Cats meows again

One of the first things that elicit lots of oohs and aahs and sometimes giggles from audiences watching Cats is the presence of “cats.” These creatures are all over the hall that has been turned into an alley where cats go to live and do everything else. Of course, they are not really cats but dancers costumed as cats slithering around or rubbing themselves against the walls or a seat, maybe, if you look like you like cats, even against you.

But that is just a cute device that helps bring focus to other good things about the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. For one, the sets, costumes and make-up are utterly remarkable. I do not know if the new productions now get help from computer generated images. But the props, make-up and costumes of Cats in its early days, it premiered in 1981, was created entirely by humans, not machines and was considered highly innovative. 

Then there is the choreography. You know how cats move. They hardly get fat and are ever graceful. And the energetic cast of Cats is just wonderful to watch. They leap, march, stretch or do good old tap combinations singly or in numbers in ways that are awesome to see. Think Busby Berkeley dancers but all furred and whiskered. Sometimes, they sing and dance at the same time.

And when you have song and dance, there must be music and this is an area where Cats really excels. The music is by Andrew Lloyd Webber. He also did Phantom Of The Opera, Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar, Sunset Boulevard, Starlight Express, Joseph And His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and other musicals. The words come from Old Possum’s Book Of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot. You must know the great British poet Eliot from Lit class and it is his verses that you hear in Cats.

The most popular song from Cats is Memory. It was introduced to the charts by Barry Manilow and earned greater fame when it was covered by Barbra Streisand. Nice versions. But the best way to appreciate it is to hear it sang by the aging glamour cat Grizabella, who is longing to return to the tribe she left when she was young. Memory is always a show stopper. You can expect it to be doubly so when Cats comes to town because playing Grizabella will be our very own Lea Salonga. 

So don’t forget, Cats will be held at the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo of the Cultural Center of the Philippines starting July 24, 2010. Tickets are priced at P6,000; P4,500; P3,000; P1,500; and P750 for the evening shows Tuesdays to Sundays and P7,000; P5,000; P3,500; P2,000; and P1,000 on Saturdays and Sundays matinees.

Presentor Citi offers clients an exclusive 10 percent discount up to Dec. 31. Simply charge your tickets to your Citibank card or use your Citi ATM and pay cash. You will get the chance to choose your seats and help out the Philippine National Red Cross. P250 of every ticket sold from Nov. 3 to Dec. 31 go to the PNRC in celebration of Rosa Rosal’s 60th year with the Red Cross.

The last time movie director James Cameron asked somebody to sing the theme song to a movie, he brought about the birth of a pop phenomenon. The movie was Titanic, the song was My Heart Will Go On by James Horner and Simon Franglen and the singer was Celine Dion.

Fifteen years later Cameron is back with a new film, his first since Titanic and with it a theme song. The movie is Avatar, the song is I See You, also penned by Horner and Franglen. The singer though is different. It is Leona Lewis, the British Pop Idol discovery who scored big with Bleeding Love last year.

Will I See You duplicate the success of My Heart Will Go On? Signs that it might are already afoot. For one I See You is one of the nominees in the 67th Golden Globe Awards in February. But it will be no easy task because also ready to grab the honor is a star-studded line-up of hitmakers with great movie songs. It is quite a list.

It includes The Weary Kind by Ryan Bingham and T-Bone Burnett from Crazy Heart; I Want To Come Home by Paul McCartney from Everybody’s Fine; Cinema Italiano, a new song by Maury Yeston for Nine where it was performed by Kate Hudson; and Winter from Brothers by U2 and Bono.