Good, but Lacking Some Kitty Glitter
Reviewed
4/23/04
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot
Directed by Marc Robin
Broadway Palm West Dinner Theatre, Mesa
(480) 325-6700
April 22nd - June 12th , 2004
$22.00 - $45.00
How does one turn the longest running musical in Broadway history into a spectacle sized for a dinner theatre? Broadway Palm West Dinner Theatre has been tapped to see if they can make Cats even more useful for Webber's Really Useful Company. It's played in theatres and even tents, but can it follow a trip to the dinner service line? How does one take a show that is known for being set in a junkyard and cater it? There's good news and bad news: Director/choreographer Marc Robin and his designers have come up with a wonderful concept that fits this show perfectly and he's trimmed the show of its more inconsequential songs, but his cast is an uneven mix of excellent singers who can kinda move and excellent dancers who can kinda sing. The answer is that yes, the Jellicle Ball can be catered, but it needs more consistent performers to last now and forever.
The gastric creations fit the trend of the last few shows. As always, the carving table is the highlight, this time offering a Top Round. The Chicken Monterey has a tasty salsa topping, but the Penne Pasta Florentine is a good sauce on a limp noodle. The Risotto and Cheese Stuffed Hoki is better in theory, as the creative concoction is more of a muddle of tastes. The Roasted Pork Loin with Saffron Orzo was given good marks by those at my table.
Robin has slimmed down this overblown confection to a workable scale. Gone are the silly intrusion of dogs and the overwrought seafaring opera, leaving us to concentrate on the competitors for the trip to the rejuvenating Heavy Side Layer. The choreography is visually entertaining, and when performed by the strong dancers, it is impressive. Watching Phillip Groft as Mistoffelees and Amy Marie Arnold as Bombalurina bound about the stage rivals the original. Several others approach their level of acrobatics. The remaining ensemble, though, hangs back behind the stronger dancers, trying their best not to be noticed during the chorus numbers. Vocally, the same split exists, April Monte's Jellylorum and Chuck Caruso's Old Deuteronomy are great signers, and Carolyn McPhee's downtrodden Grizabella strongly croons the mega-hit song "Memory." However, as one of the precocious duo of Mungojerry and Rumpleteazer (an engaging Meegan Korman) , Ken Leist is a very weak singer. JR McAlexander's onstage-though-hidden orchestra excellently performs the highly synthesized score.
One of the things that marked the original production and its subsequent tours was attention to detail. While Robin has secured an excellent set design from Christine Peters , there are other areas that are off. Russell A. Thompson's lighting design has moments of splendor, but the actors miss their marks with alarming frequency. Dave Temby's sound design seems to be competing with Nancy Missimi's entertaining costumes and Dawn Rivard's wigs, and the run crew needs a few more run-throughs to fix the many cueing errors. The biggest disappointment, though, in terms of detail, is the surprisingly limited choices made by the actors. Here, stereotyping runs rampant. Nearly everyone performs a few hackneyed movements involving cleaning, preening, and prancing: more than just actors playing cats, the tours prided themselves on morphing their performers into cats.
While the opening night had its magical scenes, it couldn't escape feeling more like a dress rehearsal. Perhaps with more time, stronger choices and performances will evolve. As it was when I saw it, Broadway Palm's offering was more of a valiant effort than a certified hit.
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