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The CATS holy wars thread...

bgoff60

By bgoff60,
in Royal Caribbean International

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ReneeFLL "Live from...." Rare

ReneeFLL

Posted
Posted
29 minutes ago, DirtyDawg said:

Liked - I was able to leave early.

Did not like - It started. 

 

Hey, you asked. 😁

👍🏼
 

23 minutes ago, alfaeric said:

Liked- the end

Didn't like- everything before that.

👍🏼

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ARandomTraveler

ARandomTraveler

Posted
Posted (edited)

I haven't seen CATS on the ship, but count me as someone who really likes it. I just saw it for the second time in San Francisco last month and thought it was great 😂🐈

 

I like the music. I think it helps to see the DVD Hollywood version first because they do a better job helping to kind of explain the plot lines a little better then the on-stage versions do. 

Edited by ARandomTraveler
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pcur

pcur

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, xpcdoojk said:

Like the costumes, like memories.  Makes me cry, just like Mama Mia. Grease makes me sigh, and wonder why I am different than the people who like that corny production.  

 

JC

Me, too, JC.  I liked all three of those productions.  However, it helps to read TS Eliot's cat poems first.  I even liked the movie, which got bad reviews.  (Of course, as my husband used to say, "You are easily entertained".)

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Grandma Petania

Grandma Petania

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, pcur said:

...it helps to read TS Eliot's cat poems first.

Absolutely!  Knowing the stories behind the various numbers really helps.  I saw CATS twice on Oasis some years ago when it was still the longer version with an intermission.  I enjoyed seeing it from further back in the audience, and the second time from front row.  Will be on Oasis again in November.  Don't know if I will want to see it again then.  Fortunately, I have more than three months to decide.  😄

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DrSea

DrSea

Posted
Posted

My background: I have a degree in theater from a top 10 theater school in the US and am a classically trained actor.

 

Like - I guess the use of space? Or maybe that it gives a voice or resonates with a very particular crowd (I'm thinking crazy cat ladies?)

 

Hate - The lack of plot. It is an amalgamation of poorly strung together songs and dances inspired from a  random collection of cat poems. It just doesn't translate well onstage. Very frustrating. If you seen crazy ex girlfriend, their parody of Cats is 1000x better than the actual musical (and the episode actually has a plot). Not saying that all musicals/plays have to have a plot. I get that is sometimes the point the author is trying to make. But when all other aspects are so poorly executed, lacking a plot for me is the lynch pin that really grinds my gears and frustrates me to no end. At that point, I am left asking myself why I wasted my time sitting through a show that made no sense.

 

Others agreeing with me with the lack of plot and other related commentary:

https://slate.com/culture/2019/01/crazy-ex-girlfriend-cats-itchy-hungry-funky-nostalgia.html

 

 

 

There are more raunchy videos from crazy ex girlfriend with cat songs. But I didn't post it here bc IDK if it complies with the TOS.

 

And don't get me started on the movie of the musical...

 

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sjb317

sjb317

Posted
Posted

I like Cats, have seen it twice in off Broadway productions and twice on Oasis.   I do think it gets slow at times.
 

Royal’s production is excellent, better than one of the off Broadway productions I attended.  

 

Having said that, I have never thought Cats seemed right on a cruise ship.  It is kind of depressing, I can never get through it without getting teary eyed, throw in a glass of wine and I am sobbing.😂.  I am on a cruise to relax and have fun, not contemplate the meaning of life.   Entertainment on a cruise ship should be fun!
 

Sherri🙂

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DirtyDawg

DirtyDawg

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, soremekun said:

Like: It keeps people employed

Didn't like: Those people didn't walk off the job

 

I spit my coffee all over my keyboard when I read your post just now. 

You win the Groucho award for this one! 🤣🏆

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yogimax

yogimax

Posted
Posted

Great show...  sit up front so you can see the facial expressions of the cats.

 

Please read a summary of the show and plot (yes, there is a plot) before you arrive to know the basic story line.

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Bound4Bermuda Great Review Rare

Bound4Bermuda

Posted
Posted

I just saw it a few days ago on Oasis, so this is fresh in my mind…like a nightmare that leaves you unsettled when it creeps back up to your consciousness in your quiet waking moments.


I liked that it gave me something to do by myself for an hour and a half in the evening when my family bailed on me (daughter went off with friends and husband went to bed early).

 

I didn’t like, well… Let’s just say I was warned by the members of this board, but I was curious to see it for myself—but you were right!! All I can say was for the first handful of songs, the audience was dead silent. No one clapped and I can imagine they were all sitting there like I was thinking What the f— am I watching?! What the f— is happening?! Then the feline solos started up, and at the end, each cat would put their arms out waiting for their thunderous applause, so the audience started giving polite golf claps. Mind you, the audience was fleeing after each song. I was stuck in the middle of the top row, so I was going to bail once one side or the other of my row opened up. But one side left an hour in, and at that point, I survived 2/3 so I decided to see it through. The Glamourpuss shunned cat sang Memories, and the audience gave more emphatic applause and even some “Wooo”s! Hey, we know this song! Then some other Cat sang pieces of Memories a couple of times, and okay, that’s the big song… Then the disheveled, shunned Cat sang Memories again, and jeez, Andrew Lloyd Webber really phoned it in only writing one big song… 

 

As a child of the 80s growing up in NJ, I saw that “Cats! Now and forever at the Winter Garden Theater!” commercial continuously for years and years, so there were moments that hit me—aha, that’s just like the commercial! So, I guess the rendition was true to Broadway. But all of those NYC tourists who got bamboozled because they had no idea of what they were getting themselves into—wanting to see a Broadway show in the big city, and hey, we have a pet cat… All I can say is that maybe it made sense in the 70s when people took psychedelic drugs and were prone to joining cults??

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MsMidge

MsMidge

Posted
Posted

The talent of the cast was amazing as well as the costumes.  The story not so much, but what do we know, there must be a lot of people that like the play for some reason, as it was one of the longest running plays on broadway 

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