The widespread popularity of composer Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Cats,” his landmark musical adaptation of a poetry collection by T.S. Eliot (“Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats”), is still attracting and delighting audiences some 40 years after it first took London’s West End and then Broadway by storm in the early 1980s.
In both cases, “Cats” became one of the longest-running shows in history; those original West End and Broadway productions ran for 21 and 18 years, respectively. It continues to be among the most frequently seen musicals on the regional theater scene and national touring-company circuit. And not even a universally vilified 2019 movie version seems to have tarnished its appeal, based on the enthusiastic opening-night reaction to City Springs Theatre’s current mounting of the show.
Credit: Mason Wood
Credit: Mason Wood
Broadway veteran Baayork Lee, who staged the company’s “A Chorus Line” last season, returns as director and choreographer. For whatever this iteration of “Cats” might lack in any genuinely fresh or innovative distinguishing features, the production is stylishly designed (with imported scenery and costumes by Kelley Tighe and Marilynn Wick, and lighting by New York-based Abby May) and vibrantly delivered by an ensemble of 22 local and out-of-town singers and dancers.
There’s no traditional script or dialogue in the “sung-through” show, which depicts the annual gathering of a tribe of “Jellicle” cats, each of whom is vying to be selected by the wise Old Deuteronomy (Kevin Harry, late of Actor’s Express’ “Urinetown”) as the latest “choice” who’s granted the chance to ascend to the “Heaviside layer” and reborn with a new life.
The dozen or so songs in “Cats” are essentially specialty numbers and glorified auditions, with the various feline characters taking turns stepping out and recounting their own stories in hopes of advancing to that next layer, before retreating and blending back in with the rest of the pack (or disappearing altogether, given that some of them are double-cast using the same cast members).
The tunes span an array of different musical styles — a nod to the Andrews Sisters here, another one to Elvis Presley there — but they’re consistently well-accompanied by City Springs’ skillful 10-piece orchestra, conducted by Michael Duff and including music director Greg Matteson on keyboards.
Credit: Mason Wood
Credit: Mason Wood
There are more than a few highlights. Top-billed Jalise Wilson, who serves as artistic and casting associate for the company, wanders on and off stage just long enough to belt out two noteworthy refrains of “Memory,” the show’s signature song, as the once-glamorous and since-ostracized Grizabella. As Old Deuteronomy, Harry makes the most of a couple of occasions to present his booming baritone voice (“Moments of Happiness,” “The Addressing of Cats”).
Danny Iktomi Bevins scores, as well, with his peppy “Shambleshanks, the Railway Cat” number. And Spencer Dean’s hip-swiveling, Elvis-inspired “Rum Tum Tugger” routine boasts some impressive tap dancing, too. Dean also provides the vocals for “Mister Mistoffelees,” about a character otherwise performed by Harry Francis in an unsung and non-verbal display of sheer balletic brilliance.
While the cast does a fine job of finessing the requisite feline mannerisms, several roles seem slightly nondescript and interchangeable. Partly due to the script (or lack thereof) and partly because of their similar makeup and costuming, there’s not a lot of distinction between Jellylorum (Meredith Crain) or Jennyanydots (Lauren Brooke Tatum), or between Demeter (Indigo Forbes) and Bombalurina (Maggie McCown). Likewise, the ensemble ably executes all the athletic demands of the choreography, but the protracted “Jellicle Ball” dance sequence near the end of the first act still feels somewhat extraneous.
Despite Old Deuteronomy’s eventual assertion that the audience is supposed to identify with or relate to these cats on some sort of a human level, the only instance of any legitimate emotional connection in the show comes courtesy of Atlanta actor Steve Hudson. Although he’s funny enough in his boisterous rendition of “Bustopher Jones,” it’s with his heartfelt turn as the frail and wistful “Gus, the Theatre Cat” that he singularly registers and resonates. Gus may not end up being chosen for promotion to that Heaviside layer, but as so memorably played by Hudson, he surely ought to be.
THEATER REVIEW
“Cats”
Through May 21. 8 p.m. Thursdays-Fridays; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. $45-$108. Byers Theatre (at the Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center), 1 Galambos Way, Sandy Springs. 404-477-4365, cityspringstheatre.com.
Bottom line: After 40-plus years — or well over 200 in equivalent so-called “cat years” — the crowd-pleasing musical still endures.
