Cats (Original Cast Recording)

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Cats (Original Cast Recording) documents Andrew Lloyd Webber’s blockbuster stage musical in its early 1980s form, capturing the sung‑through score that helped turn Cats into a glob al megamusical phenomenon. The most widely referenced English‑language versions are the 1981 Original London Cast and the 1983 Complete Original Broadway Cast recordings, each produced with Webber’s involvement and released on Geffen/LW Entertainment in two formats: a full, two‑disc set and a shorter highlights edition. Across more than 20 tracks and about 100 minutes, they present the musical’s mix of lush orchestra, prominent synthesizers, and character‑based numbers built from T. S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, culminating in the now‑standard showpiece “Memory.”The recording moves from the mysterious “Overture” and ensemble opener “Prologue: Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats” through a series of portraits—“The Old Gumbie Cat,” “The Rum Tum Tugger,” “Grizabella, The Glamour Cat,” “Bustopher Jones,” “Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer,” “Skimbleshanks: The Railway Cat,” “Macavity: The Mystery Cat,” and “Mr. Mistoffelees”—before closing with “The Journey to the Heaviside Layer” and “The Ad‑Dressing of Cats.” Performances by leads such as Betty Buckley (Broadway’s Grizabella) and Elaine Paige (London’s Grizabella) anchor the emotional core of “Memory,” while character actors shine in comic and dramatic turns like “Gus: The Theatre Cat” and the extended “Growltiger’s Last Stand.” Highly electronic yet orchestral, the album won the Grammy for Best Cast Show Album and is often praised for its inventive arrangements and variety, making it both a souvenir of the original productions and a primary way listeners experience the score outside the theatre. Show more