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Time Out
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Photograph: Supplied/Daniel Boud
In musical theatre circles, Cats is the show that everyone loves to hate, dismissing it as 'weird' and 'uncool'. So let me begin this review by stating that I love Cats. I listened to the cast recording over and over as a child, I met my best friend on a Cats mailing list (remember those?) when I was sixteen, and there's probably still some old Cats fanfiction floating around out there that I wrote in my teens. This much maligned show doesn't deserve the hate it gets. When Cats was first performed in the early 1980s, it was hailed as groundbreaking, bridging the gap between concept musicals and mega musicals in a way no show had done before. It won both Olivier and Tony awards for best musical, and ran for decades on the West End and Broadway. These days, it's viewed more as a 'guilty pleasure' – the show you secretly enjoy but are supposed to pretend you don't, lest you be seen as uncultured. But why? Concept musicals based around a theme rather than a traditional narrative have existed since the 1950s, with notable examples including Cabaret, Hair and Company. Dance-heavy musicals are also not a unique concept. Cats isn't even the only show to combine these two elements. But while shows like A Chorus Line and Pippin are hailed as iconic, Cats – which is essentially A Chorus Line with tails – is not shown the same love. Cats may not be too heavy on the plot, but it's a show for people who love the little details Much of the criticism surrounding Cats comes from wanting it to be something it isn't, instead of appreciating it for what it is; a visually spectacular, dance-heavy, surreal concept musical. And on that front, Australia's new 40th anniversary production well and truly delivers. Andrew Lloyd Webber is known to mess around with his shows, and thus, Cats has undergone some changes through the years – including the questionable hip-hop styled 'street cat' version of Rum Tum Tugger, who has thankfully been returned to his original Mick Jagger-esque rockstar form in this production (played with hip-swivelling panache by Des Flanagan). But much of the show remains true to its 1980s roots. This production, which celebrates the show's 40th Australian anniversary at Sydney's Theatre Royal (the very same venue where Cats made its Down Under debut all those years ago), retains the original set and makeup designs by John Napier, direction by Trevor Nunn (brought to life here by associate director and choreographer Chrissie Cartwright) and, most crucially, the choreography of Gillian Lynne. The choreo for this show is truly iconic, and as a lifelong Cats fan it was a joy to see it executed to such a high standard. In particular, Claudia Hastings (The Phantom of the Opera) as Victoria and French ballet dancer Axel Alvarez as Mr Mistoffelees (a role he has played in various international productions) expertly handle their challenging solo dances, garnering spontaneous cheers from the audience throughout the show on opening night. Other standouts are Jake O'Brien (West Side Story, & Juliet) and Savannah Lind (Hairspray, Chicago) as Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer, performing their number with mischievous joy and impressive vocal control. Particularly impressive is Lind's ability to sing while cartwheeling. Playing Grizabella, Gabriyel Thomas (Sister Act the Musical, Hairspray) has the unenviable task of bringing something new to an iconic song that must be one of the most overdone in all of musical theatre canon. Her connection to the role shines through in her performance and her rendition of 'Memory' is deeply heartfelt and authentic. At its core, Cats is a true ensemble show which provides every performer a moment to shine. As a fan, much of the joy comes from the smaller moments that might not be noticed by more casual pundits. I loved looking out for Tantomile (Sarah Bourke) and Coricopat (Joshua Gordon) moving in unison, and watching the way Munkustrap (Jarrod Draper) protects the other cats and directs their performances during 'Pekes and the Pollicles'. I found myself delighted by the close relationship between Demeter (Olivia Carniato) and Bombalurina (Mia Dabkowski-Chandler), and the slightly antagonistic behaviour from Rum Tum Tugger (Flanagan) towards Munkustrap. Cat s may not be too heavy on the plot, but it's a show for people who love the little details. Every single moment tells us something new about the characters, and you could truly just choose one cat to watch for the entire performance and you'll be entertained the entire time. If you've never seen Cats before – or worse, if your only exposure was the disastrous 2019 film – let this production be your formal invitation to join the Jellicle Ball. The Australian 40th anniversary production of Cats is playing at the Sydney Theatre Royal until September 6, 2025, before embarking on a national tour. Find out more and book your tickets at
The Guardian
