Cats prowl in style at the Drum

By Kelly Yates
CATS prowled into Dandenong’s Drum Theatre for the opening night of the Windmill Theatre Company’s show.
With eye-catching costumes and detailed make up, 35 up and coming actors and dan-cers portrayed the unique Jellicle cats at last Friday’s premiere event.
The story was expressed through both song and dance, with an engaging blend of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s music and intricate lighting that built the drama throughout the story.
Despite the dance choreography being quite simple, the Windmill Theatre Company’s dancers showed strength and versatility with the many acrobatic inspired moves.
The actors also had great connection with each other and the audience.
The most famous song from Cats, Memory, was performed during the final act and received a roaring applause from the audience.
At some stages throughout the performance, the accompanying orchestra overpowered the singing, which made it difficult for the audience to make sense of what the actors were singing.
Make up artists Sarah and Alison Matthews said it took them a couple of hours to complete all of the make up.
“The make up is extremely important for Cats as each actor needs to look individual. We went through a lot of make up.”
Latin American dancer Robbie Carmellotti, 27, said this was his first performance with the Windmill Theatre Company.
He said he enjoyed creating and portraying the characteristics of a cat.
“Portraying cats was a challenge but the hardest thing was getting used to the lycra,” he said.
“It took two weeks to feel comfortable in the costumes.”
Beaconhills student Jessica, 14, was one of the youngest actors in the show. She said she was thrilled with the opening night performance.
“I was extremely nervous before I went out on stage. I had massive exotic butterflies in my stomach, but once on stage, they all disappeared,” she said.
Jessica will be auditioning for the Australian Ballet School in August this year and eventually hopes to have a career in Broadway shows.
The Windmill Theatre Company is the fifth theatre company in Victoria to perform the Broadway show, directed by Andrew Edge and choreographed by Karen Ingwersen.