This particular show had very charming moments. But not nearly enough cats!
The two-legged performers were certainly talented. Especially the young man who I suspect is Dmitry Kuklachev. Whoever that was, that boy can DANCE. I mean serious balletic leaps and spins.
All extremely impressive. I kept thinking, "And you're stuck doing that here at the CAT THEATER?!" I'm American, so I spell it that way. But seriously, if he can't get a gig doing that with a real ballet company because there are BETTER LEAPERS AND SPINNERS . . . well, Moscow is an amazing place.
The first half of the show went on for a VERY long time before we got any cats.
I was starting to get worried.
And the cats didn't do anything more than my cats can do: run across the stage with tails held high, climb something, and stay put because they have been, in effect, attached.
I went into this thinking, "I'm gonna see some cats with real talent." But those cats didn't do much more than, well, be cats.
The finale of the first act involved the company of two-legged actors reading newspapers and devolving into a paper ball fight with the paper balls getting bigger and bigger until a REALLY big ball, covered in newspaper, appeared and was introduced into the audience like a beach ball at a rock convert. It was very clever and a real crowd pleaser.
But did not include any cats.
We had ice cream during the intermission. It was good.
In the second act the cats did do some actual tricks. They walked on very narrow bridges that connected all the two-legged performers, some of whom were on stilts. They sat in little seats suspended high in the air that were swung out over the audience. They rode scooters. They refused to leave soup pots (very cute). They suffered being petted by EVERY KID IN THE AUDIENCE. They scooted across parallel bars on their elbows (THAT was impressive).
Skittles could not get over the cats on scooters. Really, the cats did nothing. They just happened to be on scooters that were pushed on and off the stage. But it was funny.
"A cat on a scooter!" she said the whole way home. "You don't see that every day."
I have pounded into them that a man in a dress is ALWAYS funny. But Skittles has noted that a cat on a scooter is always funny, too.
But the Cat Man in Key West has cats that jump through rings of fire.
RINGS OF FIRE!
Okay, I laughed until I cried at a moment where a cat was seated in a gold sequined moon suspended high above the stage while an orchestral version of Memories played.
And the Grand Finale included BALLOONS FOR EVERYONE!
It was really sweet and very Russian-y. Every single kid in the house got one of those really long balloons. They were all invited to approach the stage and they got a ballon and no one was greedy and everyone took turns and was polite. And the kids, as a group, were ADORABLE.
And then it was over and we were all heading for the Coat Check and a woman stood there in the lobby with a kitten saying "Free cat!" to everyone.
Yeah. I bet they have a few.
Overall, I'd give this particular show a 7 only because it was Cat Lite. But I would definately go again.
Tomorrow we're going to Gorky Leninskiy. I'll tell you all about it when we get back.
6 comments:
When we went 5 years ago, the cats were the whole show and they did lots. My favorite was a man that did sommersaults and while he was rolling the cat would wald on him and it was like the cat was walking on a rolling huge ball. They walked on a rope high on the stage suspended between two things and did lots of tricks. Unfortunately they also had free kittens. That upset me. Why don't they neuter their cats?
HI, Well I certainly expected it to be better than the Key West cats... Of course when you and I went there there was NO cat show that night! Boy did I feel deprived! That was to be the highpoint of our trip, that and the cats at the Hemingway house which lived up to their rep as wonderful!
I have seen the YouTube clip of these Russian cats and they looked fabulous! Maybe some have gone on to cat heaven and it takes a while to train new ones???
But it does sound like you all had a good time and I'm with Skittles about the cats on scooters! What could be more fun than that except perhaps cats leaping through hoops of fire? xov
We're going to see them in two weeks - I guess in this case it is a definite advantage that we are not cat-owners - I don't have any expectations, you see! See you at Gorky Leninksi tomorrow, hope it will stop raining by then.
I would see it-- anything involving cats....my 4 kitty's antics are hilarious at home for free, so seeing performances in public would be worth it. Sounded like a fun evening.....
When you first wrote you were going, I was so excited and wished I could too. Then when valentina said she'd watched a youtube clip I thought "Of course!". I don't know, I couldn't watch the whole thing - there were cats moving across parallel bars dangling from their front legs and then a poor little dog walking on her hind legs with a cat latched on to her back. I don't think it's for me.
Hey Beetnik!! )) Thanks for stopping by! I've been woefully busy lately--to busy to even study my Russian, let alone update the blog. Been reading Brothers Karamazov though, so eventually I'll get a post about that up. ) Hope all is well v Moskve!
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