Confused by CATS and The Dance

First let me say, I have the utmost respect for people who work in the arts. I likes art, art art, painting art, music of all flavors, poetry, books, sculpture, and life as art. Artistically, I am an equal opportunity appreciator of Da Arts.

But for the love of Gad, I can NOT get dance. I went to the ballet a few times when I was a grad student. I didn’t get it. Jumpy jump jump twirl. Jumpy jumpy jump. The music was good, unless you see the Nutcracker (and that was interesting as the curtain caught on fire).

Now, again, I respect people who give their lives to performing one of the arts, and I don’t want to suggest that CATS sucked, because that would be rude, but could someone PLEASE tell me WHAT IS THE BIG DEAL?

This is a famous musical, no? Thousands of performances, right?

Jumpy jump jump, crawl, meow, and a story that revolves around describing different cats?

I didn’t get it. After 15 minutes I wanted out. I moved away from my family so I could sit in the sparsely populated section of seats and sleep without bothering people.

I just dont get it. I was not MOVED at all by the jumpy jump, the music (it IS a musical, right?) or the storyline.

Suffice to say, I was literally bored out of my mind.

So once again, the problem is mine, but can someone please explain to me WTF!?

This is where I was last night. Thinking “WTF!?” This is what Western culture has to offer? Forget about the waterboarding, make Al Queda sit through CATS!

I nearly JOINED AQ last night.

I have seen plays, good ones done by professional actors and LUVED it; been to poetry reading by famous and unknown poets (this is proof that I do get into arty farty things that most people think are stupid and a waste of time), and lurved it, so WHYTF can’t I get The Dance?

I came a whisker from yelling “WTF!?” last night when they started singing “Jellico Cats” for the nth time.

I’m truly sorry, but I don’t get it.

jdstumpedbythejumpyjumpjump

ps, the four foreigners who left early, walking right past me: You guys suck! :raspberry:

It’s a kids’ show. Yes, it’s retarded. I would like to apologize on behalf of my nation for Andrew Lloyd Webber. buhaoyisi.

I like ballet. Yes, it’s pointless, but it’s less pointless than, say, football. Girly ballet like the Nutcracker is kind of dull, but stuff like ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is good. Lots of jumps. I worked at Scottish Opera for a while, way back, so saw a lot of stuff.

Like many things in life, you just get it or you don’t. You’ll never get someone to care about, for example, baseball, knitting or Harry Potter if they just don’t see the point.

[quote]I worked at Scottish Opera for a while, way back, so saw a lot of stuff.
[/quote]

With all the billowing kilts? I imagine you did too.

daasgrrl, calling daasgrrl! Aussie defender of all that’s (a Broadway or even Off-) musical, emerge forth and help Buttercup the Far More Than Merely Funny (a.k.a., Britain’s Treasure Now Out To Taipei).

JD, forget Cats, you got hozed on that one, bro. For a prime musical experience – possibly the only non-opera one – check out Steven Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. I haven’t seen this musical in 20 years (and then I only caught it on HBO), but it’s a really memorable one.

There’s a hole in the world like a great black pit
And the vermin of the world inhabit it
And its morals aren’t worth what a pig could spit
And it goes by the name of London.

Cats isn’t Riverdance for hate-factor, but it’s up there.

That being said, I couldn’t honestly choose between the two if I had to go. :stinkyface:

Cats : dance :: Up With People : rock music

I saw a lot of modern dance in college, some mindblowing, most incredibly pretentious. Haven’t had a chance to see a performance, but the pics I’ve seen from Taiwan’s Cloudgate dance company look like it could be the former.

I was at the show yesterday with my wife and we both found it excellent.
It’s a musical, not a dance show. If you want to see dance you need something like The Swan’s Lake.
My wife and I had a great time.

Bastard! Now I’ve got that Up With People theme song running through my head!!! :fume:

…up, up with people…there’s people wherever you go…etc…

I know, I know…to each his own… (as he puts on some Uriah Heep still in the a.m. …)

[quote=“igorveni”]I was at the show yesterday with my wife and we both found it excellent.
It’s a musical, not a dance show. If you want to see dance you need something like The Swan’s Lake.
My wife and I had a great time.[/quote]

I’m glad you had a good time. But d00d, it’s a dance.

