Watching CATS

Early this year, my sister nagged me about going to watch CATS, with Lea Salonga. My sister is a fan of Miss Saigon and wanted to watch Cats, but didn't know anybody else who might have wanted to go with her. Our circle of society doesn't really have many of the theatre-going set, so I agreed. Hey, watching theatre might actually be fun! I was imagining the characters and dialogue from my favorite Judith McNaught books, dowager duchesses peering through their monocles high up in their boxes and such.

Unfortunately, tickets sold out quickly and we were only left with balcony seats. When the day arrived, we encountered traffic in Quirino Ave. from an Iglesia ni Cristo event, but fortunately made it in time, 30 mins before the show. I was looking forward to a good gala night and took my time dressing up. It was a bit disappointing that a few people did not seem to take theatre seriously and did not make an effort to dress a little more formally. But, oh, well.

The minute I sat down waiting for the show to start, I was already bored. I tried to while away the time by people watching. Finally, the show started. The stage was so far down I couldn't tell one actor's face from another. The plastic binoculars being sold by the ushers for Php50 each didn't help much. But I really did try. And for the most part, I appreciated the show. But by the third song, I was growing more bored. One can really watch dancing cats for only so long. Yes, the actors sang and danced very well. They really did move like cats, and I know the energy required to move that gracefully and jump around like that must be great. But really, I was forcing myself to keep watching dancing cats and listening to their songs because I didn't want to be unappreciative. Then Lea sang a portion of Memory. Good! Finally, a song I know. Then more dancing and singing. Finally, Grizabella (Lea) sang Memory again, this time, with feeling, as the story goes.

To be fair, it was a good production. Maybe it was just me. After the show, people gathered at the lobby. There were many celebrities and interviews were being conducted by camera crews. On the way out, I overheard one obviously rich, genteel old lady comment to her husband, "We paid so much just to hear that one song!". Hearing this, I thought, hmm.. maybe it was a good thing we didn't pay so much for our tickets...