1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,920 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:13,480 Speaker 1: Heart Radio, Hello, and welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:17,480 Speaker 1: a show that demystifies history one day at a time. 4 00:00:18,400 --> 00:00:22,239 Speaker 1: I'm Gabe Louzier, and in this episode, we're pulling back 5 00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:25,919 Speaker 1: the curtain on one of the most popular yet polarizing 6 00:00:26,079 --> 00:00:31,320 Speaker 1: musicals to ever grace the stage. That's right, We're talking 7 00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:43,600 Speaker 1: about Cats. The day was October seven, two. The Andrew 8 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:47,720 Speaker 1: Lloyd Weber musical Cats opened at the Winter Garden Theater 9 00:00:47,880 --> 00:00:51,880 Speaker 1: in New York City. The show was a tremendous success 10 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:55,840 Speaker 1: before it even opened, boasting advanced ticket sales of six 11 00:00:55,920 --> 00:00:59,840 Speaker 1: point two million dollars. It would go on to become 12 00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:03,600 Speaker 1: one of the most lucrative and longest running musicals in 13 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:08,360 Speaker 1: Broadway history. Cats is what's known as a fully sung 14 00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:13,759 Speaker 1: through show, meaning it contains no dialogue, only singing and dancing. 15 00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:17,959 Speaker 1: The plot, such as it is, follows a tribe of 16 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:21,720 Speaker 1: cats called Jellicles, who are assembling for an annual ball 17 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:24,560 Speaker 1: where they will choose which one of them will ascend 18 00:01:24,600 --> 00:01:28,440 Speaker 1: to the heavy Side Layer or cat Heaven and be reborn. 19 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:32,720 Speaker 1: The bulk of the show consists of each cat making 20 00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:35,160 Speaker 1: the case for why it should be chosen for that 21 00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:40,240 Speaker 1: year's honor. This is done through high energy choreograph dance numbers, 22 00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:44,160 Speaker 1: in which each cat introduces itself and shows off its 23 00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:49,840 Speaker 1: distinctive traits. Among the main cast of oddly named characters 24 00:01:49,880 --> 00:01:56,280 Speaker 1: are rum Tum Tugger, Jenny Anny Dots, Busta for Jones, Mungo, Jerry, 25 00:01:56,480 --> 00:02:01,080 Speaker 1: Rumpled Teaser, and the indisputable m VP of the show, 26 00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:06,240 Speaker 1: Skimble Shanks the Railway Cat. The show takes a slight 27 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:10,240 Speaker 1: turn in its second act when the villainous Macavity disrupts 28 00:02:10,280 --> 00:02:16,359 Speaker 1: the proceedings and kidnaps the group's beloved patriarch, Old Deuteronomy. 29 00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:21,040 Speaker 1: The forces of good eventually prevail. Old Deuteronomy is recovered, 30 00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:25,360 Speaker 1: and the once shunned Grizabella has granted the right to 31 00:02:25,480 --> 00:02:30,600 Speaker 1: be reborn. If that description didn't clue you in, Cats 32 00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:34,600 Speaker 1: is a very strange show. It was written by noted 33 00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:39,320 Speaker 1: English composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and was originally performed on 34 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:44,919 Speaker 1: London's West End in Lloyd Webber loosely based the show 35 00:02:45,120 --> 00:02:49,480 Speaker 1: on a nineteen thirty nine cat centric poetry collection by T. S. 36 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:55,000 Speaker 1: Eliot titled Old Possums Book of Practical Cats. The Whimsical 37 00:02:55,080 --> 00:02:58,440 Speaker 1: poems had been a childhood favorite of Lloyd Webber, and 38 00:02:58,480 --> 00:03:01,040 Speaker 1: when he returned to them as an adult, he decided 39 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:03,480 Speaker 1: to use them as the basis for his next production. 40 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:06,639 Speaker 1: All of the cats names and the majority of their 41 00:03:06,639 --> 00:03:11,800 Speaker 1: back stories and antics were lifted whole cloth from Elliott's poetry. 42 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:15,040 Speaker 1: Lloyd Weber set the poems to his own music and 43 00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:19,720 Speaker 1: used the original verse as lyrics. The soul exception was 44 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:23,720 Speaker 1: the standout song Memory, which is performed by the down 45 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:28,280 Speaker 1: and out Alley cat Grizabella. Lloyd Webber was granted permission 46 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:32,720 Speaker 1: from T. S. Eliot's estate to incorporate lines from unpublished 47 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:36,760 Speaker 1: poems into the song. The rest was his original composition, 48 00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:39,680 Speaker 1: and pop recordings of the song made it a hit, 49 00:03:39,880 --> 00:03:43,200 Speaker 1: even apart from the rest of the show. As for 50 00:03:43,240 --> 00:03:47,080 Speaker 1: the term jellicle, which the cats used to refer to themselves, 51 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:51,880 Speaker 1: that was also derived from Elliot's poetry, it originally appeared 52 00:03:51,960 --> 00:03:56,720 Speaker 1: in his nineteen thirty six poem Pollicle Dogs and Jellical Cats, 53 00:03:57,120 --> 00:04:00,800 Speaker 1: