The Collegian Wednesday, April 26 CATS by Vail Weller Entertainment Editor Our generation is talking about Andrew Lloyd Weber - he's responsible for the music of "Jesus Christ Superstar", "Starlight Express", "Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat", "The Phantom of the Opera", and "Cats". I had the opportunity to see "Cats" here in Erie on April 18th at the Warner Theatre. I had seen the play once before, and that time I had walked in not knowing what to expect. I left the theater in awe, but not knowing really understanding the plot. Since I knew what to expect this time, I had the chance to really pay attention to the story. This is hard to explain, but there really isn't one. There also aren't any spoken lines. "Cats" is singing/dancing/lighting/lase' spectacular. Every word in the show comes directly from a book of poetry called "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats", which was written by T.S. Eliot in 1939. The cast is comprised solely of cats - even their costumes are hard to describe. One was a Siamese. She seemed to be about 8 feet tall, she was all silver and black and she looked like a Siamese. They all had fur around their faces and were all differently colored. They moved around the stage like cats would - slinking, stretching and pawing. "Cats" explains the lives of cats and that they are very similar to people. Once a year, all of them get together for the "Jellicle At this time, the oldest, most Soap Opera Update by Jennifer Blakeslee Collegian Staff Writer Days of Our Lives Jerry stopped by April's apartment to discuss their future and to paint her walls.. April think that by changing her apartment will help her to stalt a new life. Mike told Robyn that there was no chance of their getting back together again. An angry Robyn then stormed over to April's to ask her why she won't let Mike go. Jack was thrilled that Jennifer agreed to take her job back and to worry about Sally on her own time. Angelida tells Jack that her baby is Justin's. He is shocked, but he is still able to try and comfort her. Justin finally tells Victor off for giving him the impotency pills. Victor apologizes, but he said that the reason that he did it was so that Adrian would leave. Victor calls her a sleaze for sleeping with the first stable boy that crossed her. path. Justin becomes more angry and raises a poker from the fireplace at Victor, meaning to hit him with it. Just then, Adrian walks into An Amazing respected cat, Old Deuteronomy, chooses one cat that will go on to another life. This is the main focus of the show, but throughout, we meet all of the cats and find out about their lives. One of my favorites was Gus, the theatre cat. He hobbles across the stage and tells (sings) us about his career in the theater, and while he is reminiscing, we go back in his memory. The way they did it was perfect - a screen drops and there he is as a younger cat. He performs for us his most famous role, that of Growltiger in "Growltiger's Last Stand", a pirate story. When it ends, Gus the old theatre cat is back. Another good one was Rum Turn Tugger. He looks like a lion, with a big fluffy mane, and he acts like Elvis. When he sings, all of the female cats scream and faint. At one point, he goes out into the audience and chooses a woman to dance with. He was fantastic. The first video to emerge from a Broadway show was made of Rum Turn Tugger. Mr. Mistoffelees was a magical cat - he was all black with a touch of white. He came out and did fantastic magical feats, but his dancing was even more impressive. The cats are dancing straight through the show, while also singing (the man seated next to me kept turning to his wife and saying, "How do they that?? They never stop!"). The setting of the show is what would have to be called a garbage dump. Pieces of trash are all over, scaled to be larger than the cats. Every once in a while, we would hear someone emptying a load of garbage into the dun the room and stops Justin. Victor say that Adrian still has not won the battle yet. Another World Stacey stops by Derrick's to ask him to testify at Felicia's hearing. He says that the only way he would is if he gets to talk to Felicia alone. Stacey takes him to Felicia's, and when she hears what he is going to do she is confused about why this man would want,to help her. Charlene told Cass about Jason's threatening to tell about her being a prostitute years ago. After the hearing is over, Charlene returns to the farm wondering how John would react to her testimony. Josie ran from the courthouse holding her birth certificate feeling very confused. While Amanda and Evan are talking, Dustin barges into the room holding a gun. Neither is • sure what he is planning on doing with it. Meanwhile, Sam is riding on horseback looking for his wife. Santa Barbara After snooping around Megan's room, Sophia finds an address that leads her to Megan's Spectacle and the noise was earth shattering. The cats would all freeze, scared - to death, until the noise subsided. Twice during the show, a car passed the dump. All we saw were two huge headlights. The roar of the vehicle was (again) tremendous. Grizabella was the outcast of the cats. She Would slink in and all of the cats would approach her, sniff around, paw at the air and run from her. She was dressed in faded finery - she used to be a "glamour cat". Now