Oh!

Walking into the Lerner black box, we realized we had absolutely no idea what Cats was about. 90 minutes later, as we walked out, we still really didn’t have any clue at all. Despite this, we had a wonderful time. 

The excitement in the room pre-show was palpable. Audience members gave nervous looks as they chose their seats – what would happen if we sat in the front? What will this show entail? And what are all the cast members wearing? (The answer: glittery cat ears and liquid eyeliner-drawn whiskers.)

A cast of around 30 actors, the group assembled at 9 am to begin working towards the 9 pm show. The final product was not a production of Cats, but rather, in their own words, a “very involved karaoke” version of the beloved(?) Broadway classic. This added another layer to the experience, as the performers sang over both instrumental tracks and the original Broadway cast recording. 

All performers wore cat ears and makeup with their choice of costume, from sweatpants to suits. Nothing was off limits, as long as it allowed them to dance, sing, meow, and crawl around to their hearts’ content. There was also plenty of audience engagement, almost an uncomfortable amount. The first three-ish minutes consisted mostly of the various cats meowing and hissing at audience members. The most emotional moment of the show was when all cats assembled to say goodbye to the moon. We’re not exactly sure why they did that, but found it profoundly moving nonetheless. 

Some of our favorites cats from the show were Macavity The Mystery Cat portrayed by Is Perlman (CC ‘25) who tore up the stage on a Razor scooter, Asparagus “Gus” The Theatre Cat portrayed by John Howley (CC ‘25) who delivered an emotional soliloquy on the impact of old age, and Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer portrayed by Isabelle Jones (BC ‘28) and Maya Shore (BC ‘25) who performed their whole tap number sharing a single pair of tap shoes – one shoe per cat. 

For being put together in 12 hours, the show was a rousing success. We also especially loved supporting our absolute favorite cat and the best cat of all the cats onstage, Rory Collins (BC ‘27). Above all else, Rory looked like she was having a great time – and we had a great time watching her. We laughed, cried, got a little scared, and spent a lot of the time very confused. We’ve come to terms with the fact that we are never getting those 90 minutes of our lives back, but we wouldn’t trade them for anything.

Cats the Musical via Bwarchives