LOGAN – Even if you hated the 2019 movie version of Cats – and who didn’t? – don’t let that keep you from seeing and being amazed by the ongoing stage production of the musical now being offered by the Utah Festival Opera & Musical Theatre.
The theatrical version of the musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber is nothing short of mesmerizing and the near-capacity local audience at the Ellen Eccles Theatre responded enthusiastically.
Cats is a little short on plot, but makes up for that shortcoming by being a showcase for singing and dancing, both of which are marvelous.
The dancing is an energetic blend of modern movement and ballet, with a lot of acrobatics thrown in. You’ll be exhausted just watching the dance ensemble perform for two hours straight.
That was particularly true during the opening matinee on July 12, knowing that most of those same dancers would be onstage in Anything Goes again later that evening.
The choral singing was absolutely thunderous when the entire cast joined in, as they often did. When that happens, they threaten to blow the doors right off the Ellen Eccles Theatre.
Cats is a sung-through musical, based on a 1939 poetry collection by T.S. Eliot entitled “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats,” with the text of its poems set to Webber’s music.
The plot, what there is of it, tells the story of a tribe of urban cats called the Jellicies who gather once a year to decide which of their number will ascend to the supernatural Heavenside Layer and return with a new life.
The candidates for that honor include Gus, a retired stage feline (Tony Mowatt); the elderly glamor cat Grizabella (Adrien Swenson); Mr. Mistoffelees (Luke Swaller), a magical cat; and the feline patriarch of the Jellicies, Old Deuteronomy (Michael Nansel).
Most of those characters get the opportunity to sing at least part of a solo, which is rare in the chorus-driven Cats.
The high point of those solos was Ms. Swenson performing “Memory,” the song that made Betty Buckley a star when she appeared in the original Broadway production of Cats in 1982. Ms. Swenson’s rendition of that song was equally touching and heartfelt.
Cats is seldom performed by local theatre groups because the demands of its dancing are so challenging. But UFOMT founder and general manager Michael Ballam assembled a group of amazing dancers who had previously performed Cats on Broadway and with touring companies.
The show’s inventive dance routines were developed by director/choreographer Lauren Haughton Gillis and associate choreographers Mackenzie Simmons and Katy Plaziak, both of whom also performed as dancers in Cats. The movements of the dancers were sensuous throughout, intimately recalling the subtle habits of felines.
Although the superb costume designs by Yao Chen were mildly suggestive, if you really tried to think of the dancers merely as cats, you’d hardly notice.
Evening performances of Cats are slated for July 13, 15, 17, 19 and 24. Matinee performances are set for July 27 and Aug. 3.
All performances of Cats will be staged in the Ellen Eccles Theatre at 43 South Main Street in downtown Logan.