In the Spotlight

Cats

Episode Summary

Midnight... not a sound from the pavement... except a pack of unitard-clad dancing felines in yak-hair wigs. Yes, for this episode we are taking a look at the most famous show ever written about a pack of cats who are auditioning to die: the Jellicle musical itself, CATS. Every part of this show, from its source material by a titanic poet known mostly for his dark musings on the futility of life, to its fraught development process, to its eventual mega-hit status, is unlikely. We'll discuss its now and forever allure, its truly odd plot and complex created mythology and yes, even the movie.

Episode Notes

CATS Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber based on Old Possum’s Book Of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot | “Prologue – Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats” additional material written by Trevor Nunn and Richard Stilgoe | “Memory” additional material written by Trevor Nunn 

Episode Segments:

• 1:53 – Speed Test
• 7:00 – Why God Why
• 11:25 – Back to Before
• 17:34 – Putting It Together
• 31:08 – What's Inside
• 1:00:47 – How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?
• 1:14:01 – We Go Together
• 1:16:38 – Our Favorite Things
• 1:24:31 – Corner of the Sky
• 1:28:04 – What Comes Next?

Works Consulted & Reference :

• Cats (Original Libretto) by Andrew Lloyd Webber & T.S. Eliot with Additional Material by Trevor Nunn & Richard Stilgoe
• Unmasked by Andrew Lloyd Webber
• A Cat’s Diary: How the Broadway Production of Cats Was Born by Stephen Mo Hannan
• Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot

Music Credits:

• "Overture" from Dear World (Original Broadway Cast Recording)  | Music by Jerry Herman | Performed by Dear World Orchestra & Donald Pippin
• "The Speed Test" from Thoroughly Modern Millie  (Original Broadway Cast Recording) | Music by Jeanine Tesori, Lyrics by Dick Scanlan | Performed by Marc Kudisch, Sutton Foster, Anne L. Nathan & Ensemble
• "Why God Why" from Miss Saigon: The Definitive Live Recording  (Original Cast Recording  / Deluxe)  | Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, Lyrics by Alain Boublil & Richard Maltby Jr.  | Performed by Alistair Brammer
• "Back to Before" from Ragtime: The Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording)  | Music by Stephen Flaherty, Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens | Performed by Marin Mazzie
• "Chromolume #7 / Putting It Together" from Sunday in the Park with George (Original Broadway Cast Recording)  | Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim | Performed by Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters, Judith Moore, Cris Groenendaal, Charles Kimbrough, William Parry, Nancy Opel, Robert Westenberg, Dana Ivey, Kurt Knudson, Barbara Bryne
• "What's Inside" from Waitress (Original Broadway Cast Recording) | Music & Lyrics by Sara Bareilles | Performed by Jessie Mueller & Ensemble
• "Memory” from Cats (Original Broadway Cast Recording) | Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Lyrics by Trevor Nunn | Performed by Betty Buckley & Cynthia Onrubia
• "Maria" from The Sound of Music (Original Soundtrack Recording)  | Music by Richard Rodgers, Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II | Performed by Evadne Baker, Anna Lee, Portia Nelson, Marni Nixon
• “We Go Together” from Grease (The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) | Music & Lyrics by Jim Jacobs & Warren Casey | Performed by John Travolta, Olivia Newton John & Cast
• "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music (Original Soundtrack Recording) | Music by Richard Rodgers, Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II | Performed by Julie Andrews
• "Corner of the Sky" from Pippin (New Broadway Cast Recording) | Music & Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz | Performed by Matthew James Thomas
• “What Comes Next?” from Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording) | Music & Lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda | Performed by Jonathan Groff