This is the story of jellicle cats, who attend the jellicle ball, for their leader to choose which cat will travel to the Heaviside Layer to be reborn into a new life.
That is according to http://www.catsthemusical.com/the-show/synopsis/. I had to look it up because I had absolutely no idea what was going on. There appeared to be absolutely no storyline at all! There were a number of cats who did not enunciate properly and their parts of the story were therefore lost on my completely.
The lighting was meant to be subdued, but it was to an extent that I did not feel part of the performance as I was continuously strugging to see what was going on. On several occasions, members of the audience laughed and applauded- and I had no idea what was so funny!
The cast broke the fourth wall whilst speaking in unison. Whilst the people sat in the stalls would have enjoyed that thoroughly, and been able to hear what was going on- for me they became out of time and I was unable to decipher what on earth they were talking about.
I must admit that I got bored. I listened to the tune I knew 'Memories', although I was underwhelmed by it's performance. The costumes were incredible, but from the upper circle they may as well have been humans wearing rags as I could not decipher them as cats but for their long tails. Generally their movements were particularly feline, which I did enjoy.
The dancing was very dramatic, and there was some humour which I enjoyed. However, overall I was thoroughly disappointed in this performance. The almost non-existent storyline appears to have been developed purely to support the wearing of a lot of lycra and some rather dramatic music.
I actually left after the intermission, as I had not grasped the storyline and was not enjoying the performance enough to warrant being so hot and sweaty along with the rest of the audience.
Image above not my own.
2/10
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