REVIEW: Workshop Theatre's CATS

CATS … finds success with a cast that exhibits unflinching commitment to the task at hand (and they seem to be having a rather good time while they’re doing it).

Workshop Theatre of South Carolina opened their production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s CATS last weekend, starting a three-week run of this show which ran for 18 years on Broadway. As the resident community theatre troupe at Columbia College’s Cottingham Theatre, the Workshop presentation is a special collaboration between Workshop and the Columbia College Dance Education and Dance Studies program - creating a unique opportunity for community actors and dance students to work together. 

Based on T.S. Eliots Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, Webber’s CATS has been performed for over 40 years and had a feature film adaptation in 2019. For those reasons, we’ll spare you a synopsis and move right along.  

CATS, under the direction of Julian Deleon, finds success with a cast that exhibits unflinching commitment to the task at hand (and they seem to be having a rather good time while they’re doing it). This ensemble, which consists of over 35 performers, hits their marks, are constantly engaged in catlike activities, and ultimately offers an energetic performance that feels dutifully rehearsed.  

Actors Bobby L. Rogers (Munkustrap), Katherine Brown (Bombalurina), Carly Siegel (Demeter) and Blythe Long (Jellylorum) hold the audiences’ hands (read: paws) throughout the production as their characters are charged with introducing us to many of the characters or informing the viewers about the history and traditions of the Jellicle Cats. All four performers have truly lovely voices that are fitting for Webber’s vocal score, and they all lead the proceedings with poise and control that makes the audience feel welcome to their secret society.  

Lisa Baker, as Grizabella, does an admirable job in this production. Baker’s performance of “Memory” satisfies fans of the song due to her powerful vocals and purr-fect tone (sorry, we had to) that throws comforting nods to the Betty Buckley performance we’ve heard countless times over the last four decades.  

The performances of Nathan Jackson (Mungojerrie) and Jessica Roth (Rum Tum Tugger) are also winning moments for this production. Jackson’s Mungojerrie feels incredibly familiar to folks who have experienced the original production of this piece. He’s fun, mischievous, and quite comfortable with his dance duties. Roth’s Rum Tum Tugger deviates from the usual characterization that mixes Tom Jones with glam rockers of the 80s and provides audiences with a Janis Joplin-esque rock-n-roller that is delightful when she takes the show over.  

Without a doubt, Choreographer Erin Bailey was responsible for a larger part of the production than is usual with most musical theatre works. Bailey has created a lot of movement for the cast that allows the trained dancers to wow us when they take the spotlight, and for the “movers” in the cast to look their best throughout most of the production. While some moments aren’t as successful as others, there is a lot of varied movement throughout the production and your eyes don’t get tired seeing a large cast execute it.  

To that end, Emily Jordan (Victoria on March 9th), Katherine Brown (Bombalurina) and Jack Thompson (Mistoffilees) gave us professional performances in regard to dance in the production. They lend Bailey’s work the talent that it desires, and they give longtime CATS fans a glimpse into the choreographic focus with which the show originated.  

Music Director Taylor Dively, in his first time navigating the music for a full-length musical, shows promise in that the vocals of CATS are rather good - especially when regarding the soloists. However, the sound design makes the proceedings uncomfortable at times as the sopranos are too high in the mix - which can make certain moments feel like a caterwaul rather than the good blend coming from stage. On March 9, the band was unfortunately not meeting the cast’s performance level, as the show began with wrong notes on the keyboards, destroying the iconic opening melody. These sorts of accidents occurred often throughout the evening, leaving us hoping that the musicians will realize that they are being paid to be there, and should therefore be just as prepared as the cast who is donating their talent. 

Ultimately, despite the efforts of the cast, this production suffers from a design concept that simply does not work. The show has been promoted as “not your mother’s CATS” - and this is truthful advertising. Our mother’s CATS had humans in fully committed feline-wear, and the illusion worked rather well to make such a bizarre concept a Broadway and West End hit. Workshop’s cats have painted noses with headbands or hats that have “cat ears” attached. Our mother’s CATS had fun set pieces that allowed the cast to create a train out of oversized junk pieces laying around the set along with other moments of inventive whimsy. Workshop’s cats had bare bones structures with some castored scaffolding that left us thinking we were watching CATS on a scaled down set of RENT. The show asks for many moments of reveal, surprise, inventiveness and magic that, in this production, were simply absent. We were not tricked into thinking Macavity was in disguise as Old Deuteronomy. We did not believe we had witnessed magic when Mistoffelees motioned for the cast to wheel Old Deuteronomy back on stage when he’s supposed to be miraculously summoned. The same lack-of-illusion applies when Grizabella is wheeled off stage left as she finally ascends to the Heaviside Layer. Where’s the thrilling sleight of hand? The possibility of that felt lost in the first 30 seconds when a crew member, portraying a human in the wrong alley, walked across the stage making it clear the felines were the same scale as he.  

