CATS THE MUSICAL

CATS - THE MUSICAL, Capitol Theatre, 1-29 November 2015, then Hobart, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth to 8 May 2016. Photography above - the whole company; right Delta Goodrem.

BY FELICITY DAYHEW, junior reviewer.

Fur, whiskers, tails and all, Cats the Musical  is amazing and will take your breath away. T.S Eliot’s book of poems is beautifully made into a stunning musical with fabulous music, amazing costumes and actors that will convince you they are really cats themselves.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s music is so good there are no words to describe it. But I will try. Some will make you want to get up and dance, others so beautiful you will just sit and listen. All of it was absolutely extraordinary although my favourite song is definitely “Memory” sung so well by Delta Goodrem. Some people were nearly crying.

The costumes are beautiful. All the actors look just like cats with different patterns of fur. The colourful costumes portray the character, like Grizabella’s (Delta Goodrem) costume is grey and un-colourful, because Grizabella is a sad, depressed character when she’s not accepted back in the Jellicle Cat group. Whereas, Mungojerrie (Brent Osborne) and Rumpleteaser (Dominique Hamiton) have very bright, vibrant costumes, because they are cheeky, bright and lively characters.

The choreography of the musical is extremely cat-like by Gillian Lynne. (We have two cats, so I know.) They prance and delicately move all around the stage. The choreography is very agile, you can actually believe they are cats. The dances also incorporate the mood of the dancers and the story.

I recommend Cats the Musical  for the whole family and you will never look at cats the same way again.