'Memory' serves well in 'Cats'
By Evan Henerson
Theater Critic
Not many shows can bring out equal doses of cynicism from seasoned theatergoers and wide-eyed wonder from first-timers. Then again, not many shows are "Cats,' the "now and forever' Andrew Lloyd Webber musical whose omnipresence is the theatrical equivalent of death and taxes.
Not many shows !ital!could be "Cats,' as the touring revival that parks for a quickie L.A. pit stop at the Pantages demonstrates. For a few shining hours, we're squarely back in the '80s, where synthesizers, flashing lights and the pageantry of circus are the bill of fare.
Dancing too. Great dancing, by heavily painted actors with incredible bodies who have to make sure, among other things, that they don't trip over their tails.
Tour director Richard Stafford expertly replicates Gillian Lyne's original choreography. A nearly 30-person ensemble sweeps across the John Napier- designed stage in a display that leaves little room for breathers. When the collective cats pounce front and center for a song-ending tableau, Stafford makes sure that, exhausted or otherwise, his litter of kitties are sniffing and twitching their little noses off.
Never mind that the musical's source material is the poetry of T.S. Eliot. "Cats' is a musical smart enough to put one of its most barn-burning dance numbers -- "The Jellicle Ball' -- directly in front of the signature anthem "Memory.' At the Pantages, it's Dee Roscioli who braves glamour cat Grizabella's show stopper. She sounds terrific.
Equally praiseworthy are Mario Martinez and Katy Burns as the thieving vaudevillians Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer; Ryan Jackson in heavy acrobatic mode as magical Mister Misoffelees and Kevin C. Wanzor doing triple duty as portly Bustopher Jones, palsy stricken Gus the Theater Cat and the swaggering tiger Growltiger.
CATS
Where:Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood.
When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 1 and 6:30 8 p.m. Sunday (through Sunday).
Tickets: $33 to $58. Call (323) 468-1770.
In a nutshell: Twenty years later, it still plays like wildfire.
Article Published: Tuesday, April 15, 2003 - 12:58:39 PM PST