This is a translated version of this.
I saw Cats the musical live in 2017, and though it's been three years, I still remember the show with great warmth. I absolutely loved the West End production what came to Finland. I wrote about it back then, but as I did not wrote in English, I decided to translate what I said about it back then.
At Saturday I got a seat from the upper row. It was far away from the stage but I saw the group dances very well, and there was a screen that I could watch when I needed to see the cats faces.
At Sunday I got a better seat from front of the stage. This time I was not alone, as my mother was with me.
From the Overture and Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats I got massive hit of euphoria. The orchestra played perfectly, chorus was amazing and from the group dancing I could see that the performers could really dance. I've watched the DVD so many times that I know the dance numbers and what cat sings what part from memory, and it was interesting to see that the musical had changed in 20 years.
Choreography was pretty much the same, but some of the dance movements were done by different cats and the singers were partly different from the DVD.
The only thing I did not like from the musical was that Old Gumbie Cat's stepping music was changed. I tried to look for a video about it, is this an old thing I was not aware of, but could not find anything. The music was not same as the DVD or the soundtracks that I own, so I was little bit confused about it.
Rum Tum Tugger had an excellent actor this time (John Brannoch). He played Tugger amazingly, the sung his title track right. His movements were fun to watch, and he was a pretty good singer. This time Tugger had his original look, as few years ago there was a trailer where he got extremely bad look. Funnily both show's had the same flaw, as the microphones stopped working for few seconds during Tugger's song. It was also interesting to see, that the transition from Rum Tum Tugger to Grizabella the Glamour Cat works just as badly live as it works when recorded.
One of my favourite scenes from the musical belongs to Mungojerrie (Joe Henry) and Rumpelteazer (Meg Astin). Their song has a very fun melody and they perform an amazing dance. The double cartwheel is one of my favorite parts of the musical, which I'm never tired of.
Scenery from the musical. Sorry for the bad quality, my phone's camera does not work well in the dark.
Old Deuteronomy has never been my favorite part from the musical, but when I heard it live I really liked it. The melody of the song is really beautiful and the cat chorus sounded angelic.
There were some changes of the songs, some of the songs were shorter and the Gus the Theatre Cat scene was made longer. Gus also sung Munkustrap's part from The Awful Battle of Pekes and Pollicles. I was not sure if I liked it, since Munkustrap one of my favorites and Gus is not.
Macavity and Mister Mistoffelees are both one of my favorite scenes of the musical, and they were done really well. Mistoffelees (Robbie McMillan) was casted very well and did over 30 a la seconde turns which I watched both times mouth openand I dare to dream that I will do even 10 foettes which will never happen
Macavity is one of my favorite numbers from the musical and I fell in love with Bombalurina (Charlie Johnson) a who danced her sexy moves perfectly and and was just amazing. The same could not be said about Demeter (Agnes Pure). Demeter is one of my favorites from the musical, and this version of Demeter was not very good. In all its simplicity she could not sing. Her voice was hoarse, weak and nothing like musical of this scale should have. She danced well, but I still did not like her.
Memory is the most known song from the musical, and Joanna Ampil sung it well. She sung it so well and I had goosebumps. Even though I loved this version of Grizabella, I felt like Joanna Ampil was little bit too young for the role, but that's probably just me.
Joanna Ampil's version of Memory.
Munkustrap was not played by Matt Krzan, but understudy Robin Lake. Even though I'm not the biggest fan of understudies, I liked his version of Munkustrap. Munkustrap is the protector of the tribe and the second highest of the hierarchy, usually the character has authority, but this version of Munkustrap was very relaxed and soft, but commanded the cats. I've always liked this character and I like that different actors make different interpretations.
I'm ashamed to admit, but when Journey to the Heaviside Layer came, I sung with it. The musical is so captivating and I know it from memory, that I just had to.
At Sunday I watched the show with my mother, and at the end we stayed listening the orchestral music. They of course played an instrumental version of Memory. I wanted to sing it, but could not remember the words, and my mother said I should learn the song, since it would fit my voice so well. :D
At Hartwall Arena there was a lot things on sale. For example there was the flyer program, Broadway recording from 1982, and the poetry book what the musical is based on. The flyer program costed 15 euro, and was better quality what most flyer programs are. The program had many beautiful pictures, description of the plot of the musical, and an interview from Andrew Llyod Webber.
I saw Cats the musical live in 2017, and though it's been three years, I still remember the show with great warmth. I absolutely loved the West End production what came to Finland. I wrote about it back then, but as I did not wrote in English, I decided to translate what I said about it back then.
At Saturday I got a seat from the upper row. It was far away from the stage but I saw the group dances very well, and there was a screen that I could watch when I needed to see the cats faces.
At Sunday I got a better seat from front of the stage. This time I was not alone, as my mother was with me.
From the Overture and Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats I got massive hit of euphoria. The orchestra played perfectly, chorus was amazing and from the group dancing I could see that the performers could really dance. I've watched the DVD so many times that I know the dance numbers and what cat sings what part from memory, and it was interesting to see that the musical had changed in 20 years.
Choreography was pretty much the same, but some of the dance movements were done by different cats and the singers were partly different from the DVD.
The only thing I did not like from the musical was that Old Gumbie Cat's stepping music was changed. I tried to look for a video about it, is this an old thing I was not aware of, but could not find anything. The music was not same as the DVD or the soundtracks that I own, so I was little bit confused about it.
Rum Tum Tugger had an excellent actor this time (John Brannoch). He played Tugger amazingly, the sung his title track right. His movements were fun to watch, and he was a pretty good singer. This time Tugger had his original look, as few years ago there was a trailer where he got extremely bad look. Funnily both show's had the same flaw, as the microphones stopped working for few seconds during Tugger's song. It was also interesting to see, that the transition from Rum Tum Tugger to Grizabella the Glamour Cat works just as badly live as it works when recorded.
One of my favourite scenes from the musical belongs to Mungojerrie (Joe Henry) and Rumpelteazer (Meg Astin). Their song has a very fun melody and they perform an amazing dance. The double cartwheel is one of my favorite parts of the musical, which I'm never tired of.
Old Deuteronomy has never been my favorite part from the musical, but when I heard it live I really liked it. The melody of the song is really beautiful and the cat chorus sounded angelic.
There were some changes of the songs, some of the songs were shorter and the Gus the Theatre Cat scene was made longer. Gus also sung Munkustrap's part from The Awful Battle of Pekes and Pollicles. I was not sure if I liked it, since Munkustrap one of my favorites and Gus is not.
Macavity and Mister Mistoffelees are both one of my favorite scenes of the musical, and they were done really well. Mistoffelees (Robbie McMillan) was casted very well and did over 30 a la seconde turns which I watched both times mouth open
Macavity is one of my favorite numbers from the musical and I fell in love with Bombalurina (Charlie Johnson) a who danced her sexy moves perfectly and and was just amazing. The same could not be said about Demeter (Agnes Pure). Demeter is one of my favorites from the musical, and this version of Demeter was not very good. In all its simplicity she could not sing. Her voice was hoarse, weak and nothing like musical of this scale should have. She danced well, but I still did not like her.
Memory is the most known song from the musical, and Joanna Ampil sung it well. She sung it so well and I had goosebumps. Even though I loved this version of Grizabella, I felt like Joanna Ampil was little bit too young for the role, but that's probably just me.
Munkustrap was not played by Matt Krzan, but understudy Robin Lake. Even though I'm not the biggest fan of understudies, I liked his version of Munkustrap. Munkustrap is the protector of the tribe and the second highest of the hierarchy, usually the character has authority, but this version of Munkustrap was very relaxed and soft, but commanded the cats. I've always liked this character and I like that different actors make different interpretations.
I'm ashamed to admit, but when Journey to the Heaviside Layer came, I sung with it. The musical is so captivating and I know it from memory, that I just had to.
At Sunday I watched the show with my mother, and at the end we stayed listening the orchestral music. They of course played an instrumental version of Memory. I wanted to sing it, but could not remember the words, and my mother said I should learn the song, since it would fit my voice so well. :D
At Hartwall Arena there was a lot things on sale. For example there was the flyer program, Broadway recording from 1982, and the poetry book what the musical is based on. The flyer program costed 15 euro, and was better quality what most flyer programs are. The program had many beautiful pictures, description of the plot of the musical, and an interview from Andrew Llyod Webber.
