LogFAQs > #976200755

Cats is, to me, the absolute lowest that a musical can possibly go. If you told a person who hates Broadway to make up a Broadway song on the fly, whatever they come up with wouldn't be much different from this:

Are you mean like a minx? Are you lean like a lynx?
Are you keen to be seen when you're smelling a rat?
Were you there when the pharaohs commissioned the Sphinx?
If you were and you are, you're a Jellicle cat

I say this, though I think that's why I love it! It's total nonsense the entire way through that has little to do with the source material-- itself a collection of irreverent short poetry written to entertain the author's godkids-- and yet carries a sort of brazenness about itself that's hard to come by. You're dressing up a bunch of talented performers in cat costumes as they sing about milk and scratching posts and purring and also magicians for some reason. It's the most make-it-up-as-you-go thing to ever make it to the stage, and in this it may actually be the most perfect stage adaptation of all.

Also, the actual production side of things is sharp as ever. I especially love the Overture, translated faithfully for the 2019 film:
https://youtu.be/ijD-D0dKLbQ?si=tNRhY6kGyw0h6DnI