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 Entertainment | August 2005 
The Broadway Production "Cats" Will Tour Mexican Theaters
 Hugo Hernández & Cristina Tamariz - El Universal
The most successful musical in history returns to Mexico for a few performances.
The now legendary show was born in the United Kingdom at the end of the 1970s when Andrew Lloyd Webber decided to put the poems from T.S. Elliot's "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" to music.
The show was inaugurated in 1981 in the New London Theatre, but was interrupted by a bomb threat that forced an evacuation of the theater.
Despite its inauspicious beginning, the show was a great success. Within a year, it crossed the pond to land in New York City where it became an unprecedented hit, winning seven Tony awards and several Grammy's among other awards.
During the show's life span, it has shown in 300 cities worldwide with an estimated 75 million audience members.
"Cats" first came to Mexico in 1991 with the creative team of U.S. director Jeff Lee and U.S. choreographer Richard Stafford behind the scenes. After a series of workshops and auditions, the Mexican cast was selected. The public fell in love, and the show went on for 600 performances.
This year's presentation will visit seven cities with 20 shows, with a U.S. cast and crew and shows in English.
Alex Ringler, who plays Alonzo, explains that "the language takes second place because the story and the music are more compelling than the words."
One of the secrets to the success of "Cats" is that it appeals to anyone with an "open mind," said Ringer, from children to adults and everything in between.
To be a cat, says Ringler, who studied jazz in the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, "you have to know how to sing, act, and dance. You have to be training constantly in all three areas."
Audiences will have the pleasure of seeing the original costuming used for the show's stage debut in London. Every detail of the cats' appearances are carefully recreated based on the first generation, from costumes to the make-up that magically transforms the actors into authentic felines. |
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