Reviews from Cats

CATS arrive on the New Hamburg stage

By Doug Coxson,
New Hamburg Independent

A huge cast of brilliantly-costumed characters pounced across the darkened, smoky stage during The Community Players’ near-capacity performances of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s CATS last week, hitting all the right notes and making this year’s show another memory that won’t soon be forgotten.

The epic production brought all of TCP’s 26 years of talent and experience to the New Hamburg stage to create one of the most colourful and kinetic shows in the community theatre company’s long history.

Visually spectacular, musically riveting and engaging from the overture to the closing moments, CATS foregoes a main story for a compelling collection of vignettes introducing the feline characters that populate the dilapidated Trinity Theatre.
The stage was a character in itself.

Artistic director Brent Roth cobbled together pieces and props from old TCP productions to create an elaborate set with amazing depth. It was a multi-level playground for the performers as they leapt into their roles.

Mike Sabourin’s lighting design, made for some eye popping visuals, leaving no part of the stage without colour, warmth and texture.

Leading the outstanding orchestra through a playful score, musical director Jen Hoffman provided the backbone for some of the most melodic and captivating music ever to emerge from the New Hamburg stage.

And the costumes were the pinnacle of Connie Zehr’s creative design, pulling together a chaotic mix of elements to construct character-specific outfits that gave the actors flexibility, form and personality.

Marianne Guistini and the hair and makeup team did an excellent job transforming each of the actors into unique characters with expressions that reached the back of the theatre.

Choreographing a production like CATS within the abilities of this cast must have been difficult, but Richelle Hirlehey staged some near-flawless performances that compromised very little for an amateur group. The high energy was sustained throughout the nearly two-hour show that clearly put this cast through its paces.
Dan Mousseau gave Rum Tum Tugger sexual swagger and bounce while Richard Marchment and Laura Rawlings, as the acrobatic clown cats MungoJerrie and Rumpleteazer, lit up the stage.

Once again, TCP veteran Danielle Guistini as Grizabella, the aging “glamour cat” mysteriously scorned by her peers, delivered a standout performance highlighted by the emotional wallop of the signature song Memory.

Playing the character in a story line that pulls the disparate elements of the production together, Guistini inhabited her character’s silent sorrow with uncanny ability.

Other standouts included Lance Green as narrator Munkustrap, whose powerful voice clearly outshone the rest of the amazing ensemble, 12-year-old Emily Nighman as the nimble Mister Mistoffeless, delivering a cute and colourful crowd pleaser, and Aaron Fewkes as Skimbleshanks, the railway cat, slinking through a visually entertaining number.

It wouldn’t be surprising to learn actress Kim Frere has a few feline chromosomes lurking somewhere in her genetic makeup. Her convincing performance as the feline minx Bombularina gave allergy sufferers reason to sneeze.

There were some moments where the action could have been tighter and less confined to the stage, but overall very little slowed the show’s momentum, at the very least providing the audience with something interesting to look at in every scene.

CATS is definitely another TCP triumph, marking a welcome return to community theatre for director Gord Davis, who, despite its challenges, managed to pull it all together and once again set the bar a little higher for next year’s show.