The Theatre Royal has been a special venue for Cats, with the musical first premiering in Australia at the venue 40 years ago. Now, after the Theatre Royal’s refurbishment, the musical returns to Australia for a highly anticipated season. Cats is arguably the most polarising musical among theatre lovers, however, it still draws in a huge crowd with most of the first month’s tickets in Sydney already sold out. 

With Delta Goodrem starring in the lead role the last time Cats came to Australia, this production doesn’t have quite the same level of star power however, the production team have brought in Todd McKenney, who was part of the original production, to star as Gus, which was one of the highlights of the show. However, this meant that the ensemble had to step up to maintain audience intrigue and they certainly did so in this production. The dancing has always been a highlight of the show and in this production, the choreography did not disappoint, with the ensemble performing crisply, cleanly and with great skill as they tackled some of the more difficult numbers. 

The ensemble’s singing was also strong in the larger numbers, with “Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats” being an early highlight but the singing faltered in some of the solo numbers, especially in the first act, with some tuning issues and a lack of conviction to the score. The live orchestra was fantastic though, bringing life to the numbers and Axel Alvarez was a true standout with incredible dancing as Mr Mistoffelees. Des Flanagan was also superb as the flamboyant Rum Tum Tugger while Mark Vincent and Lucy Maunder added exquisite vocals into the mix. 

For media night, Gabriyel Thomas was out with a chest infection and so swing Aimee Jones had to stand in for Grizabella in her commercial theatre debut (talk about a baptism of fire!). She performed admirably but just didn’t quite have the strength in her upper register for the character’s iconic moment at the end of “Memory”, faltering on some of the sustained higher notes. 

The biggest issue with the show is that it feels slightly dated and very much still feels like a product of the time when it was written. For some, this certainly offered a degree of nostalgia but as the other megamusicals have evolved over the years, this production of Cats felt slightly stagnant. This is perhaps somewhat surprising, given that Cats feels like a production that would be amenable to adaptation and reformulation. In the previous production a decade ago, Goodrem revitalised an otherwise largely insipid production with a dose of star power and while this production has a supremely energetic ensemble which goes some way towards having the same effect, they could have perhaps used a little more help and imagination from the actual bare bones of the work.

This is not to say that Cats is not loved by many in its current form, as the ticket sales show that it certainly is, but that even the smallest adjustments to the production could go a long way to making a huge difference (with the recent concert production of Les Miserables, which received rave reviews, being one example of the evolution of a megamusical through the years).

Ultimately, it feels as though the attitude of Cats could be encapsulated in one verse from Gus the Theatre Cat.  

“These modern productions, they’re all very well // But there’s nothing to equal from what I hear tell // That moment of mystery when I made history.”

The production, while still a crowd pleaser, feels like somewhat of a relic, not moving with the times in the same way that other productions have since its inception. Some fabulous performances by the ensemble went some way towards remedying this but ultimately, it felt as though the production was lacking that extra bit of pizzazz it needed to truly captivate the audience. With visionary productions from Australia now touring the world and even winning Tony Awards, and megamusicals having the moment all around the theatre world, a revitalised version of Cats may be needed to keep this juggernaut going. 

Rating: ★★★1/2

Cats plays at the Theatre Royal until 6^th September. For more information, click here. 

All photo credits: Daniel Boud