The longest-running musical in Broadway history, "Cats," will be performed for local audiences, for the first time ever, by the Alliance Theatre.
Showtimes are July 27-28 and Aug. 2, 3, 4 at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday matinees, July 29 and Aug. 5 at 2 p.m., in Chantilly High's theater. Tickets range from $8-$14; call 703-834-0200 or order at thealliancetheatre.org.
Winner of seven Tony awards, including best musical — and known for the song, "Memory" — "Cats" is based on a book of T.S. Eliot poems brought to life by famed playwright Andrew Lloyd Webber.
"IT'S A VISUAL spectacle because of the dancing and large, production numbers, and Webber's music is amazing, so it's really an experience for the eyes and ears," said Jim Mitchell, who portrays the cat, Bustopher Jones. "It ran 16 or 18 years on Broadway — over 7,400 performances."
As a board of directors member of Alliance Theatre, he's also excited about what this means for the company. Said Mitchell: "We feel this will attract a larger audience and perhaps bring in people who've never attended one of our productions before."
Alliance will also be accepting donations for longtime cast-member and Centre Ridge Elementary teacher Kathy Young, whose daughter, Ashley Mauter, was severly burned in a fire at college in March.
The show features 53 children and 36 adults (high-school sophomores and older) in the cast, but 150 people are involved in bringing it to the stage. "I have a marvelous staff of choreographers and musical directors," said Director and Producer Elaine Wilson. "Kevin Robertson is teaching stage combat and Anne Vandenberg is making many of the costumes."
"We have some amazing singers and dancers," continued Wilson. "Cheryl Price is the music director and Mike Fuchs, vocal coach; and [Chantilly High Theater Director] Ed Monk and his technical crew built the set."
Wilson said "Cats" appeals to all ages on many levels and is "a spectacular production with lots of technical effects. This show allows the actors to be creative with their roles."
All the characters are cats, and Mitchell describes his as "a sophisticated aristo-cat, part of London's upper crust. His whole life is about eating and drinking, and I sing a song that's almost a hymn about food."
He said almost everyone will wear unitards, but he'll be in a tuxedo and will speak with a British accent. The show is nearly all songs and dances, introducing each cat via different songs.
"Lots of people are on stage doing crazy things," said Mitchell. "It's fun doing unconventional things with your body, and I get to be very campy and pretty much do whatever I want."
SHELLEY KRAMER of Fair Lakes Crossing plays the Gumbie Cat called Jennyanydots. "During the day, she sleeps and seems lazy but, at night, she teaches mice music and crocheting and turns cockroaches into a Boy Scout troop," said Kramer. "Then they all do an Andrews Sisters-type tap dance together."
At first, she's rotund and in muted tans and browns; but when she reveals her true self, she's bright orange and svelte. "And I do the costume change on stage," said Kramer. "The whole show will have a spectacular array of colorful fur."
She said it's about the community of cats and each helps tell the others' stories through different styles of song and dance. And they're all on stage together, most of the time.
"It's so much fun being a cat," said Kramer. "Using movements and facial expressions mimicking a cat is a wonderful, creative exploration. From the moment the show begins, the audience will feel like they're part of this new, feline world. They'll have a spectacular journey and will emerge exhilarated."
Pleasant Valley's Stacy Crickmer did choreography along with Sarah Hardy, working on the dances since February. And Crickmer said much of the work was in the planning: "Should this number be big or small? What props should it have? Should the cats be crawling on stairs? Will children be in this number? What style of music? What kind of lighting? And the choreography depends on all these factors."
She said the show's more about the cats' personalities, than the plot, but a judge named Deuteronomy will pick one cat to be reincarnated, so each one goes before him to tell his or her story and ask to be chosen.
"There are as many different personalities of cats as there are of humans, so everybody in the audience should be able to identify with some character or personality trait," said Crickmer. "And each song has its own, musical style vocally and dancewise; the show is rich and textured in sound, movement and character."
She also plays a cat named Demeter, and she and her best friend vie for the attentions of MacCavity, the mystery cat. "He's a crime boss and we have a catfight over him," she said. "We're both dramatically striped tabby cats. My own cats [at home] have two, distinct personalities, and I've incorporated their real movements into this show."
