Eagle Eye Entertainment
"The reason why people hunger to see 'CATS'
over and over and over again is because it's a musical that t
ransports the audience into a complete fantasy world that
could only exist in theatre," said Linda Balgord, who
plays Grizabella, shown here.
Cats
Purr-ennial fave is
By Tim Ryan
back on the prowl
Star-BulletinTHERE'S a simple reason why "CATS," the British musical which opens at the Blaisdell Concert Hall tomorrow has lurked around the world for such a long time -- and it may not be the reason you expect, says the latest Grizabella the Glamour Cat.
It's not that this collection of anthropomorphic characters deliver a brilliant musical, powerfully stirs the emotions, or is a function of the publicity that has accompanied the show's every purr since it first stalked London 17 years ago, said Linda Balgord, who as Grizabella sings Puccini-scented ballad "Memory."
"The reason why people hunger to see 'CATS' over and over and over again is because it's a musical that transports the audience into a complete fantasy world that could only exist in the theater," she said in a telephone interview from Anchorage, Alaska, where "CATS" closed last night.
" 'CATS' is purely theatrical magic, and it unquestionably delivers."
The source material for the musical is T.S. Eliot's one volume of light verse, "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats."
In "CATS," the audience is taken to a topsy-turvy foreign universe from the moment they enter the theater. And before the lights go down, you feel like you've entered a mysterious spaceship on a journey through the stars to a cloud-streaked moon.
" 'CATS' takes the audience into an overflowing, wondrous spectacle -- and isn't that an enchanting place to be?" said the Broadway performer.
As many as 2,500 props will be built into the "CATS" set, including some 1,500 oversized pieces of toothpaste tubes, broken dishes, discarded cartons and other assorted trash on the junkyard set. Performers will don more than 35 wigs made of yak hair -- only Grizabella's wig is made from human hair -- and more than 250 costumes.
The "CATS" cast of 36 actor/singer/dancers are luxuriantly outfitted in whiskers, glowing eyes, masklike makeup and every variety of feline costume. Grizabella's makeup takes the longest to apply, at 45 minutes.
Balgord, whose tour as Grizabella ends in Denver after Honolulu, came to "CATS" directly from the Broadway company after starring as Norma Desmond in the national tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Sunset Boulevard."
Balgord moved to New York in 1991 after working in theater in Chicago for several years and was featured in the original cast of Sondheim's "Passion." She also starred as Violet Chandler in Cameron Mackintosh's "The Fix" at Washington's Signature Theatre and in the national tour of "Aspects of Love" as Rose Vibert, winning a Helen Hayes Award nomination. Balgord was selected by Andrew Lloyd Webber to perform "With One Look" from "Sunset Boulevard" at the Whitehall Palace in London.
Recently, she sang "Memory" from at the Broadway-on-Broadway celebration in Times Square that attracted more than 100,000 people.
"Grizabella is a wonderful role and there is that song ('Memory')," she said. "It's been done so many times by so many great singers that all you can do is bring a little of yourself to it and not even think of copying another's style."
One of the greatest achievements of "CATS" is that movement is used to give each cat its own personality even as they knit the entire company into a cohesive animal kingdom, Balgord said.
"The songs give each cat his or her voice," she said. "I think if there's a point to (Eliot's catcycle) it's simply that 'cats are much like you and me.' "
But as his verses personify all manner of cat, so do the tuneful melodies to which Lloyd Webber has set them.
"Quite simply, the songs are clever and fun," she said.
To be sure, the eclectic musical sources include swing, for the busy Gumbie cat and rock for the insolent Rum Tum Tugger. A song about Macavity, the Napoleon of cat crime, is set to a detective-movie theme a la Henry Mancini.
At the beginning of the show, the deity-cat, Old Deuteronomy, announces that one cat will be selected by night's end to go to cat heaven and be reborn. Sure enough, the only obvious candidate for redemption is chosen at the climax.
"Another thing so wonderful about 'CATS' is that the audience is always diverse," Balgord said. "It appeals to all ages. They simply enjoy it and have kept coming back to see it.
" 'CATS'" has lived up to its motto of playing 'Now and Forever.'"
"Memory" has been recorded by more than 150 artists, including Barbra Streisand, Johnny Mathis and Judy Collins, to the Boston Pops and Liberace. Barry Manilow's rendition was a Top 40 hit in the United States and a techno/dance version by European singer Natalie Grant topped the European dance charts for a year. "MEMORY"
lives on and on
Cat nips
On stage: "CATS," Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical about a cat's world
9 lives and other numbers
Seven Tony Awards in 1983
Worldwide:
National tours:
