Cats

Thornbury musical theatre group juniors

CATS                                       Armstrong Hall, Thornbury                   July 11th 2019

Director: Kara Kennedy                                                                  MD: Kayleigh Prior 

Choreographers: Kara Kennedy, Alice Walton, Elisha Cocks & Natalie Britton

This production of Cats resulted from the vision of Gary Kennedy, who was a co-founder of TMTG Juniors, and was due to direct it, unfortunately his untimely death meant that he did not fulfil his dream, but through the determination of his wife Kara, with the support of the society, his vision was brought to life.

The set had been well designed and constructed to give the impression of a large rubbish dump, with different levels, and many trap doors and openings for the ‘cats’ to appear and disappear through. The costumes were excellent and with the combination of excellent make up and movement, ensured the cast lost their human identity and adopted their feline personalities.  The headdresses for the Pekes and the Pollicles were good, and the scary red eyes for Rumpus Cat.  The lighting had been well designed and was mostly well cued..  The timing of the individual spots in the opening song was good.  The special effects were a surprise and worked well, the ascending of Grizabella to the Heaviside Layer was lovely.  A backing track was used for this show and the levels were well controlled and sympathetic to the young voices.  The microphones were well operated and mostly well cued.

The team of choreographers had worked well with the cast on the dance numbers and they were all lively and ‘cat like’; the routine for ‘Mungojerrie and Rumpelteaser’ was extremely energetic and athletic; with Rum Tum Tugger having some fantastic moves.

There is a great deal of music in this show with the story told through the songs, Musical Director Kayley Prior, had taught the songs well and they were mostly confidently sung with good diction.

The main characters were confident in their roles and kept the energy levels going.  There were many highlights in this show one of them the fight with Macavity, which was well timed and executed.  This show requires everyone to work together at all times and keep in ‘cat’ character, the concentration has to be maintained and this cast did this, responding all the time, from their withdrawal reactions to Grizabella to the warmth of Old Deuteronomy.  The ‘Naming of Cats’ was very impressive, speaking in unison is never easy but this time the cast came out and positioned themselves all around the auditorium and up the stairs, they were totally in time with each other, amazing.

Kara Kennedy had inspired her young cast to create an excellent piece of Musical Theatre; there were so many lovely moments.  The enthusiasm and energy shone through.  I think that the cast had all immersed themselves so much in becoming cats that that they were able to forget their usual identity and so lose all the self-consciousness they might feel when performing.  This was an excellent show in every way.  Everyone had worked together to makes Gary’s vision a reality and you must all feel very proud.

 

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