Crickmer said the show is "kid-friendly" and, unlike the original, runs just two hours, not three: "It'll be interactive with the audience; cat ears and other crowd-participation toys will be sold, and there'll be sing-along portions."
FRANKLIN GLEN'S Cathy Arnold plays Grizabella. "She used to be a young, glamour cat," she said. "Now she's old and the other cats reject her because of her colorful past. But she still thinks she's beautiful and dresses glamourously."
Arnold also sings the show's signature song, "Memory," which is what audiences always remember about "Cats" and will recognize. "I've always been a dog person, so it's fun playing a feline," she said. "Elaine [Wilson] was my high-school drama teacher, and I was in her Jazzin' [choral] group at Chantilly in 1984, so it's almost like time hasn't moved. But it's been a blast meeting all these new people, and I'm glad to be part of the show."
Reston's Roy Leatherby plays a tabby cat named Munkustrap. "The cats' owners call them by different names," he explained. "But these are the names they call themselves." Leatherby also co-narrates "Cats" with Joe Philipoom, another Chantilly alum taught by Wilson.
"My cat knows the history of the cat tribe, is very confident, knows his place and knows all the other cats," said Leatherby. "One of my songs is 'Mistoffelees,' about a magical, conjuring cat. It's one of the two, main songs in the show that people know."
He's been studying his own cat to learn how to move and sit as a feline. And he said it's interesting finding the balance between "acting as a cat and doing things out of the norm for a cat, like singing."
The audience will enjoy the show, said Leatherby, because "most numbers have all 53 kids singing on stage with the adults at the same time, and it's nice to have that dichotomy — the cats and their kittens."
"And Cathy Arnold as Grizabella is phenomenal," he said. "When she sang 'Memory' for us, we all had chills from head to toe."
Centreville High junior Neema Atri plays Rum Tum Tugger. "His name is musical — he's a rocker, all about partying, raising a ruckus and making his voice heard," said Atri. "He's pretty much the center of attention wherever he goes."
"I love it because the energy shoots out whenever I sing the part," he continued. "And I love the song I sing because I sing about me, Rum Tum Tugger. He's a curious cat; he does what he does, when he wants to, and chicks dig him."
Atri said the hardest part is remembering to remain a cat at all times: "Especially when you're dancing, you've got to remember to keep it low, keep it catlike."
He said the audience will love the huge, production numbers. "The fact that so many people can come together in a show like this is unbelievable," said Atri. "Each person is a piece of the puzzle — a 1,000-piece puzzle. And when you finally put it together, you're like, 'Wow, I did it.'"
GREENBRIAR'S Joe Philipoom plays the cat, Alonzo. "I sing a song about dogs and what big sissies they are," he said. "I'm the eccentric cat who will do whatever he's asked to do; he's almost doglike in his catness."
Philipoom has a real goatee and will have a black-and-white face in the show and, hopefully, his own whiskers. He likes his role because, "Unlike most of the other cats, who are in the spotlight for a short period of time, I weave in and out. It's a challenge portraying a cat, because cats are graceful, and I'm anything but. It's also challenging on the knees, with the creepin' and the crawlin.'
Rocky Run seventh-grader Wesley Coleman, 12, of Cabell's Mill, plays Pierre Carçon, a French-waiter cat. "I speak with a French accent," he said. "And I'm sophisticated and walk with a swagger. I love it; it's just awesome because it's not every day that you get to crawl around the stage as a cat."
Classmate Emilly Meiburg, 12, sings with Bustopher Jones. "I'm a tabby cat named Fraidy Cat," she said. "I'm really excited to be in this show because it was my all-time favorite musical and I know all the words to the songs."
As vocal coach, Chantilly High Choral Director Mike Fuchs has mainly worked with the adults. "The biggest things are rhythm and direction, pronunciation and enunciation so the audience will understand the songs and be able to follow the show," he said. "They're doing really well and get better and better with every rehearsal."
Music Director Cheryl Price oversees what's happening chorally and instrumentally. There'll be a live orchestra of about 20 high-school and college student, and she's thrilled about it.
"There's a variety of sounds and sound effects coming from the orchestra," she said. "At one point, it'll sound like a train starting up. And what I like about the orchestral arrangement is that it combines traditional instruments with contemporary ones — we'll have an electric bass, electric guitar and two electric keyboards. And the musical styles include jazz, hymn-like, waltz, Broadway and swing."