INTRO.TXT
About!!!
I've been a fan of CATS since I was a very young child, since around 1994-1995, and I'm so glad to share my love of this show with you!
CATS is a sung-through British musical written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and is noted for starting the "megamusical" phenomenon. It premiered on May 11th, 1981 in the New London Theatre in London, England, based off of a 1939 collection of children's poetry by TS Eliot, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. As of the end of 2024, CATS remains the fifth-longest-running Broadway show and the eighth-longest-running West End show. CATS opened to positive reviews at the New London Theatre in the West End in 1981 and then to mixed reviews at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway in 1982. The London production ran for 21 years and 8,949 performances, while the Broadway production ran for 18 years and 7,485 performances. CATS has also received two West End revivals and one Broadway revival in the 2010s. It was adapted into a direct-to-video film in 1998 and a controversial feature film in 2019.I will not be making any other mention of the 2019 adaptation here.
Due to it's experimental nature and utter disregard for verisimilitude, CATS has been the testing ground for many innovations in theatre technology during it's lifespan. Advancements in automated lighting, microphone tech, and textile technology have been facilitated by the show's traditionally high budget. For Example: The original London production of Cats was the first known instance in which an entire cast on the West End was individually outfitted with radio microphones and new patterning techniques for dancewear were developed to eminilate as many seams from the costumes as possible.
VIDEOS.EXE
Rare Videos
London 1993
A clip of the stage show version of Mungojerrie and Rumpelteaser using the jazzy accompaniment that was used in the film. This actually different than the normally used stage version and the one that is on the '98 CATS recording, which uses an less Jazzy and more comedically vaudevillian tone.
This different orchestration comes from the brief reimagining the number had in-between the London productions opening into previews in April '81 and the Broadway Production's opening in September '82 reimagining them as clowns in a story narrated by Mistoffelees. I've yet to find an early enough Broadway Bootleg to document this, but there are some surviving images of this version of the characters.
London 1993
A clip of the stage show version of The Old Gumbie Cat featuring Mistoffelees as the lead instead of Munkustrap. Not much is known to me about this particular version of Gumbie Cat or when or why it was slowly phased out. My guess is that it was done after the release of the video in '97 when RUG was trying to unify the productions of CATS internationally, but I'd gladly take correction on the matter.
Early 80s CATS Gillian Lynne Interview.
At around 14:21 there is some VHS distortion that may count as a photosensitivity warning.
I'm guessing this is from late '81 or early '82 based off of the host's comments.I'd love info on what show this is from and maybe a closer date, if anyone knows. I'm not British myself, so I'm unaware of where exactly this came from.
