The musical "Cats": content, video, interesting facts, history

Musical "Cats" by E. Lloyd Webber

In the 20th century, it was difficult to surprise the listener with something, but not with Andrew Lloyd Webber. The musical "Cats" has become a truly permanent work on many theater stages. This sincere and naive production has won the hearts of viewers around the world. The brilliance of the show, the irregular plot and amazing music, this is what makes a person fall in love with "Cats". You can get acquainted with the amazing world of creating a show, learn a lot of interesting facts, as well as enjoy the music of the most famous numbers on our page.

Summary

Night. Moonlight. Dump. Every year on the same day an unusual event takes place - the ball of a rare feline tribe called Jellicle. They have several tasks: find out what happened in a year, enjoy the moment of a bright night, dance enough, and also learn from the most important cat named Dyuteronomi (Deuteronomy), who will have the honor to ascend to another world, to the paradise of all cats and cats, to be reborn there. One after another, the representatives of the cat tell their stories and observations. Among the main contenders for the departure to the Heaviside layer are Miss Jenny (an old cat training mice) and Ram-Tam-Tagger (cat-macho).

The main character appears - Grizabella. Old cat, shook by life. Once upon a time, she left home, family. But once, she was the most beautiful and fashionable. She is greeted coldly, no one wants to notice the poor cat. Everyone listens enthusiastically to the next challenger for rebirth, namely the cat Bastofer Johns, who is an authority in the cat world.

But what is it? The sound of sirens is heard, the evil criminal Makaviati fled and reunited with his own henchmen. Cats scatter in fear. The offender is hiding and waiting for the right moment.

Meanwhile, the oldest cat named Dyuteronomi (Deuteronomy) appears. To show their own loyalty to the cat, they arrange a small show, depicting two tribes - the mutts and the Pekingese, who made a mess. It was necessary for the Fair Cat Rampus to intervene to bring peace and harmony.

The abduction of the leader by the evil MacAvity occurs at the most unexpected moment. Saves his kind cat wizard Mystofelis, who knows how to show incredible tricks.

Grisabella leaves no attempt to gain confidence; she tells her own story and the feline tribe accepts it.

The hour has come X, Deuteronomy decides to choose a cat for ascension. Everyone remembers Gryzabella, compassion is shown to her and they make her chosen. Now she is destined to ascend to heaven, accompanied by Deuteronomy. Grisabella disappears in a haze of smoke and spotlights. Night. Moonlight. Dump.

A photo:

Interesting Facts

• Thanks to the work "Popular science of cats, written by the old possum" Thomas Sternz Eliot was awarded the title of "Nobel Prize".
• The action of the musical takes place in an ordinary dump. In many European countries, this place was considered not aesthetic, and it was transferred to the roof of a house or attic. So, if the viewer wants to see the production, for example, in Sweden or Norway, the scenery will be very different from the original.
• The wife of Andrew Lloyd-Webber, a great singer Sarah Brightman, who had not yet been married to the composer, auditioned for the role of Jemima about 5 times, only after that she was finally approved for the cast. In the future, the singer will play a major role in the next musical composer "Phantom of the Opera."
• If you read the original text of the work, you can see that the composition of the musical has lost one poem. From the production they decided to remove the story of the cat-pirate named Morgan.
• The composer himself adored pets, especially cats. Loyd-Webber had two cats at home: Sergey and Dmitry, in honor of Prokofiev and Shostakovichwhose work was so loved by Lloyd.
• When recruiting for the role, in the musical "Cats" preference is given to people who have a sufficiently large athletic training. All movements of the actor should be smooth and graceful, resembling cat's grace and freedom of plastics. Only three parties in the performance do not dance, but perform vocal numbers in complexity close to operatic art. Due to the specifics of this production, there were quite big problems with the casting in London.
• When there were castings for roles in the musical, of which there are only 36, the creators didn’t take world-famous celebrities to the cast, although names included the great Barbara Streisand, the stunning Liza Minelli and many others. As a result, preference was given to Betty Buckley, unknown to anyone in those days.

• The generic name of the cats, namely Jellicle, was invented by the author's son when they composed a fairy tale before bedtime. Then the kid tried to pronounce dear little cat, which in translation from English means an expensive little cat, instead it turned out to be a funny word, which was used in the composition.
• There is a scene from the musical in the Hollywood movie "Jersey Girl".
• For all the time, the musical has been visited by about fifty million people.
• At the time of the USSR, the weather forecast began with the melody of the Memory number.
• In 1992, for all his services to the Fatherland, the composer was honorary knighted, the ritual was performed by the Queen of Great Britain herself.
• Nicole Scherzinger, the famous member of the group Pussycat Dolls, is one of the best performers in the musical. Her mastery was noted by the author himself.

Popular numbers:

Memory - to listen

The Rum Tum Tugger (Ram-Tam-Tagger) - Listen

Mr. Mistoffelees (Mr. Mystopheles) - to listen

History of creation

The musical "Cats" is the seventh musical created by the composer. During this time, Andrew Lloyd Webber has already received fame in music circles, as a talented and promising musical author and director. After the premiere of the musical "Evita", which managed to get several prestigious awards, and was received quite ardently by the public, the author decided to choose the opposite theme for the implementation of the next production. The choice fell on the book "The Popular Science of Cats, written by the old possum" by the famous British author Thomas Stearns Eliot. The composer shares his impressions of creating a musical:

"I decided to start writing music to the words of Eliot at the end of 1977. I loved this book since my childhood, which was the main reason for my desire to compose a musical. But due to my character, I was terribly interested in whether I could create music for ready text, and not vice versa. To great happiness, the book contains unusually musical verses, although it is obvious that a certain rhythm of versification implies or even dictates the meter, the presence of jumps and other musical features. This is a complex composition work.

