The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 89

BOSTON SUNDAY GLOBE OCTOBER 10. 1982 .9 Broadway finds the staging of 'Cats' is a difficult matter I 4... ment that looks just too expensive." Threading my way through the dark of the Winter Garden, the dark gleaming in cat's-eye-shaped multicolored lights eatcradled overhead, and dimly illuminating the incredible spill of junk, I stopped at the stage door and listened to the Webber-inpsired whispering of an Eliot lyric. "The Naming of Cats Is a Difficult Matter." Probably there was not a mouse in the house, possibly not even one to be found for several blocks around Times Square. Antrim tur rniTirn nunniTn Peter otoole is simply the jokes are good but (hd makes it picture is a triumph of Pauline Kael, THE NEW YORKER "Peter otoole's performance as a star playing a star is superlative.

he doesn't hold the screen, he owns our costs. If we wind up leaving everything alone the current ticket scale, it will take a hundred weeks, or two years, to recoup. Which is not an ideal situation for the show's investors." Jacobs is, of course, impressed with "Cats'" track record In London, but he's dourly quick to say that the record doesn't quiet the panic of opening night and the morning-after reviews have been here before." he said, the word "here" suggesting crap shoot). Jacobs went on to say: "You don't necessarily win shows you should win with, like which I'm still proud to have produced, and you don't always lose with shows maybe you should lose on." He left the latter category unspecified. Jacobs predicts "Cats" is going to be a "big hit." But he's not sure if "Cats" is suitable for the road.

For one thing, he's certain "the creative people would not accept a lesser scenic environment" than the one at Winter Garden. To recreate and rescale the environment for touring may prove uneconomic, if not prohibitive. "Could Boston sustain 'Cats' for a two years run at the Shubert?" Jacobs said, as though asking himself. "I don't think so. As big a hit as It turns out to be in New York, I think the most we could get out of it in Boston, say, would be 30 to 35 weeks.

That would be pushing it as far it could go. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have companies of 'Cats' all over the country, but at the mo- CATS Continued from tage 81 In order to develop the set and its surrounding aura, the stage has been dramatically brought forward by the elimination of rows A to J. The stage appears to be almost a three-quarter arena. (It will also appear to be! a quasi theater-in-the-round for! some 27 ticketholders who will be1 seated stage left.) John Napier's scenic design is a cat's-eye view of a junkyard, an alley cat's heaven. There is litter everywhere, generic litter, if you will, the detritus of 20th century living.

For example, here's just a partial list of the refuse strewn about the stage, off the stage, scattered into the aisles, into the theater's boxes, then up into a permanent horizon of swill that seems to cascade frozen in place from the balcony: empty cartons of Purina Cat Chow. Corn Chex, Quaker Oatmeal. Tender Vit-tles. Uncle Ben's Rice. Schweppes bottles, coffee cans, a corroded Die- hard battery.

Red Seal RCA Victor Records (one with Sousa Marches), planks, scraps, a stiffened paint brush, a leather boot, a rotted balustrade, an aeresol can of Panel Magic, a sardine tin with its oily lid peeled back, newspaper ads, paper plates, a tennis racquet. Vodka bottles. Minute Maid Orange Juice cylinders. Dannon Yogurt cups. McDonald's and Burger King containers (some with ketchup stains, circles of Hamburg), and on a soli-- Kenneth Turan, CALIFORNIA MAGAZINE A number from "Cats." tary platter a cat's dream come true: a large fish and fish head -picked clean to its common pin bones.

Truly, a collage crap. And all in scale from a cat's point of view. Above all there is a deadcold-whiteblaring moon. (There are additional scenic wonders a ship docked on stage while I was present but since they have to do with the musical's plot, I leave them for the review.) In a dark corner of the Winter Garden's lobby Bernard Jacobs talked about "Cats" in a dark whisper, his vocal accommodation to the rehearsal in progress under what appeared to be the co-direction of Trevor Nunn and Andrew Lloyd Webber. "Even with inflated dollars." Bernard Jacobs said, his voice sounding conspiratorial, "this PHOTO BY MARTHA SWOPE show will have sold more tickets than any show In the history of, Broadway.

The price scale goes from $40 to $25. Those extra seats on stage, well we're talking about them right now. I don't know whether they'll be $30. $40 or $50. "But the thing is.

after we're open. I don't know if we can maintain the price scale as it is. To be very honest with you, this show cost much more than the budget. Which is not to say that it cost more than I necessarily thought it was going to. The operating cost is higher than the budget but, again, not necessarily higher than I thought It was going to be.

We sold this show at what I like to call 'last year's Once we all know precisely what it Is going to cost, and once we all know precisely what It can make a week, then we'll have to decide how to recoup Spruce up the place. vf METRO -GOLDWYN MAYER PRESENTS A BROOKSFILMS AND MICHAEL GRLISKOEF PRODUCTION PETER TOOLE JESSICA HARPER JOSEPH BOLOGNA AND INTRODUCING MARK11NN BAKER MY FAVORITE YEAR SCREENPLAY BY NORMAN STEINBERG AND DENNIS PALUMBO STORY BY DENNIS PALUMBO MUSIC BY RALPH BURNS PRODUCED BY MICHAEL GRUSKOFF ittMftiKi'Ttn ni PG PAREHTAl GUIDANCE SUGGESTEO DIRECTED BY RICHARD BENJAMIN MHMl 1A iom KUTTHUU. wut not suttule foh chkamenJ imp -lrjv SACK 1 ripri flMEMAl SACK CIKEMA If SACK 1 CHERM-2-3 NATICK SOMfRVItLE WOALTON Off SWftATON ClIVdANO CIRCli 7- 5840 BOUIi AT A1SIMBCT SOUADf BOSTON 536-3B70 5664040 OPR SHOPPERS' WLD. H78-7000 "SHOWCASE 1 SHOWCASE 1 GtNtRAi. cinima 1 mnmi cim 1 WOBURN REVERE BRAINTREE PEABODY 933-5330 286-1660 south shoki piaza no.shoki shop ctk T.nNtA3 Jl 848-1070 599-U10 Extra Late Shows Tonight-Circle, Natick.

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