Courier-Post from Camden, New Jersey • Page 72

December 2, 1984 makes Webber's 'Cats' purr like a kitten 'I like weird things," confesses but it aIs(1 itp a but it also on stage Lynne. "The more extreme and strange a thing is, the more I like it. I loved the challenge of trying to translate Eliot's wondrous words and Webber's wondrous score into movement. It turned out to be hard but thrilling COURIER-POST, Sunday, How she Continued from Page i That, claims the English choreographer, will be the last production of "Cats" she will start from scratch. Unless, the choreographer quickly adds, a Russian version can be arranged.

UN A I JO 4HLiNOKlHO 1 SUN TIL 5 MON TIL 7:15 2 SO SENIOR CITIZENS ALL TIMES The Lit 596-8288 SUNDAY 4E SUNDAY "THK you KARATE KID' leaves cheering." -tonKeed. In bringing "Cats" to the stage, Nunn and Lynne faced the challenge of creating visual drama from a collection of 1 5 poems by Eliot. To Lynne fell the assignment of turning an ensemble of 36 actors into feline characters who looked, moved and behaved like cats. Americans approached to do the job had refused, saying the work was unstageable. But Lynne is a woman who, when people say something is impossible, gets her "fibers up and exclaims bloody hell." 'THIS is a very tough show," she says.

"One has to incite the performers to enormous stamina stretches. One has to inspire them to give their souls to their work. This show is very physical I Author T.S. Eliot and choreographer Gillian Lynne. I at $2.25) 8:30 at ARNOLD ONION nbM mm li TH6 TRMINflTOR 6th SMASH WEEK! fj pry IF If Karate Kid ml SUN TIL 5 PM $125) 8:30 MON 8 PM2 50 TIL 7:15 2 50 SENIOR CITIZENS ALL TIMES I SCHUUflflZNGGR MATINEE ONLY 8 10 $2.50 FIRST MATINEE SHOW ONLY 14S-J 45-5 45-7 45-9 45 II UNAtMUt SIMON ID fM'A" IB rrr-i ft rum I 596a8288f9fMi Mwsaty SUNDAY 1 (5:00 at $2.25) i $2.50 FIRST MATINEE SHOW ONLY t1 1 1 1 1 a DON AVENUf WIST MONT I II KM MON TIL 7:15 $2.50 SENIOR CITIZENS ALL TIMES a 1 HI -CM "YOU HAVE to break down their inhibitions, get them to think differently, They have to learn to feel with different parts of their bodies.

Physically, they have to work on their stomachs and spines." Lynne, 55, has been dancing since she was 6 years old. Nicknamed Wriggle-bottom as a child, her mother was convinced she had St. Vitus' dance. After a checkup by a physician, the doctor's cure turned out to be dance school. Lynne became a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet but, after discovering Broadway musicals during an American tour, she turned to jazz dancing and choreography.

Since her debut as choreographer for "The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd," she has been involved in many Broadway musicals. Film and television have also claimed her talents, Lynne recently choreographed "Yentl." "CATS" TESTED Lynne's choreo-graphical skills from every direction. No number in the show proved more challenging than the "Jellicle Ball," the 13-minute dance spectacular that leads directly into the first-act finale. Here, Lynne combined ballet with jazz and added gymnastics and modern XXX tHat IflilTIHilAJjbi PL VERS EAGLES SIXERS ALL SPECTRUM EVENTS SIXERS LAKFRQ it kinks NUTCRACKER Bill ft I. DISNEV ON ICE12-26 thru 1-6 ALL PENN STATE GAMES ALL ATLANTIC CITV SHOWS PHHJL THEATRES SPORTS GLASSMAMS 1JTH ST (J15) PEM47J ml mmmt 11 iH I ft i tONRT 1 JO MlitSNOMMO AT SUN 2.50 TIL 5 PM MON TIL 7:15 $2.50 FIRST MATINEE SHOW ONLY 2-4-6-8-10 $2.50 FIRST SHOW 2 4 6 It's As Hot As You Can Get! LORENZO LAMAS NEW WORLO PICTURES SUN TIL 5 MON TIL 7:15 2.50 SENIOR CITIZENS ALL TIMES if St.

