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Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Based on Old Possum's Book Of Practical Cats
By T. S. Eliot
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Show History
Based in "Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats," Andrew Lloyd Webber’s hit musical CATS opened in London in 1981 where it became the longest running musical in the history of West
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From http://www.reallyuseful.com/rug/shows/cats/inspiration.htm
I began setting Old Possum’s Book of Practical
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Awards
1983 Tony Awards- Best Musical, Cameron Mackintosh, The Really Useful Company Ltd, David Geffen, The Shubert Organization
- Best Score, Andrew Lloyd Webber
- Best Book (Musical), based on 'Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats' by T.S. Eliot
- Best Direction (Musical), Trevor Nunn
- Best Costume Design, John Napier
- Best Lighting Design, David Hersey
- Best Featured Actress (Musical), Betty Buckley
1983 Drama Desk Awards- 3 Awards including Outstanding Music
1981 Laurence Olivier Awards (London)- 2 Awards including Musical of the Year
1900 Moliere Awards (France)1983 Outer Critics Circle Awards1900 Dora Mavor Moore Awards (Canada)- 7 Awards including Best Musical
Articles & Interviews
7/1/2001 Volume 8, Issue 3, Summer GROOMING GRIZABELLAThe news first appeared in USA Today, with a headline in the Life section that read, ""Cats May Pounce on a Stage Near You.""
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10/1/2006 Volume 13, Issue 2, Fall JELLICLES CAN AND JELLICLES DO!Open up a box of CATS materials from R&H and you’ll see 20 vocal books, four piano vocal scores, 18 orchestral books, a full score, programming disks and a pair of yellow cat eyes staring back at you.
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3/7/2010 JELLICLES CAN AND JELLICLES DO!It is now and forever, it is one of the longest running musicals in theatre history, it is bursting with music and magic and "Memory" -- and now bringing your audiences into the world of CATS is easier (and more affordable) than ever.
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Critic Quotes
"A triumphant piece of musical theater"
Derek Jewell, Sunday Times
"It's a musical that transports the audience into a complete fantasy world that could only exist in the theater and yet rarely does. CATS believes in purely theatrical magic, and on that faith it unquestionably delivers."
Frank Rich, The New York Times, 1982
"More than a hit... a genuine theatrical landmark. The show keeps rejuvenating itself."
Elyse Sommer, CurtainUp
Musical Numbers
Memory (Jemima, Grizabella)
resources/Audios/41976_1060_19.mp3
Memory (Jemima, Grizabella)
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 1. Overture (Jemima, Grizabella)
2. Jellicle Songs For Jellicle Cats (All)
3. The Naming Of Cats (Munkustrap)
4. Old Gumbie Cat (Munkustrap, Jellylorum, Demeter, Bombalurina, Gumbie)
5. The Rum Tum Tugger (Rum Tum Tugger, Quaxo, Demeter, Bombalurina)
6. Bustopher Jones ( The Cats About Town) (Jennyanydots, Bombalurina, Jellylorum, Bustopher Jones)
 7. Intro To Mungojerrie And Rumpleteazer (Tacet) (Jennyanydots, Bombalurina, Jellylorum, Bustopher Jones)
8. Mungojerrie And Rumpleteazer (Mungo, Rumple)
9. Old Deuteronomy (Mistofolees, Tantomile, Coricopat, Munkustrap, Tugger)
10. The Battle Of The Pekes And Pollicles (Mistofolees, Tantomile, Coricopat, Munkustrap, Tugger)
11. Song Of The Jellicles And The Jellicle Ball (Deuteronomy, Munkustrap, Victoria, Jemina, Greorge, Alonso, Bill Bailey, Quaxo, Skimble, Bombalurina, Gumbie, Jellylorum, Coricopat, Tantomile, Cassandra, Tugger)
12. Grizabella The Glamour Cat (Deuteronomy, Munkustrap, Victoria, Jemina, Greorge, Alonso, Bill Bailey, Quaxo, Skimble, Bombalurina, Gumbie, Jellylorum, Coricopat, Tantomile, Cassandra, Tugger)
13. Moments Of Happiness (Introduction To Act Two) (Deuteronomy, Jemima, Company)
14. Gus: The Theatre Cat (Jellylorum)
15. Growltiger's Last Stand - Part 1 (Growltiger, Alonzo, Munkus, Mistof, Skimble, Tugger, Crew, Siamese, Griddlebone)
16. The Ballad Of Billy M'caw (Growltiger, Alonzo, Munkus, Mistof, Skimble, Tugger, Crew, Siamese, Griddlebone)
17. Italian Aria (Growltiger, Alonzo, Munkus, Mistof, Skimble, Tugger, Crew, Siamese, Griddlebone)
18. Growltiger's Last Stand - Part 2 (Growltiger, Alonzo, Munkus, Mistof, Skimble, Tugger, Crew, Siamese, Griddlebone)
19. Gus: The Theatre Cat (Reprise) (Growltiger, Alonzo, Munkus, Mistof, Skimble, Tugger, Crew, Siamese, Griddlebone)
