Episode 808
Cats (musical)
Sat, 2019-Jul-20 02:05 UTC
Length - 3:25
Direct Link
Welcome to popular Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of a popular Wikipedia page every day.
With 378,000 views on Friday, 19 July 2019 our article of the day is Cats (musical).
Cats is a sung-through musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot. The musical tells the story of a tribe of cats called the Jellicles and the night they make the "Jellicle choice", deciding which cat will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new life.
Directed by Trevor Nunn and choreographed by Gillian Lynne, Cats first opened to favourable reviews in the West End in 1981, and then to mixed reviews on Broadway in 1982. It won numerous awards, including Best Musical at both the Laurence Olivier Awards and the Tony Awards. An unprecedented commercial hit, the musical had grossed over $2 billion worldwide by 1994 and started the megamusical phenomenon that has dominated the industry ever since. The London production ran for 21 years (1981–2002; 8,949 performances) and the Broadway production ran for 18 years (1982–2000; 7,485 performances), both setting new records. Actresses Elaine Paige and Betty Buckley became particularly associated with the musical, and its most well-known song "Memory" has been recorded hundreds of times. Cats has since been revived in the West End twice and on Broadway once.
Cats previously held the records for the longest-running musical in both Broadway and West End histories. As of 2018, it remains the fourth-longest-running Broadway show and the sixth-longest-running West End show. Cats has been translated into 15 languages and has been performed around the world many times. The Hamburg production ran for 15 years (1986–2001; >6,100 performances), while the Japanese semi-touring production by the Shiki Theatre Company celebrated its 35th anniversary in 2018 (1983–present; >10,000 performances). The musical was adapted into a direct-to-video film in 1998, with a feature film adaptation by Tom Hooper set to follow in 2019.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 02:05 UTC on Saturday, 20 July 2019.
For the full current version of the article, see Cats (musical) on Wikipedia.
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