Selections From Cats (1982 Original Broadway Cast)
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Free Music Notes for Selections From Cats (1982 Original Broadway Cast)
Free Music Review: Great CD
Hit: 4 Stars
The songs and/or singers are different from the versions from the video (CATS the Musical - the Commemorative Edition) but this price beats the other CDs. My kids ask to listen to it every time we're in the car.Free Music Review: I would have preferred the longer one
Hit: 3 Stars
I am no Cats fanatic, and I thought that buying the "Selections" CD at a lower price would satisfy me. However, I've watched the Cats movie too many times to count (I have a 4-year old who's obsessed), and was disappointed with the "Selections" CD. It's missing the Grizabella song (although it has a track titled "Grizabella", that's not really it) and other small pieces that I wish were included. The singing is not that great, save for Betty Buckley who sings Grizabella. She does a great job; however they tinkered with the music for "Memory" so it sounds like a really bad hit from the '80s.
If you want a cheaper CD to share songs with your 4-year old, then this one is great. If you really enjoy the music to Cats, then maybe the other CDs are better. (I haven't listened to them, so I don't know for sure.)
Free Music Review: The music was good, but could be better
Hit: 3 Stars
The music in this CD does not in any way promote the musical itself. I never did like the music until I saw the play itself, and wittnessed the dancing. Memory is ok, and the Rum Tum Tugger has a good tune. The selections do not have the greatness of the Original Cast Recording. I would recomend the original Cats to the selections, just because some of the best music is cut out in the selections.Free Music Review: It was okay
Hit: 3 Stars
I've only recently gotten into Cats. This soundtrack is good but I prefer the filmed songs of The Rum Tug Tugger and Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer and especially Memory.
Still beautifully done though.
Free Music Review: Highlights from this score are all you really need!
Hit: 2 Stars
CATS has always inspired a mixed reaction...see some of the other reviews this CD has garnered. When I first saw the show back in 1982, I felt it was a lot of hoopla over nothing. Oh, the original set in the Winter Garden theatre was sight to behold: The stage stretched out into the auditorium and the walls were decorated with junk yard trash..scaled to a cat's eye view (i.e. 2/12 times its normal size to give us a cat's perspective.) During the overture the "cast of cats" dashed about the audience flashing their bright eyes...starling some and amusing others. Soon they were all up stage singing:
"Jellicle Songs for Jellicle cats....Jellicle Songs for Jellicle cats....Jellicle Songs for Jellicle cats....Jellicle Songs for Jellicle cats....Jellicle Songs for Jellicle cats...."
and I thought... ok...what's the point?
I admired the dancing and the spectacle. But when all was said and sung, I could see no compelling reason for this show to exist. Some of the songs are quite catchy (I prefer the American version of "Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer", I rather like "Bustopher Jones" and "The Old Gumbie cat") but, after a half hour it starts to get boring because it's not about anything. (Story: Hal Prince was asked to direct the show and wondered what it was about. Was Lloyd Webber was trying to make some sort of political statement? "Hal, it's about cats!" the composer explained. Exit Hal Prince!) By the time we get to the show's big aria "Memory" so much tedium had set in, that as beautiful as the song is and as well sung as it was, I dreaded the endless applause fearing an encore would only keep us in the theatre longer. Happily the finale arrived and we are told (finally) what the point of this show is: "A cat is not a dog." I lost three hours of my life to learn that???
Neither the original London cast nor the Broadway cast album include "The Awful Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles" (though the number really has to be seen to be fully appreciated.) The London cast has Elaine Paige as Grizabella while the American Cd offers Betty Buckley. The best bet is to go for the single CD of highlights from the U.S. production: you get all the best songs and none of the filler.