Great Performances (1971– )
"Jellicle" cats join for a Jellicle ball where they rejoice with their leader, Old Deuteronomy. One cat will be chosen to go to the "Heavyside Layer" and be reborn. The cats introduce themselves.
Director: David Mallet
Stars: Elaine Paige, John Mills, Ken Page.
Gillian Lynne ... choreographer / staged by
borrowed dvd
18 songs in the Soundtracks, all Written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and T.S. Eliot, or by ALW alone.
Right away I wanted subtitles because of the nonsense words and the British accents. None on the disc.
Then I thought I might be able to appreciate this as a dance musical, but the direction cut/cut/cut to different camera angles, robbing me of the experience I would have had in the theatre, and truly detracting from the dancing.
The only plot that I could detect was the choosing by Deuteronomy of the cat who gets to die and reincarnate. So introducing us to all these lively cats, describing some at length without seeing them, others get to act out their own stories, did not serve that plot in the least. Then we meet at least 2 elder cats, Gus the theatre cat and Grizabella, and I missed the reason behind choosing one over the other. John Mills plays Gus, who is quite pathetic and ready to go.
Some songs seem to go on and on and on far too long. But I don't like the show or the music, which I did see live at the Pantages (I think), where I didn't like it either (but I got to watch the lighting board operators, who were below me). This dvd production definitely does NOT improve my opinion of the show, and as I stated earlier, actually aggravates it with the no subtitles and dance over-editing.
Avoid!
Rated 7.8 (3,247)
distr. PBS, dir. Mallet; 5
