![]() ![]() Both the threads of introduction and ‘Jellicle’ shall guide us through this musical’s jumbled contradictions. The Jellicles define -and debate, and defer -the meaning of ‘Jellicle’ throughout the musical: Are Jellicle cats “rather small,” or “not too big,” or “roly-poly” (“ The Jellicle Ball”)? Some say they’re “black and white,” but I have observed, “with my very own eyes,” a number of other colorations (“ Jellicle Songs”). The second main thread pulls us closer to the truth. Clearly the cats like to ham up their oversized personalities. For “ The Old Gumbie Cat,” this means sleeping on “any place that’s smooth and flat,” but also directing mice and beetles towards “gainful employment.” For “ Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer,” it’s mischief and mayhem, with a heaping side of theft. First and foremost, the thread of introduction: each Jellicle cat hoping to ascend presents either the story of their life or the foundation of their identity. And to that end, we have at least one common thread to follow. We must look beyond trite conventions like ‘plot’ or ‘characterization’ to discover its secret message. Cats concerns itself not with such petty matters. What motivates these characters? Why do they want to ascend-doesn’t that mean dying? Ha. A stinking, furry mess, incomparable to any created by your own personal feline, yet a mess nevertheless. Finally, Old Deut chooses Grizabella to ascend, granting her new life and re-acceptance.Ī mess. At one point Macavity, “the Napoleon of Crime” (“ Macavity the Mystery Cat”), cat-naps Old Deutoronomy. Grizabella, apparently an outcast, appears intermittently with sad songs and a mysterious past. This old kitty cat gets to choose who ascends to “the Heaviside Layer” and is thus “reborn”(“ Invitation to the Jellicle Ball”). At this ball, various cats will perform in hopes of impressing their leader, Old Deutoronomy. ![]() ![]() Ignore the temptation to dismiss this as Dada, and you will discover a rich plot hidden under the… what’s on their heads, anyway? Are those stripy merkins? A helpful guide amongst the Jellicles lays out the purpose of their gathering, the Jellicle Ball. ![]() First, allow me to set the scene for you: a variety of cats introduce themselves in a junkyard. I speak, obviously, of the 1998 filmed performance. Mistoffelees has only two speaking lines (AS IT SHOULD BE). Back, to before “Memory” so paradoxically juxtaposed realistic snot and emotive CGI cat ears. What secrets may we discover by plumbing the depths of the Jellicle soul? Are Jellicles really “allegorical cats” and “political cats,” as stated in “ Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats?” To truly analyze the soul of Cats, we must cast our minds back -back to before Judy Dench (as Old Deutoronomy) propositioned Ian McKellen (as Gus the Theater Cat). Surely he, author of such cryptic works as “The Hollow Men” and “The Wasteland,” could not aimlessly meander through descriptions of cats without inscribing some hidden coding, some indelible mark on his material which must appear in all its iterations. The musical adaptation called Cats, whether on stage or film, has roots in Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Does Cats really hide some deeper meaning? To assert that Cats comprises such relevant social commentary, Hooper must be convinced of Cats’ potential to actually mean something, anything, at all. Unfortunately, between all the CGI and Jason Derulo and catnip and snot, Hooper’s ‘message’ seems to have failed to reach the audience. One of the stranger things Tom Hooper said about Cats (2019) was that it was “about the perils of tribalism” ( Vulture). ![]()
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