Review | CATS (UK Tour) September 2014

Concluding the UK leg of an almost 2-year tour, Cats - the musical based on T.S. Lewis' poems arrives in Birmingham this week. Despite the 33 years since it's original premiere, audiences continue to delight in the wonderfully wacky world of the Jellicle Cats. 

The story is woven out of numerous poems about several kinds of cat and by the end one is chosen to go to the Heavyside Layer and come back to a different Jellicle life... Some say there isn't a story but  listen carefully and you'll learn in just under three hours of pure entertainment. 

Story aside, it is Lloyd Webber's music that is most captivating, a fine orchestra led by Anthony Gabriele provides both an eerie yet strangely welcoming sound. The Phantom Of The Opera probably goes down as Webber's most impressive score, but there are beautiful moments found here, notably in the music of Old Deuteronomy, of course Memory and the climax to act 1 - the incredibly exciting Jellicle Ball which flits between every tempo possible.

In the narrating role is the excellent Callum Train, the strapping Munkustrap, protector and second in command. Train is in fine voice as a solid and strong grey tabby and impresses throughout despite what is clearly a demanding role. Also leading the males is Filippo Strochhi as Rum Tum Tugger - a clear audience favourite alongside Joseph Poulton, Rambert graduate as Mister Mistoffelees. Poulton's irresistible charm, expression and perfected dance solo ensure all eyes are on him.

Zizi Strallen as Demeter

Even as a cat, you can spot a Strallen a mile off, here Zizi (one of four sisters all in show business) is an impressive addition as Demeter, who gives a powerful vocal performance of Macavity along with Charlene Ford as Bombalurina.

There is energy aplenty but cheeky kitties Mungojerrie (Benjamin Yates/Barnaby Thompson) and Rumpleteazer (Dawn Williams) treat us to an acrobatic, tumbling tale of how they delightfully deceive. Sophia Ragavelas belts out a powerful rendition of Memory as the forlorn ex-glamour cat Grizabella.

Dawn Williams as Rumpleteazer and Benjamin Yates as Mungojerrie

Gillian Lynne's iconic choreography is executed with the highest precision. The show's entire choreography utilises every chance to show off what a phenomenal cast this is. If they aren't tap dancing cockroaches, they're siamese sailors - a wonderfully inventive and outlandishly imaginative production.

Nicholas Pound as Old Deuteronomy and Sophia Ragavelas as Grizabella

As theatre cat Gus puts it, "modern productions are all very well, but there's nothing to equal from what I hear tell". Cats remains that favourite show it always was, there's a magic that ensures this timeless classic doesn't need anything overcomplicated and it's success is in pure talent. Don't pass up your invitation to the Jellicle Ball, it's fearless feline fun. Introduce a young one to what is undoubtably a magical and mesmerising spectacular - they're certain to cherish the memory forever. Catch it at the final UK venue of it's tour, Birmingham Hippodrome until Sat 27 September. Tickets here. 

Related Articles
How to become a Cat with former cast member Richard Astbury. Click here.

Cast List: Adam Lake, Adam Salter, Charlene Ford, Paul F Monaghan, Joel Morris, Cassie Clare, Benjamin Mundy, Zizi Strallen, Sophia Ragavelas, Clare Rickard, Natasha Mould, Abigail Jaye, Cameron Ball, Callum Train, Benjamin Yates, Barnaby Thompson, Nicholas Pound, Joseph Poulton, Dawn Williams, Filippo Strocchi, Ross Finnie, Kathryn Barnes, Hannah Kenna Thomas, Ryan Gover, Barry haywood, Alice Jane, Grace McKee, Dane Quixall, Libby Watts. 

INTERVIEW with Zizi Strallen - August 2013

If you've seen a West End musical recently, the chances are that you've come across one of four talented sisters. The Strallen's - Scarlett, Summer, Zizi and Saskia have all followed parents Cherida and Sandy and aunt Bonnie Langford into a career in the limelight. I chatted to Zizi about her experiences so far.

So you've found yourself teaching workshops and sharing your expertise to youngsters as part of West End Experience. How did that come about for you? 

Well... I actually fell into it by mistake! I wasn't originally one of the tutors, my friend Amy Thornton was set up to do it but she got a last minute offer to be dance captain in Matilda and so she called me and said "Zi, I can't do these workshops now, will you go and do them...?" and I thought sure, it sounds fun! We were both in Rock Of Ages together, we both had to do the same choreography so fortunately I can offer the same workshop!"

How is it for you, at such a young age yourself being able to give back your expertise to young and aspiring performers?

Even though I am so young still I've been working in the West End since I was 16 so I've got years of experience to pass on to them already. The main thing I always say is it's all about confidence - the best thing to do is believe in yourself and tell the audience that through the way in which you perform. 

And how are the children of Wolverhampton getting on in your workshop? 

The children of Wolverhampton are amazing! They're great and they've not been talking! Usually when you have quite a large group of children to teach they'll all chit chat and you have to stand there for five minutes and wait for them to be quiet. I was worried because I've got an audition coming up and I didn't want to overuse and lose my voice but I've had no problems. The children are great at picking stuff up, they've been so good at learning the choreography and haven't moaned about doing it over and over and over again, they're really eager to learn which is lovely. The thing is with the songs of Rock Of Ages you can't just stand there and sing them - they're really full on and involve lots of energy. 

You've just finished in Merrily We Roll Along and that took the West End by storm - what was that like for you?

It was an amazing experience, I loved it, but originally I didn't really know what I was going up for. I'm not really familiar with many Sondheim shows, I knew a couple of the songs so I went for it and as far as we were concerned at the time it was just going to be a three month run at the Menier Chocolate Factory and then as the show went on the run had completely sold out and there was a great buzz about it! There was this talk that it was going to transfer to the West End and we just expected to finish at the end of February and we finished at the end of July! It was incredible and such an amazing job to be involved in and part of the hype of it. More or less every night we had somebody important coming in to watch it like a director or a casting director or a TV or film star and above all it was just great to do!

What's been your favourite production that you've been in? Or highlights from a few favourites?
Oh this is difficult...! I've been lucky that everything I've done has been so different and varied. My first job was Music Man in Chichester at the Festival Theatre. It was very prim and proper, American accent, blonde wig and I played this really annoying young girl and I had to walk around saying "Ye Gods!" all the time! Then completely different I went into Dirty Dancing and I had to be really sexy and I learnt all this Latin and Ballroom and then I got to carry on dancing by spending a year in Matthew Bourne's dance company and you know what that's like compared to the next job in Rock Of Ages which was thrashing about  - completely diverse career! It's hard to pick a favourite, I've loved it all! 

Are there any productions or roles out there that you'd love to have a go at in the future?

Two of my favourite roles that I could see myself in are Louise in Gypsy and Bianca in Kiss Me Kate... ooh, and maybe Sally Bowles in Cabaret ... but I've just missed out on that time-wise with the new tour!

Zizi and sisters Summer, Saskia and Scarlett (Photo: broadway.com)

What was it like growing up as a Strallen... all singing, all dancing?

Haha, for me it's just normal! That's the thing... I've never known anything else but I can imagine for other people that sounds quite full on. My whole childhood has been around theatre and it really is all I've ever known. That's not to say it's all we ever talk about either, my parents always said to us "keep work work and life life..." They told us not to always bring work home and they really encouraged us to find other hobbies and talk about the news and whatever... They were very particular about that because with our entire family involved in theatre all any of us would have talked about is what was going on on stage or who was annoying who in the dressing room! 

Was there any chance at all that you may have taken a different career path at any point or was it purely theatre that you wanted to do?

Yeah, it's interesting you should say that because when I was eleven and leaving primary school my teacher said to my parents that I should try and get in to this really academic school and at the time I thought "oooh, I don't know about that..." but I went for it anyway and of course I got in didn't I, which really made me want to go - so I did! Basically I was being groomed to be a lawyer... I lasted two terms and then I was like no I can't do this any more it's horrible - I can't do any more maths my brain's going to explode! My two older sisters Scarlett and Summer had gone to Arts Educational in Chiswick and I managed to get a grant from the borough to go there so my parents took me out of my academic scholarship which I'm sure they hated doing! My dad always wanted me to do something normal because he knows how hard this business is and he said "go and make lots of money and do something normal...!" but none of us have! 

So with your older sisters being so successful do you feel a pressure now to live up to the family name and expectation?

I'd be lying if I said I didn't! My sisters and my family have never ever put any pressure on me or each other but I do feel that there's an expectation before I walk in a room. If I was having an off day or just a bit ill, to those people on the panel I'd probably seem particularly bad! When you hear the name Strallen you have a particularly high expectation straight away so if I didn't give it my absolute best or I was a bit iffy that day they'd most probably assume I'm the rubbish one out of us all! But hopefully I live up to the name!"

So what would be some sound Strallen advice that you would give to aspiring musical theatre performers out there?

Don't do it..! Haha, no I'm joking... I would say just keep working. There is nobody that succeeds in this business who hasn't worked their socks off to get there. You have to keep going to singing lessons and train your voice - even when you're professional you can always get better, you can always learn and there are always things to improve. So if you haven't been to a singing lesson in a while - go! Go to your dance classes every day or as often as possible. Keep working on improving yourself and strive to always be the best you can be and then you're improving your chances of a career doing what you love and what you dream of - go for it!