20. Skimbleshanks: The Railway Cat (Deuteronomy, Rumple, Skimble,)
21. Macavity: The Mystery Cat (Demeter, Bombalurina)
22. Macavity Fight (Demeter, Bombalurina)
23. Magical Mr. Mistoffelees (Tugger, Company)
24. Memory (Jemima, Grizabella)
25. Journey To The Heavyside Layer (Jemima, Grizabella)
26. The Ad-Dressing Of Cats (Deuteronomy,)
27. Finale 1 (Tacet) (Deuteronomy,)
28. Finale 2/3 (Deuteronomy,)
29. Finale 4 (Deuteronomy,)
Discography
| 1. |
Cats [1982 Original Broadway Cast]
Label: Polydor/the Really Useful Group
Release date: January 1, 1983
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Rental Materials
| Rehearsal Set (24 Books, 1 Logo CD) |
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20 Libretto/Vocal Books
| 1 Logo CD
| 2 PIANO CONDUCTOR SCORE - Act 1
| 2 PIANO CONDUCTOR SCORE - Act 2
| | | | Orchestration (20 Books & Programming Disks) |
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1 REED I (Flute, Tenor Sax, Soprano Sax)
| 1 REED II (Clarinet, Baritone Sax, Flute)
| 1 FULL SCORE - Act 1
| 1 FULL SCORE - Act 2
| 1 REED III (English Horn, Oboe)
| 1 HORN I
| 1 HORN II
| 1 TRUMPET I (Bb Trumpet, Piccolo Trumpet)
| 1 TRUMPET II (Bb Trumpet, Flugel Horn)
| 1 TROMBONE
| 1 CELLO
| 1 GUITAR (Electric, Acoustic)
| 1 BASS
| 1 DRUMS
| 1 KEYBOARD I (Electric Piano, Piano)
| 1 KEYBOARD II
| 1 KEYBOARD III
| 1 PERCUSSION (see list below)
| 1 PIANO CONDUCTOR SCORE - Act 1
| 1 PIANO CONDUCTOR SCORE - Act 2
| | | | Libretto/Vocal Books 10 pack |
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10 Libretto/Vocal Books
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Writer's Notes
Andrew Lloyd Webber, I began setting Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats to music late in 1977, partly because it is a book I remember with affection from my childhood and partly because I wanted to set existing verse to music. In my associations with lyricists it has tended to be the case that once a dramatic story line had been agreed, the lyrics are written to music I compose. I was very curious to see whether I could work the other way round. Very luckily Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats contains verses that are extraordinarily musical; the 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. I wrote some settings in late 1977 which I began performing at the piano for friends, but I never progressed the idea seriously until after I had composed TELL ME ON A SUNDAY. This was performed on BBC TV in the early part of 1980 and I began to think of Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats as a possible concert anthology that could also be performed on television. With this in mind, some of my settings were performed in the summer of 1980 at the Sydmonton Festival. Valerie Eliot fortunately came to the concert and with her brought various unpublished pieces of verse by her husband; one of these was ´Grizabella the Glamour Cat'. The musical and dramatic images that this created for me made me feel that there was very much more to the project than I needed the support of another to encourage me to re-work my settings and to see if a dramatic whole could be woven from the delightful verse that I was now to be allowed to develop. Thus in the late summer I had my first meeting with Trevor Nunn. Soon after Valerie Eliot produced various other uncollected poems, three of which we have incorporated into CATS in their entirety. She also gave us a fascinating rough draft of an opening poem for what appears to have been conceived as a longer book about cats and dogs. This poem was not appropriate for the stage but it inspired us to write a lyric with the same intention of celebrating the supremacy of Jellicle cats. We have been able to include lines from the end of Eliot's draft poem which now introduce The Naming of Cats. But what was most thrilling was to find a reference in one of Eliot's letters to coherent, albeit incomplete structure for an evening; he proposed that eventually the cats were to go "Up up up past the Russell Hotel, up up up to the Heaviside Layer". Trevor Nunn, who I discovered has a taste for tackling theatrical problems that most people consider insoluble, set to work immediately with me combing Eliot's works and we were reminded of the many references to cats in the main body of his writing. I have enjoyed working on CATS as much as on any show on which I have worked. My gratitude with be undying to Valerie Eliot without whose encouragement the musical could never have taken its present form.
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