I am a fan of real cats, I enjoy musicals, and the musical "CATS" has been a favorite of mine for years. In the theater you are far enough away that you don't see a lot of what is going on, especially details of the make-up and expressions on the characters.
This 1998 film production was made especially to create a version on film. It is simply the stage musical masterfully performed, but with cameras set up from various points to get both full, wide shots and very intimate close-up shots. There is no audience applause at all, so it was probably filmed only with the cast and crew present.
It runs 2 hours and all the performances are outstanding. If you could say any two are featured it would be Ken Page with his wonderful, full bass voice that goes all the way up into the lower part of the tenor range, as Old Deuteronomy, who gets to choose which cat goes up to the "heaviside layer" to be reincarnated. And Elaine Paige as Grizabella the Glamour Cat, no longer young but aged and tattered. Both of them render their songs wonderfully and with the right emotion.
I found it at my public library on DVD in Widescreen and with Dolby 5.1 sound. I first saw this film version several years ago and again today.
Note: The "heaviside layer" is is a layer of ionized gas occurring between roughly 90–150 km (56–93 mi) above the ground — one of several layers in the Earth's ionosphere. The "Heaviside layer" is used as a symbol for heaven (in the afterlife sense) in the musical "Cats."
This 1998 film production was made especially to create a version on film. It is simply the stage musical masterfully performed, but with cameras set up from various points to get both full, wide shots and very intimate close-up shots. There is no audience applause at all, so it was probably filmed only with the cast and crew present.
It runs 2 hours and all the performances are outstanding. If you could say any two are featured it would be Ken Page with his wonderful, full bass voice that goes all the way up into the lower part of the tenor range, as Old Deuteronomy, who gets to choose which cat goes up to the "heaviside layer" to be reincarnated. And Elaine Paige as Grizabella the Glamour Cat, no longer young but aged and tattered. Both of them render their songs wonderfully and with the right emotion.
I found it at my public library on DVD in Widescreen and with Dolby 5.1 sound. I first saw this film version several years ago and again today.
Note: The "heaviside layer" is is a layer of ionized gas occurring between roughly 90–150 km (56–93 mi) above the ground — one of several layers in the Earth's ionosphere. The "Heaviside layer" is used as a symbol for heaven (in the afterlife sense) in the musical "Cats."