Swan Lake? ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz That’s one of the ones I saw in grad school. I kept thinking, WTF is going on with you winedrinkingcheeseeating people? lol

[quote]
Taiwan’s Cloudgate dance company[/quote]
I would also like to see these guys.

Maybe I didn’t like CATS because it was not a bit spontaneous.I found it totally lacking in human expression, with the POSSIBLE exeption of Mr Mephestopheles.

Yep, Andrew Lloyd Webber should be on my pet hates list. The only way they could make CATS worse would be if it starred Wesley Snipes and Sandra Bullock.
The only musical I’d ever want to see would be Troy McClure’s “Planet of The Apes” from The Simpsons…
Oh and while I’m here… I also notice that there is a “Disney On Ice” dance show currently running in Taipei :fume: :fume:

I got dragged along to a Cloudgate dance performance once and found myself thoroughly enjoying it. Not sure why; I’m not a dance critic. But I found myself mesmerised, and I began considering running away to become a dancer (some of the women are gorgeous and scantily clad, too, which helps span my attention a little longer). :wink:

But then I went again and saw another of their performances and was bored out of my mind. And another a little later.

Does that help?

I saw “Cats” last night, and I thought it was a fun musical. I never really thought of it as a dance show. Weird. I’ve seen some excellent dance productions here that have moved me way more than “Cats” did. That said, it was a lot of fun figuring out which cat was the most like my cats.
And then, horror of horrors, when the ex-glamour kitty came on, and started to make those feeble dance movements, like she was trying to remember how she used to be, I thought of how difficult it used to be for our 18 year-old Persian to walk around, and…and…when she burst into “Memory”…I started crying.
Please don’t tell anybody.

Gosh, how different perspective can make the same show!

I was thinking “The difference between the seats where we were sitting and the seats in the back of the place was 35 feet and 600NT$.”

Well, at the excat same time, my wife grabs my hand, I turn and look at her and OMG Niagara Falls. Thank god I brought the tissue papers.

Well, at the excat same time, my wife grabs my hand, I turn and look at her and OMG Niagara Falls. Thank god I brought the tissue papers.[/quote]

It’s so cool that you are not embarrassed to admit that. Bawl your eyes out, igor! :bravo:

Well, at the excat same time, my wife grabs my hand, I turn and look at her and OMG Niagara Falls. Thank god I brought the tissue papers.[/quote]

It’s so cool that you are not embarrassed to admit that. Bawl your eyes out, igor! :bravo:[/quote]
Hmm, not me, my wife. The last time I cried was at the premiere of Terminator, you know when he melts at the end. :wink:

JDS -
Its better when they’re naked.

Having said that, I’ve seen JC Superstar about 5 times - Great sound track!
Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat 2 or 3 times - Great Sound Track!
Hair! - nekkid and clothed versions - Great Sound track!..(are you noticing a trend here?)

I like Music…Opera sometimes, but prefer just music. I keep thinking of all the Daffy Duck & Elmer Fudd cartoons when I hear Opera.

[quote=“TainanCowboy”]JDS -
Its better when they’re naked.[/quote]

I’ve seen that: Oh Calcutta, which was billed as Broadway’s longest-running nude, musical, comedy, or something like that. Seemed like a fairly painless way to go out and get some culture. I enjoyed it; my date was a little startled.

As for CAts, I saw the ad on the side of the sports center and almost bought tickets because our girl is crazy about cats, but then forgot about it. But I enjoyed your review, JD – jump jump jumpy meaooww – and so did my wife and daughter. They both laughed when I told her what you thought of it.

Don’t paint all musicals with the same brush dipped in the maudlin bullshit that is Andrew Lloyd Webber. I love musicals and opera, but I hate Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musicals. Phantom of the Opera is crap. Cats is crap in a litter box. And Evita is Argentinian crap.

On a different note, I loved finally seeing Notre Dame de Paris live at the Taipei Sports Arena after wanting to see it since 1999. Even when the guy who played Phoebus fell off the stage in the middle of singing. :laughing:

What I couldn’t get over, at the Friday night performance, were how many guys were snoozing away next to their ladies when the lights came up for intermission! :laughing: :bravo: :laughing:

As for the show, it was fun…guess that’s really all it’s meant to be; a bit of whimsy and fun. Personally, I’d take something with a little more narrative and denouement any day of the week, but we’re talking about “Cats” here, not “Rigoletto”. :wink: