Feline Good: CATS The Musical

Photo Credit: SCC


Director and Choreographer, Kristyn Wiklanski set the stage for a purr-fect evening to go out to the Chrysler Theatre and see the St Clair College Performing Arts students in a modern day creation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Broadway musical Cats, adapted from T.S. Eliot’s whimsical poetry collection titled Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.

In a nutshell, the story revolves around The Jellicle Ball, a celebration held once a year for all the Cats and an opportunity to share tales of their lives to Old Deuteronomy, their wisdom-filled and highly-respected leader, who will choose only one of them to journey to the Heaviside layer and be reborn into a new life.

With a beautifully haunting set design, the junkyard alley where the tribe of cats live and play, every inch of the stage had its own little tale to tell. The entire cast did an excellent job personifying their chosen character cat and exhibiting kitty-like body language and gestures with submissive and dominant poses.

There was so much thoughtful consideration into the movement on stage, mixed with heightened operatic solos and ensembles, and of course jaw-dropping dance sequences that kept up momentum in energy from start to finish.

Highlights:

👉Alex Wyant gave an outstanding performance as Rum Tum Tugger, a wildly energetic and uninhibited cat.

👉It was amazing to experience the zest of the fashionable lit-up ensemble and electrifying solo performance of the lovable magical black and white cat, Mr. Mistoffelees – Paige Moore. 

👉Another show-stopping vocal and dance performance was from Skimbleshanks, the Railway Cat - Josie Bianchi. 

👉Grizabella played by Gracienne Swarbrick blew the audience away with her ballad of “Memory”.

👉Joanna Empey as Old Deuteronomy spoke to our hearts with every note sung in “The Ad-Dressing of Cats”.

As an audience, getting to experience the full emotional spectrum of a mystical world that highlights the connective fabrics that are within ourselves and shown to others is something to always hold dear in our memories.
 

💜For any animal lovers out there, this show had an paw-some initiative to support the Windsor/Essex County Humane Society. Any donations are always appreciated to help our furry friends.

💜 Chrysler Theatre    

💜 SCCPA Facebook Page



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