It's the 'Cats' whiskers

Alethea Chittenden stars as Grizabella in the Dunedin Operatic staging of Cats. Photo by Linda...
Alethea Chittenden stars as Grizabella in the Dunedin Operatic staging of Cats. Photo by Linda Robertson.
One of the most popular musicals in history saunters into Dunedin on padded feet this week. And this version of Cats is going to be unlike anything seen before. Nigel Benson hangs out with some very cool cats.

It's midnight and there is not a sound from the pavement.

Slowly, dozens of technicolour cats emerge sinuously from the darkness.

These are the Jellicle Cats and it's their special night of the year - when the tribe gathers to celebrate its secret traditions.

The cats are initially suspicious of the audience and only grudgingly accept the human presence into their domain.

But, just like cats, they are quickly bored with their visitors and turn their attention to preening and puffing about their unique abilities and special traits.

So begins one of the most dramatic musicals in history.

Dunedin Operatic is staging the Andrew Lloyd Webber hit Cats for the first time this week.

"It's the first time I've played a non-human," said Alethea Chittenden, who plays female lead Grizabella.

"It's definitely been a challenge. It's a different kind of physicality, when you're performing. A pastiche, almost.

"You have to really think about staying in character. You don't gesture with your arms when you sing and talk, as you would if you were playing a person. It feels quite alien at first," she said.

"It makes it a real performance. We are cats and we have to put that across to the audience."

Chittenden is grateful to her own cats, Rangi and Pippa.

"We were encouraged by the director early on to observe our cats, if we had one. I've been closely watching mine. The way they move and look.

"Cats very deliberately stare at people. If you can bring that to your performance, it gives it that cat feeling straight away," she said.

Chittenden is joined in the Cats cast by a host of Dunedin Operatic stalwarts, including John Kiernan-Sear (Old Deuteronomy), John Gardner (Munkustrap), James Murray (Rum Tum Tugger), Victoria Bunton (Jellylorum), Sam McLeod (Mungojerrie), Tarryn Hoffman (Rumpleteazer), Paul Ross (Old Gus), Gladys Hope, Peter Storer, Kelly Olson, Elizabeth Adams and Chris Keogh.

Director Stephen Robertson returns to Dunedin after directing Cats for the Christchurch operatic company Showbiz last year.

"That was a huge project and during it I just came to love the show. When Dunedin Operatic wanted to do it here, I jumped at it," he said.

"But I wanted it to have a point of difference with the original production, so I came up with a whole new concept. We've set it in a sideshow, or circus, warehouse. It's like a punk-slash-gothic circus," he said.

"The costumes and makeup are all new. There are 50 different characters in this production, so there had to be a lot of different designs."

Robertson has previously directed Les Misérables, 42nd Street and last year's hit Chicago for Dunedin Operatic.

"Cats has been something else again. It's extremely visual and we've got a beautiful set. There's lots of what I call 'rock-concert lighting' and moving lights," he said.

"It's a rock opera. It's high-energy dancing, with people flying around all over the place and lots and lots going on. It's going to be fabulous."

Robertson has been aided in the production by musical director Steve Miles and choreographers Leigh Evans and Gina Miles.

Cats was created by English composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, who based the lyrics on a set of whimsical poems by T. S. Eliot about feline psychology and sociology, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats.

Since premiering in London's West End in 1981, the show has become one of the most popular musicals in history, breaking box-office records in the West End and on Broadway.

It held the record as London's longest-running musical until October 8, 2006, when it was surpassed by Les Misérables.

However, Cats had a troubled start when it premiered at the New London Theatre in London's West End on May 11, 1981, after Dame Judi Dench (cast as Grizabella) snapped a tendon during rehearsals and was replaced by Elaine Paige.

It was to be a career-defining role for Paige, who had a hit with the signature song Memory, which has gone on to be recorded by more than 150 artists.

The broad appeal of the show has also seen it translated into more than 20 languages.

At the final performance of Cats in London on May 11, 2002, a large screen had to be set up in Covent Garden to accommodate all the fans who could not get a ticket.

Cats opens at the Regent Theatre on Thursday and runs till September 13.

 

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