There’s a thrill in seeing Andrew Lloyd Webber’s legendary, anthropomorphic 1981 musical in this magical open-air setting – indoor cats become outdoor cats! – but my goodness this is a silly show. It transforms the comic poems T.S. Eliot wrote for his godchildren into a song cycle loosely held together by a resurrection/redemption story.
More importantly, the stalking, preening, high-stepping, back-arching moves of a huge cast pretending to be pussies seems to speak to audiences on a primal, if not infantile, level. Watching this sleek revival directed and choreographed by Drew McOnie I was unpleasantly reminded of George Galloway licking his paws in the Big Brother house.
