Part three:
On the musical side, Daniel Bowling, the production's musical supervisor who worked on "Cats" in London, along with "Les Miserables" and "The Phantom of the Opera," said he had problems finding musicians who could improvise. "They have wonderful classical training," he said of the Russian musicians. "The difference is that in the West there are more musicians who are all-rounders."
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Eventually, he said, he was able to put together a small orchestra that included a jazz pianist and a classical cellist, "who learned the mixture wonderfully."
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Yelena Charkviani left her role as Killer Queen in the Moscow production of the musical "We Will Rock You" (based on songs by the group Queen) to star as Grizabella. She had never seen "Cats" live, or on video - "I don't like to watch what I will perform" - but had listened to Barbra Streisand's and Elaine Page's performances of "Memory."
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Charkviani said the production has been exhausting but the attitude toward the actors has been heartening. "They were very respectful," she said. "It was the first time I encountered such an attitude toward performers, both from the English side and our side."
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The verdict is still out on the show. At the preview, a man who came with his two small daughters could be heard muttering, "There needs to be a plot, but there's no plot." Vita Dmitriyeva, who came from St. Petersburg for the show said, "What's the point? What's the logic."
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Others found it childish and were irritated by what they said looked like Christmas lights over the stage.
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But some people came out starry-eyed, bundled up against the Moscow slush. "I like it all, the actors, the costumes, the music, the moral," said Tatyana Sergeyeva, an acting teacher who brought a group of 40 teenage students. "I'm in ecstasy."
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