Cast member Harrison Ayer’s bio briefly and aptly reads that Ayer “is a human, acting like a cat dressed like a human.” That’s pretty much what you get with this directorial concept. If it was a big idea that didn’t come to fruition due to the immensity of the project, then it can be forgiven. However, if this production meets the vision of those who created it - then perhaps this CATS shouldn't have been let out of the bag. Doing “different” is welcome, but only when there’s a relatable or inventive perspective that exposes something newly relevant or unexpected about a cherished work.

We always invite patrons to challenge our reactions by taking the time to see the work themselves. Art is entirely subjective, and you may have a very different experience. If you want to see a fully committed cast giving you undeniable energy in tandem with some rather talented dancers that are performing one of the theatre industry’s most successful works, then you should book your tickets to see Workshops’s production of CATS. The show runs through March 23rd at Cottingham Theatre on the campus of Columbia College. You may buy tickets at www.workshoptheatreofsc.com. Also, don’t forget that the theatre is taking donations for animal shelters, so be sure to bring some treats, litter, or toys with you.

REVIEW: The Mad Ones at Trustus Theatre

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes 'Awww!'"

Jack Kerouac from his autobiographical novel On The Road

Not enough has been written about platonic girl love, especially for adults. But the reality is that platonic girl love—its power and gravity and the way it can encompass a person like a cocoon—has saved many a young woman’s life, both figuratively and literally. The musical The Mad Ones by Bree Loudermilk and Kait Kerrigan (2017), on the Trustus stage through March 18, gives this beautiful and complicated phenomenon the reverence it is due.

With a tiny cast of four Trustus stage virgins, including two current USC students, Lily Smith and Charlie Grant, The Mad Ones is the story of Samantha and Kelly, played by Smith and Elise Heffner, BFFs who are separated by an accidental death. Samantha must rely on her memories of the all-important platonic girl love relationship she had with Kelly to get her through her grief and on the road to adulthood and making the next life decisions.

The working metaphor throughout the musical is that Samantha is obsessed with Jack Kerouac’s autobiographical novel, On the Road, but despite her intelligence (Sam is valedictorian of their senior class), she repeatedly fails her driving test keeping her, in essence, off the road. The brilliance of this simple metaphor plays out beautifully in the construction of the play.

Lead characters Smith and Heffner are just so much, too.

Adorable, approachable, relatable, insightful, lovable young women, Smith is a cross between Mayim Bialik and Tina Fey and Heffner is that combination of cute and fun that leaves no wonder Smith’s character Samantha adores her so. Smith plays Sam as vulnerable, but capable of getting through this period of grief with the help of the three people who she knows has her back no matter what: her boyfriend Adam, played by Grant, her mom Beverly, played by Jessica Roth, and the memories of her dead friend, Kelly. And in no way is the character of Beverly to be overlooked. Her character is refreshingly written as a bright, caring, and self-fulfilled mother who wants nothing less for her own daughter. While many writers would have fallen into the old tarpit of depicting her as a pushy parent, Loudermilk and Kerrigan seem to recognize what is at stake here and present Beverly as assertive, yes, but justifiably so. Beverly behaves in ways that every mother should aspire to.  

To say the cast has vocal chops is an understatement. From Grant’s smooth dulcet crooning to Roth’s rich and powerful voice, the four vocalists take on the score bravely leaving nothing on the stage. The slight pitchiness and rare missed note were so real and genuinely offered that they almost felt scripted, as in, everyone misses a note now and then so of course these authentically imperfect characters will, as well. These young actors, as well as Roth, DO NOT HOLD BACK.

Clearly this kind of bravery in such young actors had to originate in the experienced pedigrees of their directors, Robin Gottlieb and Katie Leitner. In her playbill note, Heffner gives special thanks to Leitner as “the best teacher she ever had.” No doubt. Leitner is also the powerhouse musician and vocalist in the popular local band, Say Femme and between the two women, they have performed enough lead roles to intimidate these four initiates into paralysis. But it is evident how the directors empowered their cast with courage and the message of the script.

There were no weak links in this production. Kudos to Ginny Ives (stage manager), Ezra Pound (sound), Lorna Young (lighting), Liza Hunter (assistant stage manager), and Jim Hunter (scenic designer) for pulling off all the pieces of the behind-the-scenes puzzle that allow for a successful production. Also outstanding was music director Chris Cockrell and his band, and special thanks to the strings player whose melancholy tones were enough to elicit tears alone.

Yes, expect to respond to The Mad Ones with anything from misty eyes to ugly sobbing. But the tears you’ll shed are of the redeeming variety—the kind that wash away the pain and remind us that we grow from every obstacle we overcome.

Go see this beautiful musical and celebrate the talents of these young actors and the futures they have in store.