II n.iii $2.50 FIRST MATINEE SHOW ONLY V45-3 45 I SUNDAY Lynne says more than stamina and spirituality are required to turn men and women into cats. "I have to force the performers to ask themselves 'Am I listening with my tongue and tail Am I sticking out my bum like a Lynne is quick to underline that there are no stars in "Cats," onlya tight ensemble of talented performers who can sing, dance and act expressively. To turn Eliot's cat poems into vivid theater calls for nothing less. Eliot assembled "Practical Cats" from a series of poems he had written to his godchildren in the 1930s. Enchanted by the very human characteristics of Eliot's cats, Webber decided to write a musical based on the poems.

Eliot's widow immediately agreed and supplied some unpublished pieces that included a poem about Grizzabella, the feline lady of the night who sings the show's hit tune, "Memory." LYNNE RECALLS with a laugh how she first resisted the attempts of producer Cameron Mackintosh to bring her together with Webber to discuss the project. But once she heard Webber play the score, she knew she wanted to be involved. Earlier that year, she had married actor Peter Land. Among the wedding presents were a pair of cats, Rhett and Scarlett. Needless to say, Lynne began observing the behavior of her own cats to create movement that could turn humans into felines.

"Every time I start work on another production," says Lynne, "it's the beginning of a huge journey. A performer has to make a huge commitment to a show like this. Luckily, I can still dance, so I can show of the movements I want from the dancers. "I'm great at using loopy imagery to turn on performers. I don't like to intel-lectualize when I work with dancers.

I like to open up their imagination and inspire them to do something they might not think they can do. BROADWAY PITMAN- 589-4616 $2.00 KARATE KID (pg) 1 BARGAIN KITES MOM TUE8. WHITE HOBSC PIKE OAKLTN, MJ (U-X131 XXX HITS! STARS! VANKSSA drl RIO JOANNA STORM Til ANY CLARK MAI LIN PLUS: "HOUSI Of LOVI" 5 45 ft 15 PM PlCTUSfS PRT5EMTS A B9K Rttt If ii" I I He's been Eddie Murphy 'hit' I muni in -iininrirTi'TiMriinni al $2.25) 3 BODY DOUBLE Htmn A SEDUCTION. A MYSTERY. A MURDER.

A Brian De Palr.ia Film chased, thrown through a window, is a Detroit cop on vacation in dance to create a feverish dance of feline passion. "That turned out to be a bloody battle field," recalls Lynne as she explains how she fought to convince Webber to add some music to the scene. "This was the whole crux of the piece. Webber had written a fantastic finale but it wasn't set up. He had toadd a sensual section to make the Jellicle Ball longer and give the cats a chance to touch themselves." To show the composer what she needed, Lynne and her five assistants danced all the parts.

"We burst our blood vessels but we knew we were right. We finished in a heap on the floor. "ANDREW TOOK hold of me and said it hurt a young man's pride to admit I was right. He told me I could have the extra music." Every new production of "Cats" has brought small refinements to the original concept. New performers inspire new ideas, says Lynne, and a choreographer has to be ready to amend and adapt.

Philadelphia audiences will see several numbers performed differently from the New York production. Lynne says "the sheer naked energy of the production excites audiences. But beyond all the energy in this extravagant show lies something spiritual, too. "The audience sees the performers have to give so much and commit themselves so completely to this. You see them going for broke.

When we get it right, a tremendous lifting of the spirit occurs. They know at the end something has happened to them." Live. Nude Porno Stars 6 X-Rated Shows Daily, Plus 2 Full Length Fea. Movies-Special Offer $1 Admission-Rated 1 by Phila. Mag.

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