# I'm watching Cats for the first time and....wow, this is strange. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 4, 2018, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-watching-cats-for-the-first-time-and-wow-this-is-strange/820726 "2018-09-04T03:34:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-watching-cats-for-the-first-time-and-wow-this-is-strange/820726/21 "2018-09-04T14:50:37Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > \*t was so popular because uneducated idiots didn’t have to hurt themselves thinking about plots. So… People who read the collection of poems are uneducated idiots? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-watching-cats-for-the-first-time-and-wow-this-is-strange/820726/22 "2018-09-04T16:04:31Z")
The production I saw was at the National theater in Washington DC. It has a fairly small stage and was positively squished in with their sets. I had a vague understanding that there would be little to no story or plot, and that they would be instead bringing poems to life. As a serious ballerina at the time, I was REALLY looking forward to the dancing. I was expecting top of the artform modern dance with leaps and catlike nuances. I got a bunch of people in hastily drawn makeup sitting in a garish set singing in the standard chesty Broadway tones. Disappointment was palpable throughout the theater; or perhaps mine was so intense it filled the room. Could’a been both. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-watching-cats-for-the-first-time-and-wow-this-is-strange/820726/23 "2018-09-04T16:51:16Z")
I’ve always been amused by the line in _Tank Girl_ where TG said ‘Let’s go see _CATS!_’, as if it were _still_ running. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-watching-cats-for-the-first-time-and-wow-this-is-strange/820726/24 "2018-09-04T16:55:57Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I’ve always been amused by the line in _Tank Girl_ where TG said ‘Let’s go see _CATS!_’, as if it were _still_ running. 😛 [Scotty]“Capt’n! There be _CATS_ here!” [/Scotty] ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-watching-cats-for-the-first-time-and-wow-this-is-strange/820726/25 "2018-09-04T17:57:27Z")
> [@blob](#): > > I love cats, but unfortunately I didn’t like this show when I saw it. I was bored, I remember being really, really bored and waiting for it to end so I could go home. Of course, that was a long time ago. Yep. Bury it in a giant litterbox. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-watching-cats-for-the-first-time-and-wow-this-is-strange/820726/26 "2018-09-04T18:02:47Z")
Anyone else want to call Jellicle Cats, ‘Jelly-Filled Cats’? Especially in the play. In case there’s anyone who hasn’t read it, here is [_The Old Possum’s Book Of Practical Cats_](http://www.moggies.co.uk/html/oldpssm.html) ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-watching-cats-for-the-first-time-and-wow-this-is-strange/820726/27 "2018-09-04T18:13:27Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Anyone else want to call Jellicle Cats, ‘Jelly-Filled Cats’? Especially in the play. > > In case there’s anyone who hasn’t read it, here is [_The Old Possum’s Book Of Practical Cats_](http://www.moggies.co.uk/html/oldpssm.html) I’ve always assumed that “jellicle” was a child’s way of saying “angelic.” Has the intended definition ever been given? ---
**Author:** ![Wallet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e99b99/32.png) [@Wallet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallet)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-watching-cats-for-the-first-time-and-wow-this-is-strange/820726/28 "2018-09-04T18:17:41Z")
Saw Cats umpteen years ago on Broadway. Back then it was _very_ popular, especially with foreign tourists to NYC. You certainly don’t need to know any English to enjoy it - I think we were the only NYers in the audience 🙂 Oh, and we really enjoyed the show! ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-watching-cats-for-the-first-time-and-wow-this-is-strange/820726/29 "2018-09-04T18:18:45Z")
One of the better musicals I’ve seen. Memories: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/4-L6rEm0rnY/hqdefault.jpg "Cats Musical - Memory") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-L6rEm0rnY) One of the great songs from a musical. I realized right away that one of the songs in the show was about the cat version of Moriarty. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-watching-cats-for-the-first-time-and-wow-this-is-strange/820726/30 "2018-09-04T18:49:46Z")
I like _Cats_ and am also looking forward to a _Waste Land_ musical. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-watching-cats-for-the-first-time-and-wow-this-is-strange/820726/31 "2018-09-04T19:25:59Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I’ve always been amused by the line in _Tank Girl_ where TG said ‘Let’s go see _CATS!_’, as if it were _still_ running. 😛 They weren’t kidding, you know: [Now And Forever](https://i.pinimg.com/236x/99/d2/43/99d243a9fc0856664b78119891896819--cats-musical.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-watching-cats-for-the-first-time-and-wow-this-is-strange/820726/32 "2018-09-04T19:46:50Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > The production I saw was at the National theater in Washington DC. It has a fairly small stage and was positively squished in with their sets. I had a vague understanding that there would be little to no story or plot, and that they would be instead bringing poems to life. > > As a serious ballerina at the time, I was REALLY looking forward to the dancing. I was expecting top of the artform modern dance with leaps and catlike nuances. I got a bunch of people in hastily drawn makeup sitting in a garish set singing in the standard chesty Broadway tones. > > Disappointment was palpable throughout the theater; or perhaps mine was so intense it filled the room. Could’a been both. Oh, how awful! I’ve seen Cats a few times and am ALWAYS impressed by the amazing dancing and movement. Even if you look at the actors that are not the focus, they are always in cat-character, slinking around like real cats. Uncanny and impressive. ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-watching-cats-for-the-first-time-and-wow-this-is-strange/820726/33 "2018-09-04T19:50:48Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > I’ve always assumed that “jellicle” was a child’s way of saying “angelic.” Has the intended definition ever been given? I always thought it was nonsense. Do you have an explanation for “pollicle” dogs? This website has an alternative explanation: [Definitions of Jellicle Cat and Pollicle Dog by Hawkheart29 on DeviantArt](https://www.deviantart.com/hawkheart29/art/Definitions-of-Jellicle-Cat-and-Pollicle-Dog-546306436) Not sure I believe it. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-watching-cats-for-the-first-time-and-wow-this-is-strange/820726/34 "2018-09-04T20:02:44Z")
T.S. Eliot was talking with a child about his angelical cat, and the child asked “What’s a jellicle cat?” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-watching-cats-for-the-first-time-and-wow-this-is-strange/820726/35 "2018-09-04T20:50:01Z")
I’ve seen shows with cats acting and dancing like cats. _Cats_ wasn’t one of them. In the two productions I saw, and in all of the clips I’ve seen of other productions, the cats are all dancing in unison, and in the fragments of script Weber added to tie the poems together, they’re all paralyzed with indecision awaiting the arrival of their great leader. That’s not cat behavior. Heck, I’ve never even heard of a production that got Mr. Mistoffeles’ gender correct. My hypothesis is that Weber was a big fan of Elliott’s depressing poems, and wanted to set them to music, but he knew that he’d get a terrible audience reception for that, and so he got out the only cheerful poems Elliott ever wrote, even though he didn’t in the slightest understand them, and then crammed in as many of the depressing poems as he thought he could get away with. It’s no coincidence that the best-known and most well-regarded song in the play is one of the ones that’s _not_ from Old Possum’s Book. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-watching-cats-for-the-first-time-and-wow-this-is-strange/820726/36 "2018-09-04T20:53:39Z")
Oh, and the music isn’t even original; he plagiarized it from himself of a decade earlier. _Sad to say, your dream is not Her name is Jenny Anydots Pharaoh has it in for you With tiger stripes and leopard spots_ ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-watching-cats-for-the-first-time-and-wow-this-is-strange/820726/37 "2018-09-04T20:55:23Z")
I saw it on Broadway at Winter Garden a week or 2 before the last show in the 90’s. Went with a theater geek friend. I didn’t get Cats, at all. But the theater, sets, and costumes were all very interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-watching-cats-for-the-first-time-and-wow-this-is-strange/820726/38 "2018-09-04T21:16:16Z")
I saw a production of it in the 90s. My ass itched to be out of the seat and away from the theater practically from the beginning. My first wife, who was a trained singer and who had some stage experience of her own, shrugged the whole thing off as being more fun for the performers than for the audience. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-watching-cats-for-the-first-time-and-wow-this-is-strange/820726/39 "2018-09-04T21:17:15Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > One of the better musicals I’ve seen. > Memories: > [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4-L6rEm0rnY](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4-L6rEm0rnY) > One of the great songs from a musical. > I realized right away that one of the songs in the show was about the cat version of Moriarty. Pretty much the only line from the show I use on occasion: “He breaks the law of gravity!” Actually, if I heard right, “Memory” is the only song in the show where the lyrics are not in _Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats_. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-watching-cats-for-the-first-time-and-wow-this-is-strange/820726/40 "2018-09-04T21:28:44Z")
Also “The Heaviside Layer”. And it seems to me that there was another one, too, but I can’t remember which one it would be. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-watching-cats-for-the-first-time-and-wow-this-is-strange/820726.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-watching-cats-for-the-first-time-and-wow-this-is-strange/820726.md?page=3)