where the terms were used as childlike contract actions of 54 00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:06,840 Speaker 1: poor little dogs and dear little cats, respectively. Elliott conceived 55 00:04:06,880 --> 00:04:10,600 Speaker 1: of jellicles as being black and white cats who frolicked 56 00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:13,760 Speaker 1: and made mischief at night, but Lloyd Weber used the 57 00:04:13,880 --> 00:04:17,280 Speaker 1: term more broadly, applying it to all different kinds of 58 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:21,240 Speaker 1: cats belonging to the same tribe. When the show made 59 00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:26,200 Speaker 1: its Broadway debut, audiences were shocked by how many changes 60 00:04:26,279 --> 00:04:29,960 Speaker 1: had been made to the historic Winter Garden Theater. While 61 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:33,760 Speaker 1: much of the show's colossal four million dollar budget went 62 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:37,360 Speaker 1: to advertising, the rest was spent on making the theater 63 00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:41,679 Speaker 1: look as drab and ugly as possible. The interior walls 64 00:04:41,720 --> 00:04:45,520 Speaker 1: were smeared with black paint, and large bundles of rags 65 00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:48,640 Speaker 1: and other scraps were bolted to the walls and ceilings. 66 00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:52,480 Speaker 1: All of this was in service of the show's primary set, 67 00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:56,720 Speaker 1: a giant junkyard for the human sized cats to dance in. 68 00:04:57,800 --> 00:05:01,239 Speaker 1: This dressing down of the theory it or caused quite 69 00:05:01,240 --> 00:05:04,839 Speaker 1: a stir among Broadway patrons and critics, and the thin 70 00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:09,919 Speaker 1: plot and uneven score didn't fare much better. This raises 71 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:14,279 Speaker 1: the question of why or how the musical remains so 72 00:05:14,400 --> 00:05:18,080 Speaker 1: popular for such a long time. A big part of 73 00:05:18,080 --> 00:05:21,720 Speaker 1: the appeal came from the name recognition of Andrew Lloyd Webber. 74 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:24,640 Speaker 1: At the time, he was fresh off the success of 75 00:05:24,839 --> 00:05:30,440 Speaker 1: three hit musicals, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita and Joseph, and 76 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:35,719 Speaker 1: The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. In fact, Evita and Joseph were 77 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:40,120 Speaker 1: still playing in New York when Cats debuted. For fans, 78 00:05:40,640 --> 00:05:44,560 Speaker 1: Cats was Lloyd Webber on steroids. It had all the 79 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:48,840 Speaker 1: excessive spectacle and bluster he was known for, but with 80 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:51,880 Speaker 1: a weird enough concept to make it stand out from 81 00:05:51,920 --> 00:05:55,720 Speaker 1: anything that had come before, for better or worse. And 82 00:05:55,880 --> 00:05:59,240 Speaker 1: of course, it had that one hit song that everyone 83 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:02,600 Speaker 1: couldn't get out their heads. Many fans would tell you 84 00:06:02,680 --> 00:06:06,400 Speaker 1: that the song Memory alone was worth the price of admission. 85 00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:32,640 Speaker 1: My raa the ma'ny. Love it or hate it, there's 86 00:06:32,680 --> 00:06:37,119 Speaker 1: no denying that Cats has an impressive pedigree. The show 87 00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:41,320 Speaker 1: ran for eighteen years on Broadway, grossing over a billion 88 00:06:41,400 --> 00:06:46,000 Speaker 1: dollars in the process. It won seven Tony Awards and 89 00:06:46,080 --> 00:06:49,000 Speaker 1: was performed in more than two hundred and fifty cities 90 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:53,680 Speaker 1: around the world. The show was later revived in sixteen 91 00:06:53,839 --> 00:06:57,400 Speaker 1: at the Neil Simon Theater, and in twenty nineteen it 92 00:06:57,520 --> 00:07:01,600 Speaker 1: was adapted into an infamous live action movie that was 93 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:05,679 Speaker 1: every bit as bizarre and divisive as the original show. 94 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:10,960 Speaker 1: I'm Gay bluesier, and hopefully you now know a little 95 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:15,560 Speaker 1: more about history today than you did yesterday. If you 96 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:19,360 Speaker 1: enjoy today's show, be sure to subscribe, rate, and review 97 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:23,160 Speaker 1: the show wherever you get your podcasts. You can also 98 00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:26,760 Speaker 1: follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at t d 99 00:07:26,760 --> 00:07:30,600 Speaker 1: I HC Show, and if you have any comments or 100 00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:34,080 Speaker 1: suggestions for future topics, you can send them my way 101 00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:38,480 Speaker 1: at this Day at I heart media dot com. Thanks 102 00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:41,480 Speaker 1: as always to Chandler Mays for producing the show, and 103 00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:44,119 Speaker 1: thank you for listening. I'll see you back here again 104 00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:55,080 Speaker 1: tomorrow for another Day in History class. For more podcasts 105 00:07:55,080 --> 00:07:57,080 Speaker 1: from my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, 106 00:07:57,120 --> 00:07:59,800 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.