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The American Cats were, at first, more perplexed than critical. "When Gillian showed us the steps," says Hector Jaime Mercado, 33, "they looked like the most peculiar damn things—no sense of flow or rhythm." Steven Gelfer knows why: "To turn us into cats, Gillian has departed from the traditional dance vocabulary. Her movement is difficult and very exciting." She is ever on the move, urging her dancers: "Think jazz. Think under the beat, not on it. Step over a huge piece of marshmallow, something soft. Those bottoms could be naughtier! And now, let's do it once more, just for luck." Timothy Scott, 27, who dances the featured role of Mr. Mistoffelees, sighs the ultimate compliment: "We're not used to dancing this hard on Broadway."
Then Lynne puts her new cast through its first complete run-through of the 13-min. Jellicle Ball number. Says Ken Page: "You could see the exhaustion during that number, their faces down to their knees, but they kept going. When they were finished there was a tremendous sense of exhilaration. It was one of those collective moments when you realize that the show is going to be terrific, that the audience is going to scream." Says Nunn: "It was like Sebastian Coe going for the world record. At the end we all had tears in our eyes."
This week the first paying audiences will see whether that exhilaration is contagious. As the most expensive show mounted on Broadway, Cats needs to stay around for quite a while. But why not? Grease, Broadway's longest-running musical, ran a mere eight years. Everybody knows Cats has nine lives. —By Richard Corliss.
Reported by Elaine Dutka/New York