Cats (1998 Film)

Cats is a 1998 direct-to-video musical film based on the stage musical of the same name by Andrew Lloyd Webber, itself based on the poetry book Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T S Eliot. The film was released on home video in October 1998 by PolyGram Video/Universal Pictures.

Production Information
The Cats film was directed by David Mallet and shot at the Adelphi Theatre in London in 1997. The soundtrack for the film was recorded with a seventy-piece orchestra to create a full digital sound. In the film, the license plate on the car that can be seen at the back of the stage reads “TSE 1″ for T S Eliot.

The film was essentially a condensed production of the contemporary London version of the show, with elements such as the re-written version of "Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer", and where there was a discrepancy between the London and Broadway versions, the London version was used. However to retain an international flavour to the film, the Broadway names for "Plato" (Admetus), "Tumblebrutus" (Bill Bailey) and "Pouncival" (Carbucketty) were used. For more details on the differences between the film and the musical, see here.

Development
Andrew Lloyd Webber had been considering making a film of the musical since at least the early 1990s. Originally the plan was to make an Animated Film with Amblimation studios, however when plans to animate the show fell through, the live-action staged film was made instead.

Filming
The music and vocals were pre-recorded first in a studio. The film was then shot over a course of 18 days, spread out over three weeks from August to September 1997. A typical filming day ran from around 8am to 6pm, with a few cast members, namely Drew Varley, Jo Gibb and Fergus Logan, having to perform in the evening live performances of Cats in the West End afterwards.

The cast initially ran through the musical two times to film the group shots, then the rest of the time involved shooting individual numbers to film close-ups. Filming of the "Gus: The Theatre Cat" section ran over-time, which resulted in "Growltiger's Last Stand" being cut from the final film, as there wasn't time to film the complex dream sequence.

Over 93 hours of film was shot in total, with post-production taking another 6 months to complete.

Release
Cats was first released on VHS by PolyGram Video/Universal Pictures on 5 October 1998 in the UK, and then on 27 October 1998 in the US. The following month, it aired on PBS television stations across the US. The film has since also been broadcast by the BBC, Ovation TV, and Sky UK, among others.

A DVD "Commemorative Edition" was released in 2000 with a bonus 30-minute "Making of..." featurette. This was followed by a Blu-ray "Ultimate Edition" in 2012 that included an additional featurette ("Character Make-up with Karen Dawson Harding") and interviews with Andrew Lloyd Webber, Cameron Mackintosh, Trevor Nunn, Gillian Lynne, John Napier, and Gerry Schoenfield (chairman of the Shubert Organization).

On 15 May 2020, the film was streamed for a limited time (24hrs in the UK and 48hrs elsewhere) on Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Show Must Go On! Youtube series, so as to raise money for The Actors Fund charity during the coronavirus pandemic. The stream was accompanied by live commentaries from both Lloyd Webber and cast member Jacob Brent.

Costumes and Make Up
The film features the costume designs used in the London production, which are notably different from their Broadway counterparts. The makeup designs were softened, with the strongest lines removed, as stage makeup would be over-powering in closeup.

Cast
The cast of the film mostly consisted of former and contemporary Broadway and West End Cats actors reprising their roles for the film, including original London cast members Elaine Paige, Susan Jane Tanner, and Femi Taylor, as well as original Broadway cast member Ken Page.

Several actors in the recording were credited as being dubbed; this was done for a variety of reasons.

Jemima's voice was dubbed by young opera singer Helen Massey, as the production team were afraid Veerle Casteleyn would have a noticeable Flemish accent. Similarly, Geoffrey Garratt as Skimbleshanks was dubbed over by David Arniel in order to give the character a particular Scottish accent.

Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer are also credited as being dubbed; however, those familiar with Drew Varley and Jo Gibb and/or Paul Baker and Vikki Coote (who are credited with the dubbed voices), will recognise that the voices in the recording are indeed Drew Varley and Jo Gibb themselves. One possible explanation for this is that dubbed vocals were recorded, but ultimately discarded, or possibly the *giggle* "shush" at the beginning of the number was kept from the dubbing.

Gallery




Transcripts

 * 1998 Film (links to external Google doc - credit to notmanmaybeboy)
 * DVD extras
 * Jacob Brent's first live commentary: part 1, part 2, part 3 (links to external site - credit to whitmerule)

Trivia

 * A soundtrack of the 1998 film was initially planned for release alongside the film, but never materialised. However, the songs "The Jellicle Ball" and "Gus: The Theatre Cat" were released in the 2001 compilation album Andrew Lloyd Webber: Now & Forever. The film version of the "Jellicle Ball" was re-released in the 2018 compilation album Andrew Lloyd Webber Unmasked: The Platinum Collection.