she looks haggard and drawn. Definitely the most emotional moment of the play is when Grizabella thinks she is alone on the stage (we see Old Deuteronomy sitting behind her in the dark) and she sings "Memory - . Rosemary Loar played Grizabella and did a'great job - that song had a great effect on the audience. All of the music in "Cats" is hauntingly beautiful and without any doubt the most excellent part of the entire performance. The special effects (such as the passing cars, the magic performed by Mr. Mistoffelees, the reminiscing of Gus, the theatre cat, and the moon and the starlight around the stage) were magical and breathtaking. The cats themselves were phenomenal - very feline and very talented. The music, however, was the most emotional, spectacular part of the experience. [Thank you, Andrew Lloyd Weber.] I feel very fortunate to have been able to see this exceptional performance. It was very moving, entertaining, and captivating. If you get the chance to see this one, don't pass it up! son in college. She figures out that Megan has been lying to him about her whereabouts. Cruz is very angry when Eden tells him about Sandra's true feelings towards him. He says that Sandra is being ridiculous, and he makes her leave the house. At the Capwell mansion, C.C. and Megan kiss passionately after he gives her an elegant evening gown. Megan quickly ends the kiss and tells him that any kind of intimate involvement would hurt their business relationship. - Bunny is escorted out of The Lair when she finds out about Vanessa getting married and throws a tantrum. Guiding Light After hearing about the baby's true father, Rick goes to see Meredith in her room. He isn't sure if he is going to tell her that he knows about Phillip or not. At the Springfield A.M. studio, Johnny almost throws a chair at a camera in a fit of rage. Josh and Reva go to see Meredith, but are unsure if she is ready for visitors. They tell her to call thorn when she is feeling up to it. "Talk Talk" by A.Thomas Mamaux Collegian Staff Writer "Talk Talk" recently released their most sublime album to date. "Spirit of Eden" is their fourth album. Talk Talk has been around the music scene since 1982 when they toured with Elvis Costello. With each new album Talk Talk recedes deeper into themselves and this makes the albums more intense and emotional. Every song is very personal to the members of Talk Talk; every note a personal testimony of pain, hope, love, or hurt. Talk Talk packs "Spirit of Eden " with six songs. Just by looking at the album sleeve, you can see they are no fluffy crotch rock band searching for commerical success. Even though it is only loaded with six songs, the album plays for close to 75 minutes. The first song "The Rainbow" lasts 15 minutes alone. Also Talk Talk has lyrically become simple' choose few words to say very much. The longest song "Eden" has only eight lines in the entire song. Talk Talk does not want to be labeled as jazz fusionist, but when it comes to lyric content, less is more. Talk Talk says it all through music. They are accompanied by 15 musicians and a choir on "Spirit of Eden". They incorporate some instruments most people haven't even heard of such as: the dobno, shozygs, and yje cor anglais. "Spirit of Eden " is a very cerebral album. It rocks you, it lulls you, it amazes you. It lets you mind wander and then jolts you with a blast of reality. Mark Hollis and Tim Friese-Green are the minds of Talk Talk . They composed and arranged all of the songs on "Spirit of Eden". Mark Hollis is the singer, piano, organ and guitar. Hollis' voice is very distinct because he always signs with a quiver of fear in his throat. While Hollis nervously croons„ lie is assaulted with a medley of instruments, primarily organ or piano and a barrage of percussion. Sometimes the songs are hymn-like,for example "Wealth " and other time they can be pure rock, like "Desire". It wouldn't be fair to say Talk Talk is music for the intellectual, but people who listen to Talk Talk have a certain connersuership of music. They have refined their taste of music. Talk Talk is not dance music, rock music, rap music, or jazz. Talk Talk is not really a form a music but a band that cohesively joins sounds to form messages. E******************* Go to the monies---FREE! When was the last time you could afford to see a movie? Chances are when somebody else paid! Now you have the opportunity to win two free movie tickets from the Millcreek Mall Cinemas in each Collegian issue. We will print a movie related trivia question in each Entertainment section. Simply write the answer, your name and phone number down and drop it in the box in the Collegian office. Every week, five lucky people will win two tickets each!!! The following people are the lucky winners from the trivia question asked in our last issue: The question was :What famous novelist wrote the screenplay for "Moby Dick?" The correct answer was Ray Bradbury. Those of you that answered correctly can pick up your tickets in the Collegian office (if. you have not already). The Collegian office is located in the newly remodeled section of the Reed Building behind the Back Room. Make your mom feel special on Mother's Day with a card or gift from THE CARD GALLERY K-Mart Plaza East 4,116.4, Buffalo Rd. 899-8782 Diana Ziemniak Samantha Amman Gregory S. Edmundson Debbie Dorfner Earl Ebert Page