After five years of absence, the original production of the classic musical "Cats" returns to China. On July 15, the "Cats" national tour press conference was held in Shanghai. Starting from October 11, Jucheng Musical will bring the story of "Jellicoe Cats" to 9 cities including Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Xi'an, Beijing, Tianjin, Hangzhou, Zhengzhou, Suzhou and Shanghai for 93 performances. From January 10 to 26, 2025, "Cats" will perform for 21 consecutive performances at Shanghai Qiantan 31 Performing Arts Center, marking the end of its China tour.
"Cats" China Tour Schedule
"Cats" was created in 1981. It has been translated into more than 20 versions and has traveled to more than 30 countries. It has been performed more than 9,000 times in London alone. Yu Xinyue, general manager of Jucheng Musical, said, "In our hearts, "Cats" is synonymous with musicals."
The original musical "Cats" came to China for the first time in 2003. From 2018 to 2019, Jucheng Musical introduced "Cats" The tour lasted for 6 months and it was hard to get a ticket. The regrettable postponement of "Jericho Ball" in 2020 has left many viewers wondering when "Cats" will return. In October 2024, "Cats" will start from the Jucheng Theater of Nanshan Cultural and Sports Center in Shenzhen and finally arrive at the Qiantan 31 Performing Arts Center in Shanghai. At the
press conference, Gu Qing, CEO of Xinde Group China and general manager of Xinde Qiantan Project, said, “Qiantan 31 will continue to be committed to creating a rich and exciting comprehensive cultural ecosystem for the audience and bringing world-class services to Shanghai citizens and tourists. New performance experience." Jiang Kuan, president of Jucheng Group, revealed that Jucheng Group will continue to increase its investment in musicals in the future to push the Chinese musical market forward.
"The China tour of 'Cats' will be the original classic version. The music arrangement will use the best time-tested version from ten years ago." "Cats" co-music director Peter McCarthy revealed that the crew auditions in April received More than 2,000 people signed up, and the actors were selected from nearly 500 interviewers. Rehearsals will begin in August. He hopes that the new team can create a new spark.
"Cats" is the first musical that lucy may barker, the charming cat actor, watched. "When I was 8 years old, I watched "Cats" at the New London Theater. The cat rushed off the stage to interact with the audience. The scene when I petted the cat felt like yesterday. "If not playing Charming Cat, Lucy May Barker would most like to play Theater Cat. "The Theater Cat expresses the heart of a theater person and has rich emotional collisions. "Magic Cat is also very interesting," with Peter McCarthy's piano accompaniment. Next, Lucy May Barker sang the famous song "Memory" from "Cats", bringing the guests' thoughts back to the passionate and touching "Jericho Ball" in "Cats".
With the piano accompaniment of peter mccarthy, lucy may barker sang the famous song "memory" from "Cats"
"Cats" co-music director peter mccarthy and charming cat actor lucy may barke shared the creative process
Guest attendees
The musical "Cats" "Adapted from the famous poet T.S. Eliot's fairy tale poems, it is given new life in the arrangement of musical theater master Andrew Lloyd Webber. Weber wanted to change the previous creative method. He did not write lyrics based on the melody, but composed music based on the words. "Irregular rhythm and exciting rhyme are a big test for the composer."
uses poetry collections as a After the basic music composition was completed, Weber selected some of the music to make concert materials, and collaborated with many artists on ten pieces at the 1980 Sidmonton Music Festival. Eliot's wife Valerie happened to be sitting in the audience. She liked Weber's music very much, so she granted Weber the right to use some of Eliot's unpublished poems and letters, including "Grizbella——" Charming Cat" poem. Only eight lines of poetry inspired Weber to create more. After its premiere in 1981, the musical "Cats" won heavyweight theater awards such as the Olivier Award, the Tony Award, and the Drama Critics Award, successfully creating the golden age of British musicals.
"Cats"
"Cats"
"Cats"
The soundtrack of "Cats" won the Grammy Award in 1982, and "memory" was covered by famous artists such as Barbra Streisand and Barry Manilow. Another great feature of "Cats" is that the dance continues throughout the musical and never stops.Experienced dancers often play two roles, which means the entire performance needs to be skillfully choreographed. "Cats" choreographer Jillian Lynn keenly captured, "Cats have rapidly cold, highly tense senses, cold, warm, and very mysterious. We translated Eliot in a way that is exciting, witty, but with cat characteristics." "
stage design John Napier proposed that building a cat world can allow the audience to interact with the plot to a greater extent, and also reveal the humor and unusualness of the show, "It must not only reflect that this is a cat. In the gathering place, there should be enough space for the cats to dance. "A cat's "playground" was born on the stage. All props are three times larger than the normal size of the real thing, including oversized trash cans and abandoned vehicles. , giant tires, bicycles and even toothpaste tubes, broken Christmas decorations and lots of discarded items for cats to roost and hide in.
