72°
Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber's award-winning hit musical, "CATS," is based on T.S. Eliot's amusing poems, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats written for his god children in the 1930s. Lloyd Webber had read the poems as a child and remained sentimentally attached to them. Using them as lyrics for his music, however, meant a very different songwriting process, in terms of meshing music and words, according to Lloyd Webber. Very luckily 'Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats' contains verses that are extraordinarily musical; they have rhythms that are very much their own, like the 'Rum Tum Tugger' or 'Old Deuteronomy' and although clearly they dictate to some degree the music that will accompany them, they are frequently of irregular and exciting metre and are very challenging to a composer, he told Backstage, the show business newspaper.What Lloyd Webber was able to pull off bowled over even dog lovers. "CATS" opened on Broadway in 1982 (after a successful run in London) and became the second longest running show -- ever. Its twenty colorful songs include the blockbuster "Memory," which Susan Boyle recently performed to enormous acclaim. Winner of seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, "CATS" slinks in for a two day run at The Palace Theatre in Stamford, on December 4 and 5. Catch it and meet the sleek stars of the cast, including Victoria the White Cat, The Rum Tum Tugger, Bustopher Jones and other fantastic felines. Performances take place at 8 p.m. on Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are $32-$67. For more information, visit the theatre's website.
Have you ever seen "CATS"? Tell us about your experience by posting your thoughts here, or send me an email, at cfortier@mainstreetconnect.us.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Norwalk and receive free news updates.
