I have a love-hate relationship with Andrew Lloyd Webber. On one hand, he blessed us all with Phantom of the Opera. On the other hand, he betrayed that trust with pseudo-fanfic Love Never Dies. But one of his works has received recent notoriety not because of the actual production, but a disastrous movie adaptation - Cats.

Cats, at least to me, is one of those "classic" musicals. The kind that you hear references to on SNL or Modern Family, but never actually watched live or even listened to the soundtrack. Though many people who grew up on the 1998 proshot on VHS, I didn't actually watch the musical until last year, when it toured at the city I was in for that summer. It was... an experience. Coming in not knowing any of the song or the plot was less of a hinderance to understanding because, as anyone who's watched the musical can tell you, IT HAS NO PLOT. Sure, there's the overarching thing about who gets to die ascend to the Heaviside Layer, but the songs themselves are overwhelmingly about distinct cats in the ensemble. Which makes sense, as the source material is a set of poems about distinct cats.

I'm not gonna lie - when I first saw it live I didn't like it at all. I distinctly remember saying "what the fuck" out loud during a particularly long dance break. Don't get me wrong, I love me a good dance break, but at that point in the night I was done with the show. Between the nonexistent plot, overtly-80's cat costumes, and nonsense songs, I couldn't wait for the show to end. Cats is the ultimate example of all the reasons people dislike musicals: overly flashy visuals, plot coherency sacrificed for song, and pushing the limits of the audience's suspension of disbelief. But this musical is one of the most successful of all time. There has to be something I was missing, right? How could I call myself a theater fan if I disliked a musical that helped redefine modern theater?

It wasn't until quarantine that I decided to give it another chance - with Broadway closed until further notice, I'd been scratching my theater itch by going through every musical produced in the last 50 years. After re-listening Phantom and Les Mis, it was only fair that Cats get another chance. And it was... good? Not mind-blowing for sure, but fun. Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat and Rum Tum Tugger even made it onto my Favorite Musicals playlist because they were just so enjoyable to listen. Going onto youtube and seeing the songs as individual music videos was a lot different from seeing it the first time, even if it was the exact same musical.

I don't think any other musical is as divisive and high-profile as Cats is. The recent movie is not ... a good look, and the musical itself is quite overwhelming as a whole. But it shines in its overwhelming-ness. The colors, the dancing, the props: the musical is a hot mess and it knows it. When the real world is just too much we can all use a flashy musical featuring magical, wise, mischievous, glamourous, and mysterious felines.