‘Cats’ comes to the Ent Center
When you think of the 1981 hit Broadway musical “Cats,” what comes to mind?
Maybe it’s the elaborate costumes from the original production, or the moving musical numbers that have captivated theatergoers for decades. This Thursday, the UCCS Theatre Company will open “Cats” at the Ent Center with a fresh perspective. The show will run through March 24.
“We’re looking at it through a different lens; all of the same music that everyone knows and loves is in there. But we’re sort of refashioning it and looking at it through a contemporary lens,” said director Kevin Landis.
The musical, written by Andrew Lloyd Weber, is based on the 1939 poetry collection “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats” by T.S. Eliot. The story follows a group of cats, called the “Jellicles,” who must choose among them a cat to be reincarnated.
“It’s a wonderful piece in many ways about aging and about what it means to move on to either the next life or the next part of your life, and so we’re really leaning into that,” Landis said. “They’re cats, for sure, but there’s also this element of sort of human existence and what it means to grow older and adjust and change. And that’s something that’s been on my mind a lot in the last couple of years.”
The student orchestra will be playing the score, including the famous musical number “Memory.”
“You just look at the lyrics of that song when and you see how wonderfully powerful ‘Cats’ can be,” Landis said. “People should expect to hear really great music, backed up by student orchestra that’s doing a terrific job with an incredibly difficult score.”
The goal of this production: Emphasize the themes of the musical.
“A lot of people know ‘Cats’ because it shamelessly had people in cat costumes and spandex and dancing around a Broadway stage, and it was an odd phenomenon when it happened,” Landis said. “But I decided with the students and with my colleagues to really look at the themes and T.S. Eliot’s poetry, and really sort of hone in on sort of the beauty and the humaneness of it.”
Ultimately, Landis hopes the show brings some hope to its audience.
“It goes back and forth between the nostalgia of what’s past and hope and optimism for the future,” Landis said. “There’s a lot of hopelessness in the world, and there’s a lot of sort of stress and anxiety in the world. And I want the theater that I and the students make to help alleviate some of that. And so I hope that comes through in our version of ‘Cats.'”
What: “Cats” presented by UCCS Theatre Company
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 4 p.m. Sundays; Runs March 14-March 24
Where: Ent Center, 5225 N Nevada Ave.
Price: $20, UCCS students and VAPA faculty & staff receive free admission; 719-255-8181; entcenterforthearts.org/vapa-cats-2024
The UCCS Theatre Company will open “Cats” at the Ent Center this Thursday. The show will run through March 24. The musical, written by Andrew Lloyd Weber, is based on the 1939 poetry collection “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats” by T.S. Eliot.