The workflow progressed rapidly, I wrote some numbers at the end of 1977 and began performing for friends, playing them on the piano. Initially, I did not even take my own essay seriously. In those days, I just finished the musical for television "Tell me on Sunday." He was shown on the channel BBC, I thought: “why not create the same project to transfer from the writings of the book of Eliot”? This idea seemed to me real. I finished some more numbers and went on tour with a concert. One evening, Valerie Eliot came to the festival (the author's wife, the poet himself died in 1965). She brought me unpublished pieces of poems, among which was the composition "Memory". These are the memories of the old glamorous cat Grizabella. This wonderful event prompted me to think about the dramatic development of the work. Since then, the idea to create a musical has not left me for a minute. Work was going on actively.

I liked working on Cats, as well as on any musical I worked on. My gratitude to Valerie Eliot is infinite, because without her help, the musical would never have been able to take such a dramatic and beautiful view. "

For three years, the composer led an active creative work on the "Cats". In the spring of 1981, the premiere took place. She passed on the stage of the New London Theater. The success was obvious, the composer himself laughed that a musical may fail, in which the main role is not played by people, but by their pets.

In October 1982, the premiere was held in one of the most famous theaters in the world - Broadway. Since then, the show has not been removed from the repertoire and tops the list of the theater’s “long-livers”.

Productions in the world

As mentioned earlier, for the first time, Cats saw the light on the stage of the New Theater of the capital of Great Britain Already for 8 years, the performance was shown in this theater almost 8,500 times, which was an undoubted indicator of success. Moreover, almost every show gathered a full house. Statistics of continuous shows is a record holder in the entire history of the existing musical theaters of the world.

It is noteworthy that the main action takes place in the garbage, where the whole society of cats is going. To make the scenery for such a scene as realistic as possible, it took a little, but only specially made objects of gigantic sizes in quantities of over 600 pieces, namely:

• Soda water cans;
• Cigarette boxes;
• Scraps of newspapers;
• Drainpipes;
• Worn shoes;
• Bottles from the famous brandy brandy;
• Chicken bones;
• Milk bottles;
• Other trash.

Moreover, the scene was decorated with more than four thousand multi-colored light bulbs. In addition, the hall is fully decorated, and not just part of the stage.

Over time, everything changed, including the costumes. Initially, cats wigs had no ears. The clothes and appearance of Grisabella completely coincided with the outfits of other cats, and she did not stand out from the crowd, as will be planned in the future. The makeup with cat snouts also did not always please the audience, it was invented only by the 1990s. Today the musical "Cats" is one of the most spectacular performances.

Stages in Russia

In 1988, the Viennese theater with Webber’s play "Cats" came to Russia on tour in the original language. Despite the lack of translation, every viewer was fascinated by the incredible beauty of the show.

Only a decade later, the main company that has the rights to the production decided to conquer the Russian market. It is worth noting that, as in other countries, the selection of candidates was very strict and lengthy. After the final approval of the roles, rehearsals began. As a result, the play managed to be staged in just two months. For the first time in Russia, the music in the domestic translation was heard only in 2005. The premiere, like in other countries, gathered a full house of people; moreover, all the tickets were bought up long before the premiere. Such a rush broke all previous records of the musical. Everyone wanted to comprehend the mysterious world created by the skill of Lloyd Webber. Every day during the year, Russian artists demonstrated their own acting and vocal skills, and then it was decided to make a performance.

Unfortunately, today, the production is temporary, and is not included in the main repertoire of the largest theaters in Russia.

The value of the musical in the world theatrical activities

The value of the musical "Cats" is difficult to underestimate. According to the famous magazine, New York Post, it was this work that could save the Broadway Theater from the crisis. In those years, America experienced serious economic difficulties, people had nothing to buy food for, not like going to the theater. But for this production, people walked in families, it was a bright ray at the time of general chaos. And if the geese saved Rome, then, “Cats” saved Broadway.

The libretto received a translation almost immediately into 15 languages. The production was staged in the world's largest theaters. The musical is one of the most frequently performed. For all the time, charges from the production amounted to about two billion dollars.

The great importance of the musical in world theater practice is also emphasized by the presence of a huge number of awards, including the most prestigious in the music world, namely the Laurence Olivier Prize.

Screen adaptation

At the moment there is only one film version, released in 1998, and which was sold all over the world with the circulation of more than 4 million copies in just one week after the release. The record for speed of sale is not broken even now.

There are also several videos of theater productions. It is noteworthy that on the cover of the recording of the production in London there is not a single actor who really played in this shooting. Often, it is in this version that a greater number of incorrectly mounted scenes are found. Negligence in the creation is noticeable even in the credits, because a fair amount of mistakes were made there, including in the names of actors and directors.

The best recording of the production invariably is the filming of the action taking place on the Broadway stage.

In 2016, it was decided to shoot a full-fledged full-length film-musical. The idea came to mind one of the most talented filmmakers Tom Hooper. Prior to that, he directed the musical based on the book "Les Miserable" by Victor Hugo. The motion picture has won several prestigious film awards, including the Oscar. Currently filming is unknown. Certain deadlines have not been put forward, nor is it said about the cast. The only thing that the studios promise us is that the picture will turn out colorful, bright and interesting.

The musical "Cats" is more than a beautiful show. It is a small magical world in which other laws triumph. They will always remain eternal, like moonlight and night, forcing us to believe in a small but possible happiness.