I saw Cats yesterday.  I have to say, I thought it was pretty good.  I always go to the first showing of the day because I dislike crowds.  It also helps that the movies I tend to go to aren’t blockbusters.  Yesterday, there were exactly 4 other people in that theater besides me.  The others were a mother and 3 girls.  I’m guessing the at least one of the girls was a dancer.  During the closing credits, she was dancing all the way down the stairs.  She wasn’t half bad.

So, I didn’t know the story line before I went.  I knew some of the music, but I had never seen the show.  I got to say, the story didn’t really make sense until the end, but I guess that’s to be expected.

The music.  What can I say?  I really do love a lot of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s stuff.  The new addition to the score was Beautiful Ghosts (here’s Taylor Swift’s version).  I read that Francesa Hayward wasn’t a singer and took vocal lessons for the movie.  I thought she was very good for not being a trained singer.  Here’s the whole soundtrack.

Speaking of Francea Hayward, I was speechless.  She’s an extremely gifted dancer.  I couldn’t take my eyes off of her.  I took ballet for about 10 years as a kid.  I enjoy watching ballet.  I think she’s one of the best I’ve ever seen.  I’d love to see her perform in an actual ballet.

I had to laugh at the Old Gumbie Cat.  She reminded me of Gidgette, especially when she was on her back.  She rolled around the same way Gidgette does.

And can we talk about Skimbleshanks: The Railway Cat?  I loved the tap routine.  Steven McRae is also a ballet dancer, but he has some pretty mean tap skills too.  I took tap for 15 years, and it’s my first dance love.  I couldn’t help tap my toes along with the music.

One of the funnier scenes was Bombalurina’s song and dance.  She had catnip to get the Jellicles stoned and distracted from what was going on.

Surprisingly, to me at least, it got very poor reviews.  But it seems like those reviews concentrated on the CGI.  Cat/Human hybrids are pretty weird, I’ll admit.  I’m sure the CGI could have been better.  I liked the emotion the ears and tails added.  And the cast did spend some time in “cat school”, which helped convey the feeling.  Another thing reviewers seemed to dislike was the story.  I mean, I guess you could criticize it for that.  But from what I read, it was pretty faithful to Weber’s original musical. I’ll agree that the story was weird, but we’re talking T.S. Elliot and Andrew Lloyd Webber.  Here’s a list of the good and the bad.

Personally, I would go see it again.  The choreography and music (if you like Andrew Lloyd Webber) were a delight.  They had amazing dancers as lead characters.  I enjoyed watching Jennifer Hudson and Taylor Swift as well.  I definitely don’t think it was as bad as some reviewers made it out to be.  However, it is a show that definitely appeals to a certain type of person.

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