The Lees-McRae Summer Theater production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Cats” was a very different production than is normally seen. The director cut many of the songs, making the performance approximate 1 hr 45 minutes with a 15 minute intermission, and the setting was an old library with oversized books. For costumes, we went with the idea of storybook cats. The process began with the director sending me detailed character lists, giving each cat a particular magic ability, as well as several inspirational images. I responded with inspirational images of my own pulled from online, giving the director further images to work with the performers and giving the director and I a mutual base from which to work from. I then designed elements to add on top of the typical “Cats” costumes, which we rented from Prather entertainment. Thus, Old Deuteronomy literally became King of the Jellicle Cats, with a key that unlocked the Heavyside Layer book, through which one cat a year is allowed to reincarnate into 9 separate lives. Cassandra is an immortal cat who cannot go through the Heavyside Layer, although she tries every year, and she wears an Egyptian collar. And so on.
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