Cats

The fact that this Great Performances special, "Cats," was filmed on a stage like a performance of the show, but not before a live audience, offers pluses and minuses. The closeups reveal the actors' facial expressions very clearly, which is a great plus, particularly in the case of Elaine Page's Grizabella. Also, the sound is clearer than in recordings of this show. However, the special is a little weak on conveying the excitment of being in a live theater. Nevertheless, on the whole it was a good show.

For all the theatrical appeal, visual appeal, and the long runs, "Cats" is not the greatest thing to have ever hit musical theater. It's long on the above mentioned theatrics and visuals, but way too short on plot and substance. But it is really not a bad show by any means. The songs (Poetry from a book of T.S. Elliot's set to Andrew Lloyd Webber's music) are catchy and engaging, performed by a very energetic cast. The dancing is good, too. And as for the casting, that is also well-done. I would have loved to see Betty Buckley recreate her Broadway role of Grizabella, but Paige, who played the role in London, is not bad at all; her expressions, as I said, are... well, very expressive, and her rendition of "Memory" is just as good and moving as Buckley's. Ken Page, the original Broadway Old Deutoronomy, is also good. Sir John Mills' cameo as Gus, the Theatre Cat, is exploitive but touching. (And you can see why they cut his character's "Growltiger's Last Stand:" he may not have been able to get through it, unfortunatly)

Having not seen this show on stage yet, I think this special is a pretty good substitute for it. Perhaps you will feel the same way.

Something for all ages; my children (3 and 5) get a huge kick out of this, and have the lyrics memorized. Unlike some movie musicals (JC Superstar, A Chorus Line), it really doesn't try to adapt to "being" a movie, but settles for being (mostly) just filming folks on stage performing in a musical. Some of the movie-style cuts are, IMO, a bit disconcerting (Rum Tug Tugger to Grisabella's entrance, Theater Cat to Shimbleskanks), and I'm not familiar enough with the musical itself to know if the cuts are part of the original or were bad edits unique to the video itself. You do get any number of close-ups to admire the costuming and make-up, and the casting is superb. Enjoyable for audiences of all ages if you like musicals.

Fantastic! The best musical and the best show of all times makes a magnificent film. It has advantage of showing everything in details and details are grand. Scenery, costumes and make-up are perfect. Music is superb (especially Jellicle Ball and Macavity). The best thing about the movie is certainly the cast. Actors not only sing and dance splendidly but also imitate feline movements and manners amazingly well. And how do they act! I absolutely adore Michael Gruber as manly and handsome Munkustrap. Elaine Paige as Grizabella would leave nobody indifferent. Veerle Casteleyn with her wonderful eyes is the most touching Jemima, John Partridge is irresistibly attractive and funny Rum Tum Tagger, Phyllida Crawley-Smith is very graceful Victoria, Jacob Brent is charming Mistoffelees, Aeva May and Rosmary Ford make a beautiful pair of adult cats: reserved Demeter and sensuous Bombalurina. Sir John Mills is a little unexpected guest star, but he is perfect Gus the Theatre Cat ("the star of the highest degree"). Eliote's text is witty, and there are a lot of amusing scenes in the show. My favourite ones are The Gumbie Cat, Mangojerry and Rumpleteaser, Pekes and the Pollicles, Scimbleshanks the Railway Cat. Watching this film is an endless joy for my family and me.

I have long enjoyed the musical 'Cats', both in several attendances at live productions and simply listening to the music on CD. 'Cats', the movie, was created in 1997, a full 16 years after its debut on stage. This isn't simply the taping of a stage performance. For the movie they assembled the best cast they could from among 'Cats' stage veterans. The set was designed especially for the movie, the makeup was toned down to look better in the closer perspective of the movie, especially the close-ups, a full orchestra was used, songs were recorded in a studio, and conventional movie techniques were used for the filming -- multiple angles, close-ups, cameras moving on tracks, etc. What we get is a movie that is does not have the realism of a stage production, and it is fairly obvious most times that singers are lip-syncing their own recordings, but a movie nonetheless that is a superb supplement to the live performances. The DVD has a very nice 'making-of' special, we see Andrew Lloyd Weber personally supervising the musical numbers, we see some of the makeup artistry at work, and a few before/after shots of actors and their characters.

Overall a fine DVD of a superb movie of perhaps the most entertaining stage musical of all.

Veteran David Mallett, who directed many music videos for great artists such as Asia, Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones, Phil Collins, David Bowie, Queen, Blondie, U2, AC/DC, The Who, Rod Stewart, Peter Gabriel, Elton John, Tina Turner, Madonna, Erasure, Rush, Roxy Music, etc., is doing a great job here, directing Andrew Lloyd Weber's wonderful music. An extraordinary distribution, excellent choreography, superlative costumes and makeup, everything superb. One of John Mills' latest films.