Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats

Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Based on "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" by T.S. Eliot

Tauranga Musical is proud to present the Bay of Plenty Times season of Cats in Tauranga.

Our story of Cats begins on a rooftop in a city anywhere in the world. The cats on this rooftop are attempting to impress their leader, Old Deuteronomy. The one cat that is chosen by Old Deuteronomy will journey to the Heaviside Layer to be reborn.

Each cat basically auditions and the musical becomes a character study of the various felines and their social standing. This premise provides a fabulous showcase for dance, acrobatic, and vocal talents. This all culminates in their annual Jellicle Ball to choose and announce the cat who can be reborn. Some minor complications involving the abduction of the Jellicle patriarch, Old Deuteronomy occur before a cat is chosen. It turns out to be Grizabella, "the Glamour Cat," whose now-faded charms do not prevent her from singing "Memory," the show's best-known song

An mostly unknown fact is that the name "Jellicle cat" is derived from an attempt by T.S. Eliot's infant niece to say "dear little cat" and the name "Pollicle dog" is derived from an attempt by that same child to say "poor little dog".

While Cats is often criticized for its lack of plot, it does have a minimal story used to string its musical numbers together.

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