Customer Reviews

Cats: The Book of the Musical

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A nice enough book, with pictures from the (old! Probably original Cast) Broadway production. You get the pictures, all the lyrics (which you get just as well from "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats"), and, the most interesting part of the book; essays from Lloyd-Webber, Napier, Lynne and one other on the making of the musical Cats.

This book was awsome! The only thing that remotly threw me off track was the original cast's costumes! If you were like me, and had only seen the video, take a good close look at Mongogeri and Rumpletezer, then look at them in this book, it's freaky! The book contains nearly all the songs lyrics, (Excluding a few lines of the really long songs, such as Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat) and lots of photos from the original production. It's quite a bargin at approximently $13.00, my uncle payed much more for his!

Even despite the closure of the Broadway production, you can still relive the experience and memory of the show thorugh this wonderful picture book. With photographs from the Broadway premiere, and interesting commentaries by the production team, it can strongly be recomended to those who know nothing about the show. The photographs are generally well-taken, and captioned with extracts from the libretto, even despite the fact that in order to shorten the book, two long portions were taken out - one each from Gus: the Theatre Cat, and Skimbleshanks: the Railway Cat. Yet, I know that the text is near-complete and rather satisfactory, but I suggest that you buy the original Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats as well. The one advantage this book has over the out-of-print edition with photography from the actual world-premiere production, is the greater reality achieved here. The actors look more like cats in this production. Overall, I think that this is an excellent book and a great gift to give to the CATS fanatic, or any musical lover.

All songs include pictures. Writings by people originally involved with the production. Shows many interesting items such as Costuming and Original drawings.List of all actors shown in the book.

This book is great for people who have never seen CATS live or who have only seen it in its' new video form (nov. 98). It's got great pictures for those who are interested in costume design, as I am, but also a summary of the plot to help people new to the musical along. And of course, any CATS fan would love to add this to their collection!

If you love the Theater, you will enjoy most of this book of the Musical Cats. The book delivers on the "dialogue" of the musical, which, of course, is right out of "Old Possum's Book of Pratical Cats." You also get some of the insights from those who made the musical happen. There are some good costume sketches, but the photographs leave a lot to be desired. Taken under performance conditions, most of the photos are too blurred or too dim for the quality of the rest of the book. The book is still a treasure for those who have seen the musical, and an overview for the unfortunate who has not.

I got this book for Christmas and I think it's very good. It has a ton of pics and most of the song lyrics. It's the Broadway cast which is a little dissapointing :( If only they had done a London Cats book...hopefully a few pics of Veerle.

I really liked this book. I don't know if I really understand it that well though. I also saw the movie. The movie was especially good. But,I feel as though you learn more by reading the book.

For anyone searching to recapture the mystery of this fantastic musical, this very well may be the book for you! While it is more of a picture walk-through of Cats than an in-depth look behind the scenes, it serves its purpose in capturing this Broadway monster on paper!

This is a wonderful "book" if you're easily bemused by bright, pretty pictures and simple words. (Are you listening, Dan Quale?) There's approx. one page devoted to how the musical was written and came about, but the real truth is that this "book" is merely the libretto w/ pictures. Don't be afraid, though: they're PRETTY pictures and the book doesn't cost you a paw, either...(I'm so sorry for that)