‘Cats’ lover Daughter’s first theater memory fosters affection for classic musical

When I hear of the musical “Cats,” I think of my daughter.

The Andrew Lloyd Webber production was her first taste of theater, and I think if you asked her, it would remain her favorite today.

That first time was in April 1999, a couple of short months before her younger brother came along and our family dynamic changed.

“Cats,” based on T.S. Eliot’s fanciful “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats,” was a show tailor-made for a dreamy little girl then not yet 4. It tells the story of a tribe of Jellicle cats, who come together once a year at the Jellicle Ball to select one cat to ascend to the Heaviside layer, there to be given the chance to live another life. Throughout the production, different cats, candidates for ascension, are introduced and their stories are told.

Sitting near the front of the first balcony in Portland’s sumptuous Merrill Auditorium, my daughter didn’t need to know the back story. You see, we were cat people then, so these were animals to which she could relate. And the fact that these colorful creatures could sing and dance and emote in an almost human fashion was all the better for her.

Theatergoing is an endurance event, and, as with most young children, “Cats” tested her stamina, and she grew fidgety at times. But in the end, she proclaimed that she wanted to come back to see it again the next week.

Sometime after that, somewhere on a vacation trip, we discovered a video of “Cats,” so that she could revisit the Jellicle cats whenever she wanted.

Still, it wasn’t until late 2003 that she was able to again experience “Cats” live. It was on the Hutchins Concert Hall stage at the Maine Center for the Arts in Orono, so the production seemed a little smaller than the first one she had seen. Of course, she was older then, at age 8, so maybe that was why it had shrunk some in her perception. Still, she was able to embrace the fantasy that night.

Now “Cats” has come round again, this time at 7 p.m. May 14 at the Bangor Auditorium. It will be my 6-year-old son’s first real brush with theater, the first touring production he has gone to that doesn’t feature familiar cartoons come to some semblance of life. He has seen his sister’s “Cats” video, so it won’t be totally unfamiliar to him. He’ll do fine.

But can it recapture my daughter, seemingly weary and indifferent beyond her nearly 11 years? Will she feel the wonder she did seven years ago?

I say, let the memory of “Cats” live again.

?Cats?

When: 7 p.m. Sunday, May 14.

Where: Bangor Auditorium, Bass Park.

Cost: $48 per adult, $38 per child. Upper balcony: $29.50 per adult and $19.50 per child.

Ticket availability: Tickets still available in most areas.

Contact: Bass Park box office: 990-4444 or 775-3331.