anyway (and only grudgingly based on the Broadway musical Cabaret as well; I think Fosse was very eager to place his own stamp on HIS Cabaret which is one reason why he didn't follow Hal Prince's casting idea for Sally). Adapting Sally from third rate to undiscovered talent doesn't really do the story any grave harm.

 

[cinemiracle]

I vaguely, very vaguely (it’s been so long) that people thought the idea of young street punks dancing like they’re in a ballet, was preposterous. West Side Story the movie, became a huge hit and a fine film.

I don’t claim the Cats is of the same caliber of musical (it is a favorite of mine), but if I can except the dancers in the feline costumes on stage, I can accept them on the screen.

CATS is a much loved favourite of mine. Judith Dench was recently added to the cast., John Mills made his last screen appearance in the version specially filmed in London in a studio, for bluray release.That was a stunning production which was superior ,in my opinion, to the original stage production which ran for a generation in London.With dismal musical film versions of LES MISERABLES; THE PRODUCERS and PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, it is hoped that CATS will,as a film, be the classic that the stage show was. If it was filmed in 70mm, that would be a huge bonus.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Francesca Hayward is joining the cast in a new role written for the movie:

https://deadline.com/2018/11/cats-m...LQ-jkswQswE1XUnj1bvp3OAa5rT5kZNxmR6SKrQIzP02w

If it was filmed in 70mm, that would be a huge bonus.

There are no announced plans for that. I expect Hooper film it the same way he filmed Les Mis, so if you didn't like that, you may want to keep your expectations in check. His constant closeup approach won't work for Cats if they want to capture the dancing, but he's still the same director, so I see no reason he would choose 70mm this time.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Rebel Wilson is joining the cast as Jennyanydots:

https://deadline.com/2018/11/cats-m...-jennyanydots-andrew-lloyd-webber-1202504908/

 

[Jake Lipson]

Jason Derulo is the Rum Tum Tugger.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/jason-derulo-joins-cats-movie-1163119

This role was originated in the Broadway production by Terrance Mann, and I think he has one of the most fun songs.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Andy Blankenbuehler, who won Tonys for his choreography of Hamilton and Bandstand, will choreograph the film. He also worked on the recent Broadway revival of Cats.

https://deadline.com/2018/11/cats-andy-blankenbuehler-choreographer-hamilton-tony-winner-1202508345/

Unfortunately, the musical's original choreographer, Gillian Lynne, passed away earlier this year.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Ballet star Robert Fairchild -- who was Tony-nominated for starring in the musical version of An American in Paris in the Gene Kelly role -- is joining the Cats film.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/artic...tar-Robert-Fairchild-Joins-CATS-Film-20181129