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Cats review – Andrew Lloyd Webber's tired show has run out of lives
There are musicals, and then there's Cats. Andew Lloyd Webber's show is often the one held up as a bewildering example by non-believers. People dress as cats in leg-warmers and sing children's poems, and it's a hit? The baffling body horror of the 2019 film didn't do much for the show's image, either. It was the 80s, loyalists say, it was a different time! But Cats is back, and theatre producers would prefer we just buy a ticket and live in the past. Cats is perhaps best now as a fond memory, where you can forgive its wilted structure, stop-start pacing and tired stereotyping (don't even try to count how often a female cat is there to sigh and swoon over a male one). There, you can enjoy how the score is drenched in 80s synth and peppered with pastiche, with hints of jazz, music hall, rock and a little opera (one of Lloyd Webber's great loves); it is catchy as all get-out. Memory, the plaintive cri de coeur by fading glamour cat Grizabella, was a genuine chart hit, lingering in jewellery boxes and hold music. And Gillian Lynne's original choreography, oddly sexy and determinedly feline, lives on in plenty of giggly shared stories between friends of sexual awakenings and Rum Tum Tugger. To bring it back, unchanged – as is happening now in Sydney – feels like a return to the worst of the megamusicals craze: cashing in on a known quantity even after its cultural cachet has faded. The production now playing at Sydney's Theatre Royal is a 40th anniversary celebration of the first time the musical made it to Australia (featuring Debra Byrne, Marina Prior, and John Wood) and it's like time has stopped. There are no surprises. It's even back in the same theatre. There are a few joyful moments – the best of them featuring Axel Alvarez, who plays 'the magical' Mr Mistoffelees, the cat with a light-up coat who delivers his magic through ballet, including a dazzling number of fouettés. His astonishing ease and classical technique is the very best of what Cats can be. Mark Vincent is perhaps at his stage best as the beloved Jellicle leader Old Deuteronomy, Tom Davis is a joyful, all-in Skimbleshanks (that's the railway cat), Todd McKenney pleasingly hams it up Gus the Theatre Cat, and Gabriyel Thomas, tears in her eyes as she sang Memory, earned ringing cheers as Grizabella. The cast and creative team are producing beautiful work – those full-ensemble dance formations brought forth applause every time the cast found themselves moving together as one – but what a shame it's all in service to the same old Cats, which can't hide its flaws with novelty any more. Even worse is that you'd never know it in Australia, but internationally, Lloyd Webber – who the Pulitzer-winning critic Andrea Long Chu described as the force that 'set Broadway on its current path of chintzy commercial nihilism' – is facing a generational shift. Cats lasted in the West End for 21 years and Phantom on Broadway for 35 – and the artists who grew up with these silly, thrilling works are mining them for new meaning and contemporary beats, testing how much they can speak to this moment. In the UK, Lloyd Webber's Starlight Express (about trains – it is Cats on roller-skates) has returned in a completely new production – with the train Greaseball now played by a woman with queer undertones. An upcoming production of Phantom of the Opera is running a guerrilla marketing campaign that has theatre influencers breathlessly reporting on every incident. Jamie Lloyd brought a blood-soaked Nicole Scherzinger to a cool Sunset Boulevard, netting three Tonys in the process; he's now reimagining Evita with Rachel Zegler, who sings Don't Cry for Me Argentina on a balcony to crowds outside the theatre. And, heartbreakingly for those of us a world away, Cats has been revolutionised in New York, refashioned in the underground ballroom scene built by queer and trans people, where speaking those secret Jellicle names and claiming identities has a new, deeper resonance. It's hard not to feel left out. In Australia, nostalgia rules, and we've had a parade of paint-by-number Lloyd Webbers keeping our best employed but our creative cups empty. In the past year or two, we've had a faithful but tough-to-watch Sunset Boulevard starring a miscast Sarah Brightman; a straightforward Jesus Christ Superstar, and an outright offensive Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. When it comes to plays, Australia is leagues ahead with new productions that interrogate, elevate, and subvert old works; with musicals, especially on main stages, we tend to defer to the tried-and-true. There are pockets brimming with ideas – the Hayes Theatre in Sydney has been home to some of the best – but we have to let old shows run their course if we want to give space to new artists and new perspectives – and bring in new audiences. Can't we give Cats a new life too? Cats is on at Theatre Royal, Sydney until 6 September; then touring to Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane
