purr-fect

One of the tag lines from CATS the musical... 'purrr-fect'... indeed, i agree with the tagline... huehueheue...



General comment first..... me, sbass n tony went to the door on the first floor.. huehuee.. somehow, it felt good to be on the 'first floor'.. haha.. n yuph, before entering the theatre, we had to sign the 'IM COOL' form to specify that you are COOL.. as in.. no fever lah!!



Then we found our seats which, erhm.. even though i was the one who bought the tix, even though I KNEW it was 10th row from the front, even though i KNEW it was right at the center..... well despite all that, i cant help but feeling sooooo excited when i sat on that seat.... my gosh! remember the seat number.... J15! it's RIGHT at the center.. XD



Okiez.. anyway, about.. the audience *ga penting banget*... it's a good mixture of adults and kiddos... im not sure why parents pay so much for kid's tix.. =s... but then again, they might have bought the family tix... so.... wadever lah..



The props.... well.. i must say, it was not as awesome as phantom of the opera... the props for CATS were static... n i assume they did not use the full stage... n I was like 'WHERE IS THE ORCHESTRA??' the stage below the stage *ok.. im not making sense.....*.. let me rephrase.. the 'room' below the stage, where the orchestra supposedly stay, was simply covered... no hole, nothing........ geez.... =s



Okiez.. at the start of the show, the announcement said 'ladies and gentlemen, blablabla, please be reminded that no FLASH photography is allowed'..... NYAH NYAH NYAH!! bebek told me already lah... she was saying she was 'confused' at some people, who kept on taking pics... n well.. i tot 'whew.. they were lucky'! n before my CATS performance, i met Virgen who caught the matinee performance.. n she also told me that they could take pics.... no doubt, i was jumping like crazy =p



So.... the CATS began........ to crawl into the stage... from all over the place... XD from the front, the sides, the back *from the audience's seats!!*.... n began their first song... 'JellicleSong for Jellicle Cat'... the only song that i remembered from the DVD i borrowed from Tony long long long time ago =p..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaHbZqqxUQg



N immediately, i was pulled into their world... as expected from the PROs... hohoo... their diction *is that the right term to use?*... u can really UNDERSTAND their singing as if they are speaking to you.. anyway, it was quite hard to see the whole CATS population as there were just sooo many :s anyway, this first part of the song was so cats-like... the tune was cheeky, jumpy... and u can just picture the cats when they walked fast.... n suddenly stop... look left-right as if they hear something... n then continued to walk lightly.... ok.. just hear the link above and picture it yourself... XD



Introduction to the storyline... basically, the cats looked at the audiences and somehow 'surprised' at the audiences who DID NOT KNOW what 'jellicle' cat was... n thus, the storyline is to INTRODUCE what 'jellicle' cat was... which simply means, the whole cats population lah =p



N I noticed one cat right away... he was grey.... cool and had that 'aura' about him.. he was the first to sing solo... n true enough, when i 'researched' wiki, he was.. Munkustrap, the protector and narrator of CATS......
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munkustrap..


The thing about this 'Broadway' production that i like is that the casts can BOTH sing and ACT..... seriously... as i said, i noticed him right away, because of his 'aura'.. before he even sang..! The way he stood.., the gestures..., the way he moved.. simply being the 'center' of attraction...... *gasp*..



Next, introducing some cat girl.... which, was entertaining also.... but.. the most entertaining of all, was my most favourite CAT.... the RUM TUM TUGGER.... yeaaaaaaaaaaa XD n his song was not so 'classical',.. it was more like mixture of the 60s.. and pop song... n he was dressed in a very 'modis' costume... he had fur 'coat' near his neck.. and he the way he walked was simply like celebrity XD



In the middle of his song, he went down the stairs and took one girl's hand and spun her around... huahuahuahuhauhhau!! almost at the end of his solo, the cat girls were squirming and meowing.... they all just went crazy when he was around... XD Basically,.... if rum tum tugger was on stage, he somehow dominated the stage lagh.... XD he can act sooo well that makes you just laugh out loud...



After that, there were more CATS being introduced... the aristocrats, the old deutronomy, the couple cat... and the Grizabella (i found out her name after researching.. duh!)... n she sang 'memory' sooo beautifully... making me shiver with sadness... she first started with the line "silence... not a sound from the pavement.." and the whole stage was indeed, dimmed... and seriously the cats knew how to keep silence...... it made the whole song so heartbreaking........ :( :( :(



Oh.. another thing.. minor details that i somehow caught my attention... most of them, when you look carefully, will have the cat-like gesture.. like 'licking their paw' or 'stuck out their tongue.. or play with the ears.... or meowing soundlessly... just for the sake of acting it out *i think*... plus points for them!! even though they're stationed at the corner of the stage, when i looked long enough, they'll somehow does the cat-like actions...., even when they're singing.. rum tum tugger was the very obvious one.. he stuck out his tongue quite often... XD... gyaa!! grizabella....... oopz.. i didnt remember grizabella doing cat-like actions XD.... hhuehuehuheue maybe she's the exceptions... older cats were too tired to do all the cat-ish things...? XD... oh but one thing, each time they move, they'll worry about their 'tail' first XD... they either 'pegang' their own tail, or just push the tail somewhere else, so that they wont trip XD



Just after the intermission ended, and the lights started to be dimmed, the cats started to appear on the audience's seats....!!!! XD.... one of them dominated the 'throne', which was the wooden plank on the 'foyer stall' seats... n suddenly, one cat came over to lick the other cat.. mwahahaha so KYEWTTTT XD!!!!! too bad none appeared on our sides :s



Orchestra no koto wa..... hm... i 100% sure it was recorded =s... if it was not sbass who pointed out that there was a small TV which shows a conductor, i might have thought they didnt sing live XD because it was just to perfect O_o even after all the taxing dance moves..... they sang and coordinated just perfectly in synch!!!


Anyway, this musical was very entertaining! there were many parts that makes you just laugh out loud.. n the genre of music was pretty wide.. abit of pop, choral music... and of course, classics.... their dances were superb!! n yuph, they also did some acrobatic scenes and sing at the same time.. *i tot only V6 can do it wakakakaka*..... the voice range... also varies.. some of them really sing super high notes... (if you listen to Jellicle song fo Jellicle cats, u will understand what i meant... =-]



Ok.. the rest of the songs were equally entertaining, but well.. my fav songs are such follows:
1. The first song (invitation to jellicle ball)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDJO6Fpb17g
2. Rum Tum Tugger (DUH!! XD XD)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDZ5QJOsSNs
3. Memory
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EeCMLRvIGQ&NR=1
4. Skimbleshanks, The Railway Cat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucg4tPYdlzI
5. and the song they sang after the applause XD.......




Purrrrrrrr....fect.... XD Oh well... i love this production.... immensely.. even though it was painful to come out the $xxx... i think it was worth it =]..



n the danger of sitting at J15, is, that, i.wont.want.to.sit.eniwhere.else.next.time.... =s wakaka... i somehow could understand nana's reaction when we watched swan lake... *it was after Phantom of the opera, of which, she sat FRONT row*... and she was like 'heh...... 2nd floor....' XD



Quite bad leh.. $xxx each time a musical come to town.... geezzzz XD



Ow.. on my way home, my mom called.. n i told her i just came back from a 'concert'.. she would not know what 'CATS' is anyway... i told her that they sang the song 'memory'... n she was like 'oh i know the song!' XD n she *as usual* asked me how much i paid for it.. n i told her i got the most expensive tix.. n surprisingly, she said 'gapapa lah.. kamu kan uda kerja keras...'.. haha! she AGREED to me, awarding myself XD..



After sometime, my dad was on the phone... n i told him *again* that i just came back from concert.. n i also told him that the song 'memory' was sung... n he was like 'eh papa juga mau nyanyi lagu ituw loch ntar' *with his singing kaki lah..*... n he was like 'itu tuw kalo ga salah dari "CATS"'.... n i was super shocked lah!!! XD "ya aku baru nonton ituwwwwwwwwwwwwww" XD n i heard him chuckle - meaning 'as expected of my daughter' XD so... ya... glad that i watched CATS... thank you for coming, CATS!



NO NO nO.. the blog entry doesnt end here..... haha!!! here's some of the things i gathered from my 'research' XD



Watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XElQohh0L8



YES YES YES YES YESSSSSSSSSS XD that was grizabella AND rum tum tugger.... gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa XD XD XD XD XD XD XD mwahahahahaha



If cats were to come again, in erhm... few years time, i might watch it again XD... wakakaka just to 'award' myself... huehuehuee