'Cats' review — Drew McOnie's exhilarating production is the purr-fect rebirth

Read our review of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Cats, now in performances at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre to 19 September.

Summary

• Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats is revived at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre
• Drew McOnie directs and choreographs an exhilarating contemporary production
• The cast includes Melanie La Barrie as Old Deuteronomy and Gary Wilmot as Gus the Theatre Cat
• The atmospheric show features pyrotechnics and sleek design

It’s been a decade since the ground-breaking 1981 musical Cats last prowled across a London stage. Happily, the show seems to have nine lives: Regent’s Park boss Drew McOnie now directs and choreographs a bold, contemporary, exhilarating revival that banishes all thoughts of the nightmarish 2019 movie. It is, in short, a purr-fect rebirth.

This ideal marriage of artist and material shouldn’t be surprising. McOnie has his own long history with Cats: aged 17, he snuck out of school to join the show. He’s also au fait with Andrew Lloyd Webber – his dynamic movement features in the current Jesus Christ Superstar. Nevertheless, it’s a thrill to see such an assured take on this admittedly eccentric work, which, in adapting T. S. Eliot’s witty poems, is more akin to a variety show than a linear musical. There is a vague overarching story – one cat will be chosen to ascend to the Heaviside Layer – but it’s really more about the indelible songs and, of course, the dancing.

Gillian Lynne’s virtuosic choreography was a landmark moment for British musical theatre. McOnie honours her legacy while finding his own fresh language: earthier, rougher, infused with commercial, contemporary, street dance and acrobatics, as well as feline touches, from undulating, slinking bodies to the dancers curling up in a big sleepy pile. Tellingly, his company wear knee pads rather than leg warmers, and there’s no fur here: the costumes are more like sleek running gear, plus quirky character touches such as flat caps with ears. Throughout He McOnie mixes astute details with athletic ensemble tableaux.

Among the numerous individual delights are Jaydon Vijn channelling Mick Jagger’s rock star swagger, strut and raging libido as Rum Tum Tugger, Charlotte Riby’s amusingly apathetic Jennyanydots, Elliot Broadfoot’s beaming Bustopher Jones, who sings rapturously about food, and Danny Nattrass and Briana Craig’s cockney geezers Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer, swinging swag bags with synchronised panache.

Jet Yau is actual breakdancing magic as Mr. Mistoffelees, Matthew Caputo’s brings the house down with his gloriously camp Skimbleshanks, and Melanie La Barrie lends palpable maternal warmth to Old Deuteronomy. Gary Wilmot is a hammy delight as Gus the Theatre Cat, delivering knowing lines about the scourge of “modern productions” and referring, aptly, to his extensive panto experience.

We also had a surprise ‘star is born’ moment on press night, when Rachel Wooding (sadly unwell) was replaced as Grizabella by an exciting young talent, Taziva-Faye Katsande. She made “Memory” her own, delivering it as an authentic, soul-baring, R&B-tinged lament. Definitely one to watch.

McOnie also leans into the eerie strangeness of these animals meeting for a secret ritual (and if that was happening anywhere, it would definitely be Regent’s Park). Sami Fendall’s design features a metallic crescent structure emerging from torn tree branches and topped by a glowing moon, while billowing smoke and pyrotechnics add to the atmosphere. The marathon Jellicle Ball number is an ecstatic bacchanalia.

Crucially, McOnie maintains the abstract artistic nature of what he terms a “choreo-poem” while giving us palpable emotional charge: moments of desire, tender romance, fear, and empathy. This phenomenal production is heading off on tour after its park run, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it soon gets its paws on a West End theatre.

Cats is at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre to 19 September. Book Cats tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk

Photo credit: Cats (Photos by Mark Senior)