Raetsel_Lapin posted... CATS - Gus the Theatre Cat / Growltiger's Last Stand:
https://youtu.be/paepYX9E6iU
Estimated Score: 61.135
Gus the Theatre Cat: : 57.40. There is some fine character work here. Jellylorum's actress has a nice, almost operatic voice & Gus' actor does a fine job portraying an older actor looking back at his life and criticizing today's youth. I don't know that it really stands on its own as it's more of a character introduction than a standout song, but it is enjoyable enough. Also the meow was funny.
Growltiger's Last Stand: 64.87 ; Wow, I was not prepared for how powerful the actor's voice would be when he stopped doing his old man voice. That's quite an impressive transition. And yeah, this number is pretty far out there, even by the musical's standards... cutting away from the main plot (what little plot there was) to have a recreation of a Victorian-era play with bits of opera in it about a villainous cat is... something. I'm not sure there even are words to describe what this is, but I really dig his voice when he goes for the operatic portions & I like villainous song ("From Gravesend up to Oxford, he pursued his evil aims") & non-human characters & fiction within fiction. So, I mean, I'm absolutely here for this. I cannot fathom why it exists, but I'm here for it. His shift back to the old, broken Gus at the end of the song is also commendable & I find him to be quite a talented actor.
Average Score: 61.135. It's a fun experience that I enjoyed watching and listening to, though I find his operatic singing towards the middle of Growltiger's play to be the only section that I'd really want to listen to on its own as a piece of music. It's very well performed and a nice experience to watch, just perhaps not what I'm often looking for in terms of music--still, very much worth the time & I'm glad to have seen it. Sad that it's often cut, though I do understand all the reasons why.
It gets even stranger. The Italian Aria part wasn't originally part of Growltiger's Last Stand. Instead, there was a THIRD song called The Ballad of Billy McCaw that Growltiger and Griddlebone sang together. That's right, it was a song within another song, within another song. So the whole Gus the Theater Cat part ended up taking like 15-20 minutes.
Billy McCaw was replaced for a couple reasons. One, it sounds totally out of place, sounding nothing like the rest of the show. And two, it is notoriously hard to sing. I'm a better than average singer and I can't do it. At least not in this key (I sing bass and baritone).
Here it is, if you're curious. This is just Billy McCaw, without the rest of Gus/Growltiger:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwH7fP62TEo
It's a pretty nice song in it's own right. It just doesn't belong in Cats.
Sadly, all of Growltiger's Last Stand has now been officially retired from the stage show. I count myself lucky to have see it live when they were touring in Norfolk.
Glad you liked Wheel of Time. Wish I had nominated it instead of And Then There Was Silence. No other Blind Guardian song has the Eastern music feel that WoT has. Not sure why they did that.