This month, the musical Cats opens for its fourth run in Taiwan. The musical, created by world-famous theater director and composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, has received many awardssince it premieredin 1981 at the New London Theatre. The story is based upona book of poems, Old Possum ’s Book of Practical Cats , by writer T.S. Eliot. At first, Webber only wanted to set the poems to music to create an inspiredcollectionof songs. Eventually, however, Webber decided there was enough material to create an entire theater production.
The story of the show centers arounda tribeof cats called the Jellicles. This tribe meets every year to decide which of their members will be given the opportunity to be rebornand sent to a kind of heaven for cats, which they call Heaviside Layer. The show offers audiences fun songs and scenes that imagine the social relationships, both good and bad, between the cats of the tribe. Cats is one of the most successful musical productions of all time. The work is well-respectedfor its innovativestyle, especially the music and costumes. If you like musicals, or enjoy watching people act like cats on stage, then Cats is definitely a show you won’t want to miss.
