Disclaimer: everything in this post is my OPINION, you don't need to agree with it. If you like "Cats", then that's great, it's just not for me, and in this post, I will share why. Also, this is in no shape or form hating on anyone who is/was a part of any production of "Cats". It's just my opinion and not a fact.
Hi everyone! I hope that you are all having a great day!
As a theater kid, I'm always listening and watching new musicals. But, there are some shows that I just can't understand how they got so popular.
One of them is "Cats".
When I first got into musical theater, one song that I couldn't stop listening to was "Memory".
I loved, and love that song.
So, when the movie "Cats" came out I was super excited. I went there and I hated it to the point where I almost left the theater.
However, everyone on the internet was hating on that movie, so I thought that maybe the actual show would be better, spoiler alert it wasn't.
While I was watching it I just kept thinking, how did this get so famous?
After a while, I realized that it was probably because it was new and exciting at the time it was released. But now, with so many fun and amazing shows, "Cats" just seems outdated and doesn't stand out.
One of the main reasons why I didn't like the show was that the songs, apart from "Memory" didn't have much emotion.
I think one of my favorite things about musical theater it's able to make us, the audience, feel so much just by listening to a song.
But most of the songs where about the cats presenting themselves, and though that may have some emotion it doesn't make me feel anything.
Again, I'm not including "Memory" in this, however, if we see songs like other shows like "Waitress" for example we can feel the characters suffering or happiness even if we only listen to the soundtrack.
When I listen to "When He Sees Me" I can tell how Dawn is nervous, but excited, and scared, and happy and all these different emotions. Or when I listen to "She Used To Be Mine" I can feel Jenna's pain and agony.
And to me, that's what makes these songs beautiful. It's their way of manipulating the audience and getting us inside the story.
However, when you are just saying "I'm this and I do that" it doesn't make a connection with the listener.
Another reason why I dislike that show it's because of the story.
I don't like that this musical doesn't have an on the edge of your seat moment. Or a moment where you are shocked or happy.
It's predictable and the whole story is about this decision, yet we have no suspense about it.
We don't have enough time to really get to know each of the characters so we can hope that they are the chosen ones.
Neither do we have time to understand how important that decision is in other to make us excited and anxious about it.
Now, I understand that the story built like this because it was created around characters and not an actual story.
But I think the story should focus on certain characters so we can really get to know them and also build more tension towards who will be chosen.
So, because of its lack of transmitting emotions through the songs and lack of a good story I consider "Cats" a bad musical.
Again, this doesn't mean that it's a bad show, it's just my opinion.
What are your thoughts on "Cats"? Do you love it, do you hate it, are you neutral about it, comment down below, I would love to know!
Bye!
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