From the Cyberbuzz news.
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Young, energetic cast brings new life to Cats at Fox. When a Tech student thinks of cats, thoughts probably turn to the throngs of strays that inhabit the campus, to the "Brittain kittens." Tuesday night a different group of cats purred into Atlanta, this time the young cast of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats, in a touring production that opened at the Fox Theatre on Tuesday night. While on Broadway, Cats played to enraptured crowds night after night at the Winter Garden Theater, where props and decorations for the show had spread onto the walls. Cats also broke A Chorus Line's record for the most performances on the Great White Way. After thousands of performances world-wide, it would be wasy to lose creative energy and dramatic intensity, but the young cast of this touring production brings that energy and intensity, but the young cast of this touring production brings that energy and intensity with aplomb. However, it was a bit difficult to envision a young Old Deuteronomy, played by Jarrett Ali Boyd, and a youthful Grizabella (a character supposed to be aging and longing for the glamour of days past) played by Gretchen Goldsworthy. The show opens with the cats being called to the Jellicle Ball with the audience being invited to look into their secret world. From there, a series of energetic numbers introduces different cats with different interests, like the Rum Tum Tugger, whose main interest is being the ladies' man, er, ladies' cat (including entering the seating area and picking a young girl in the audience to dance with), and Bustopher Jones, whose primary interest in food provides for a comical number, among others. What was remarkable about this cast was their ability to work as an ensemble, not as an assemblage of talents. Many of the performershad paid their dues in classical ballet or in America's finest performing arts schools and colleges, and it showed, though there were times that dancers were off step or off timing, but this could be attributed to some opening-night jutters that even the most seasoned theatre veteran can be susceptible to. The athletic feats these cats dared to try were one of the highlights of the show, and it definitely added to the illusion of a band of stray cats slinking about the streets of London. Another area of this show that held the audiene's amazement was the technical aspects of the show, including perfectly synchronized pyrotechnics, excellent lighting execution, and just a little bit of theatrical magic. It's been over twenty years since the first performance of this Webber landmark, May 11, 1981 at the New London Theatre, but this young cast seemed like it was written for them and that it was brand new. Cats may be known as America's favorite family musical and as an old-guard Broadway (like Webber's other classics like Phantom of the Opera and Evita), but it's also nice to see it performed with a young cast that performs to delight their audience and works like they're trying to win Tonys all over again. If only those cats outside Brittain dining hall would start singing and dancing to music adapted fromt he works of T.S. Eliot. Now that'd be something to buy tickets to.
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