Mullingar student players come over all feline with cats
Broken-down fridges, ovens, washing machines, TVs and pipes form the backdrop for the junkyard where all Jellicle cats meet one special night of the year for the Jellicle Ball.
It’s Cats and it is coming to the Mullingar Arts Centre, as the latest production from the Mullingar Student Players, from Monday April 6 to Saturday April 11.
One of the longest-running shows in West End and on Broadway, Cats opens this week from 8pm nightly, with a cast of 48 feline characters.
Speaking ahead of the song and dance spectacular, arts centre director Sean Lynch said the students have been doing incredible work.
“I love it, I have to say. I first saw it 30 years ago. I remember when I was in the Point, it was first done in the New London Theatre and they had a rotating stage. It ran for 21 years there and 19 on Broadway,” remembers Sean.
“Aimee McManus, our choreographer, has been doing amazing work with the Student Players. There’s a huge amount of dance involved. The Jellicle Ball scene is seven minutes and 15 seconds of pure dance.”
As well as backward summersaults and aerial work, the show is challenging from a technical point of view too, according to Sean.
“I’d say, if I’m looking at the sheer scale of this, it’s definitely on a par with, if not the biggest, we’ve ever done.
“Cats is based on TS Elliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. It’s a series of unrelated stories where cats identify themselves. The single thread running through it is that it’s set in a junkyard where the cats meet. The oldest cat is Old Deuteronomy, and every year once a year, a cat is picked to go to Heaviside Layer – basically heaven.
“Everybody knows Grizabella, she sings Memories, and is also one of the common threads running through it,” says Sean. “It’s not your conventional musical, Phantom or Les Mis, where there’s is a complete story. It’s a series of chapters.”
Cats received its world premiere at the New London Theatre in 1981, where it played for 21 record-breaking years and almost 9,000 performances. Since, it has been presented in 26 countries, translated into 10 languages and been seen by 50 million people worldwide. The classic Lloyd Webber score includes Memory, which has been recorded by more than 150 artists, from Barbra Streisand and Johnny Mathis to Liberace and Barry Manilow. This enchanting music has been honed by musical director Niamh O’Shea.
• Cat runs in Mullingar Arts Centre until April 11. Tickets (€15/12) from 044 9347777.