1.5 out of 5.0 stars
“Yeah, no, it was, um, great….”, said a stranger unconvincingly to his friend during the interval bathroom visit, “just very confusing”.
The lady next to us asked, “is it over?”
And a third person told me, “well that could have been in an email.”
We were only half way through Cats at Theatre Royal in Sydney and people were not digging it.
This is obviously a unique show that has enjoyed incredible success. It is quirky and will never fit neatly into any category, which is fine. But even taking that into account, these reactions show that it has lost its mojo and appeal to many.
I will try to unpack why, on our night at least, this show fell very short.
But first
I want to say first though that the cast were in most respects very good. They could definitely sing. There were also some characters whose energy attempted to rescue this performance. The actors behind Munkustrap, Mungojerrie and Rumpletezer, and Skimbleshanks all had entertaining scenes and offered hope that the show was about to turn good, but even their valiant efforts didn’t save Cats.
To the other cast members, it’s not your fault. You are all incredibly gifted in your art. I wish I could do what you do. But if I am going to review honestly and not just say that everything I go to is an “amazing must-see”, then I have to say Cats was one of the biggest disappointments I have sat through. The drunk 50-something year olds talking behind me were annoying at first, but ultimately it became clear I wasn’t missing much anyway.
What killed the cat?
Cats failed for multiple reasons.
Let’s start with the seats. We paid $120 per person for seats in the third row of the Circle that were not marked as restricted view. These would be considered good seats. Indeed, we thought they were great initially but it became clear that we were actually missing a noteworthy amount of the show. Several entrances and interactions, including of main characters, were beneath us and completely blocked, too far back amongst the stalls. A platform on the top right of stage was blocked too. The planning had not taken the theatre layout into account.
Cats does have some really good tunes. The livelier songs done by the characters above are genuinely enjoyable. But it’s dated and the story and message are nebulous. At times it seems more like a ballet or dance eisteddfod, with long instrumental dance periods with no words at all either spoken or sung. But, hey, if that’s your thing you might like it.
A lot of that dancing was good, but the ensemble dancing was often out of sync. Maybe it was meant to be cause all cats are different but to me it wasn’t sharp like I am used to seeing.
At least twice, a spotlight behind the audience was turned on, fully expanded, casting an embarrassing bright white light over the entire stage, which was supposed to be dingy and underground. It took them way too long to turn it off on each occasion.
The Second Act started with more gusto and we thought perhaps things were looking up. But, just like in the first half, a couple of numbers in we were back to the slow songs and wordless dancing. The lack of enthusiasm of the audience combined with their higher than normal amount of talking showed that this crowd was still underwhelmed.
There was a “magic” act towards the end that was so obvious, predictable, and tediously long that it lost all effect the moment it started.
The set included a huge tyre that looked cheap as it wobbled alarmingly under the movement of one actor. Its extension also revealed a backstage area where you could see people’s legs walking around. At one point when a character needed connecting to a harness to fly away (this too was brief and underwhelming) the stage hand, complete with headset, made no attempt to hide as he connected the necessary apparatus. It looked very amateur.
Todd McKenney did what he could with his two parts. But the audience didn’t respond the expected way to his appeals meaning his second character fell somewhat flat. He wasn’t on stage that much and was also let down when a microphone was left off for several lines in a critical moment during his departure.
To top it all off, five minutes after the show was over we were rudely hurried out of the theatre by the venue staff. This sadly summarised our evening’s experience.
I don’t go out seeking to find fault and am actually easily pleased when it comes to show watching. I have also seen Cats before. But I cannot recommend this one to you. It takes a lot for a musical lover like me to be looking at my watch wondering how long to go; from my interactions with some other audience members, it was clear they felt the same. If Cats was not already so famous I don’t think it would have had a chance. I would rather watch a tribute show where they sing the good songs from it and then move on.