WEST END EXPERIENCE (Wolverhampton Grand Theatre) Rock Of Ages Workshop

This week West End Experience and Wolverhampton Grand Theatre are providing local youngsters with the opportunity to rehearse and perform like a West End professional. The week-long summer school really is the ultimate West End musical theatre experience with with top industry professionals visiting cities all over the country sharing their knowledge and expertise with aspiring performers. 

The programme is co-ordinated by Craig Whiteley who graduated from Mountview Academy with a 1st class BA Hons degree. Craig played Doc in CR7 for the BBC and made his West End debut in the 50th anniversary year of The Mousetrap playing Giles and Trotter. He then went on to play Eddie in Blood Brothers both on the national tour and in the West End. The dance is overseen by Daniela Valvano who trained at Bird College. Her recent credits include understudying the roles of Magenta, Columbia and Janet in the UK tour of The Rocky Horror Show, as well as in Singapore. Daniela was also Carmen Diaz in the Dutch national tour of Fame and Miss Carmichael in the world premiere of The Thorn Birds, a musical. 

Leading today's workshop for the youngsters was Zizi Strallen from the original London cast of Rock Of Ages. 

Zizi in the original cast of Rock Of Ages with Shayne Ward. (Photo by Bettina Strenske)

At 10am the older students sang through "Here I Go Again" - a song from the musical which they had learnt earlier with musical director Charlotte Fane. Some had solos, others provided backing vocals but the voices filled the room with rich harmonies - a powerful sound! One thing was clear, they were all very enthusiastic. After learning the routine from Zizi the students quickly put everything together towards a pretty polished performance. Reminding them that they were in an 80's rock bar, Zizi had them strumming air guitars all over the room with "rock star swagger" as the original choreographer called it. 

It was soon the younger group's turn to sing Don't Stop Believing for Zizi. As before, choreography from the show was given to them and within the hour there was another finished routine. The students had a natural ability for picking up their direction. Energy and focus came from everyone - a dedicated team working towards a concert on Sunday 11th August. 

Grace Gull from Codsall is now taking part for her fourth year: "It's absolutely amazing. The West  End Experience has been running in Wolverhampton for four years and I've been to all of them. This year has to be the biggest and best one yet. It's more challenging and even more demanding - which is great! My favourite workshop so far has been the A Chorus Line with Rebecca Giacopazzi who is dance captain for the show at the London Palladium. We learnt the routine for I Hope I Get it. As well as this week's experience I am in the theatre's Grand Circle Adult Choir which launched this year and I help at the Grand Ambition youth choir which is now in its third successful year. I'm really looking forward to the show on Sunday, I can't wait to perform the A Chorus Line section and sing some harmonies with the professional performers in the Circle Of Life!"

Another fabulous day at @WestEndEx and a lovely workshop with @ZiziStrallen :) #rockofages
— Grace Gull (@GraceGull) August 8, 2013

Too excited for Sunday, performing along side West End performers!! @WolvesGrand @WestEndEx #Stagey #WestEnd
— Daniel Langford (@DanLangford93) August 8, 2013

Grand Theatre Education Officer Louise Bent commented: “West End Summer School is now in its third year at the Grand and it gets bigger and better every year! It’s the most amazing opportunity for local young people to work with the professionals behind some of London’s biggest musicals. Everyone has a great time and talks about it for weeks afterwards - it really is the highlight of the summer for our young theatre fans!

Co-ordinator Craig Whiteley added: "This is my 3rd year of bringing the West End Summer School to Wolverhampton Grand. It is my favourite date in the diary as the kids here are so respectful. They eat, sleep and breath theatre. I previously performed at The Grand with Blood Brothers and from the hundreds of venues on tour it was - without a doubt - the best atmosphere so I just love coming back. Our aim is to feature every child in our concert alongside the stars and we treat the students like professionals which helps us achieve a fantastic final product. The course builds confidence and is a lot of fun. It shows the students how difficult and how rewarding a career in professional theatre can be. You work hard and you get results, you get rewarded!"

Students at @WolvesGrand . Some of the most hard working, disciplined young performers we've had the pleasure of working with! Thank you!
— West End Experience (@WestEndEx) August 8, 2013

You can book tickets to see the concert at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre that culminates the hard work by the whole team. Featuring songs from The Lion King, A Chorus Line, Oliver, Rock Of Ages sung by the students and industry professionals. The concert is on Sunday 11 August at 7pm and you can book tickets here.

For more information about the fantastic scheme of West End Experience, visit their website here.

You can also find information about the theatre's Get-In! youth scheme with activities all year round, special ticket offers and exclusive opportunities here.