***** Tonight, at dinner ( a wonderful dinner at Prairie Grass Cafe, in Northbrook), Frank and I were talking about the number of times that we had seen a production of “Cats”, The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical we were off to see this evening. He has seen 6 or 7 productions, I am at 20 with this one. Many of you might be thinking “how can anyone see a play that many times?” The answer is pretty easy ( at least for me), as I feel that each production is different and unique, so that what we saw tonight is not the same as the production that Paramount Theatre did last season. The new rule in doing a production is that it must be different from the original and cannot take place in a junkyard! Paramount’s production was a sort of Cirque Soleil and tonight, Music Theater Works brought a whole new look to the marvelous musical based on T.S. Eliot’s “An Old Possum’s Book on Practical Cats”. I loved it!
Under the clever direction/choreography of Mandy Modic, this marvelous story of felines and their personalities keeps the audience on its toes from start to finish. The show is filled with high energy and a cast that plays the audience as a cat might play a visitor. We are no longer in the junkyard, but rather a living room with a stairway leasing to a second floor balcony. The set (Milo Bue) is unique in that the stairs come apart to be used for other things, a chandelier comes down for some extra special touches of circus proportion, and a floor lamp becomes a pole for a few incredible dance steps.
The circus art choreography by Danielle H. Gennaoui is terrific and the work of Amber Wuttke ( intimacy) and Jay Donley (fight) allows the characters some freedom to follow the mood of the story and their characters. We all know that cats are very different than dongs and this musical emphasizes that. The costumes by Kclare McKeellaston, while not near the original production look, plays well in this much more intimate theater. Jane and I were in the second row, while Cary and Frank were in the 7th allowing us to look right into the faces of each and every cat. For this show, I believe a special kudo has to go out to the make-up people for the hard work they endure each night in creating each cat’s personality to coordinate with what Webber has written for them,. Hats off to Megan E. Pirtle, Melanie Saso and all the members of their crew. The lighting (Adam Jezi-Sikorski) and sound (Matt Reich) were right on and the 8 musicians led by Linda Madonia were sheer perfection, never overpowering the performers.
Part of what they did tot he theater was quite clever, in taking out some seats and having platforms where some of the cats could position themselves for specific songs or numbers where they could go back and forth. The North Theatre at the North Shore Center for Performing Arts is the smaller venue with an open stage, but Modic foundgreat ways to use every space available to her, and her cast was right on as perfect as one could ask.
Of particular note is Old Deuteronomy ( Sam Nachison) and a wonderful Grizabella ( Ava Lane Stovall is amazing and her vocal range shines with “Memory”. John Cardone does a wonderful “Bustopher Jones” and I truly liked the replacement for the “Pirate Play”, “The Awful Battle of the Pekes and the Policies”. The entire ensemble rated high with the full house tonight. Nick Johnson, Ethan Lupp, Daniel Hurst, Sterling Ford, Molly Brenner, Catherine Rodriguez O’Conner, Danny Spagnuolo ( his roller skating was adorable), Emma Jean Eastlund, Morgan Schoenecker, Alex Villasenor, Madson Jeffe-Richter, Irene Lo, Mikati Curless, J’Nae Howard, and the off stage chorus : Kristin Brintnall, Rachel Dec, Andrew John Baker, and Jake Elkins. Great work.
” Cats” will continue thru March 29th, with performances as follows:
Wednesdays 2:00pmBox Office: 847-673-6300
Don’t miss The Jellicle Ball at North Shore Center For Performing Arts
9501 Skokie Blvd. in Skokie
Plenty of free parking
To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “Cats”.
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