Michael Reckord, Freelance Writer

Scenes from The Jamaica Junior Theatre (JJT) 2008 production of 'Cats', staged at the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts, UWI, Mona, on Saturday, January 12. - photos by Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer While cats reputedly have a mere nine lives, the T.S. Eliot - Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cats has tens of thousands. Since 1981, it has played in more than 120 cities in four continents, 138 times on Broadway alone.

One of those 120 cities is Kingston, Jamaica, where the Jamaica Junior Theatre (JJT) first performed it in 1991 and has again resurrected it. You can see it at the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts (PSCCA) on weekends.

What you'll, probably, primarily remember from the show is the spectacle. Under that heading comes set (designed by Kaiel Eytle), costumes (designed by Carolyn Chin Yee and Arlene Richards), make-up (designed by Greg Thames), the dances (choreographed by Tony Wilson) and John DaCosta's lighting.

The shapes of the set, the movement of the dancers, the designs of the outfits and facial markings, and the colours imbuing all of them, provide a veritable feast for the eyes. Literally and figuratively, these dramatic cats lead far more colourful lives than their everyday counterparts.

Of course, you'll also remember the music. Lloyd Webber is a genius at composing show tunes, which is why he's now Sir Andrew. And the song you'll remember most clearly, and wish you could sing right through, is the sublimely beautiful Memory.

It's delivered by Grizabella, the Glamour Cat, played by Aisha Ricketts and, on other nights, Gis'elle Jones. The former performed the role the night I saw the show; she was excellent. A number of singers have graduated from the JJT and become professional singers; if she so desires, Aisha could join that group.

Not surprisingly, she has been named Miss JMTC 2008. This we learn from the printed programme, which also informs the reader that she does want a career that revloves around singing. Last year, as a result of her excelling in Joseph and His Amazing Dreamcoat, she copped the Chairman's Award for Best Singing in a Lead Role.

Outstanding performers

There are other outstanding performers, including Lia Chin Yee (Ariel, the White Cat), Sean Baugh (Old Deuteronomy), Elijah Gayle (Rum Tum Tugger and Skimbleshanks), Gabrielle Miller (Mr. Mistofeles) and Xavier Lloyd (Macavity). This list is relatively brief, for the cast comprises 50-plus talented boys and girls, and as an ensemble cast they all deserve an award.

Actually, they may get one from the Actor Boy Awards judges, as so many JJT productions have already done. The 24 year-old company has been staging crowd-pleasing musicals from its inception.

It's worthy of note that the crowds that have been pleased over the years have been large and that tens of thousands of the dollars earned by the company have been donated to charity. Generally speaking, the benefiting charities are dedicated to helping children - institutions like the Bustamante Hospital for Children, the Jamaica Association of Children with Learning Disabilities and PALS Jamaica.

Most of the directors responsible for the JJT's success to date are those behind this production's high standards. Some were named above, and the others must be mentioned. Doug Bennett is again producer and musical director; Peter Haley is the director and Jon Williams returns as sound track creator and arranger.

Because the book Cats is based on T.S. Eliot's poems, poems never intended to be a playscript, the musical's 'story' is far from obvious. The programme tells us that the action "takes place in a back alley in London, but it could be an alley anywhere cats can be found," and Act 1 and Act 2 are respectively captioned 'When cats are maddened by The Midnight Dance' and 'Why will the Summer Night delay? When will time flow away?'

Those summaries are not really helpful, and I had to go online to get the following synopsis: "When the Jellicle Tribe meet up, their old and revered leader must choose one of the tribe who will be reborn, into a better life. The tribe introduce and storytell about different eligible feline candidates."

The Jellicle Tribe is the group of cats and the plotless story introduces several individual members in song and dance. Climaxing the tale is the ascension of the selected cat to "the Heaviness Layer," perhaps the name of cat Heaven.

You need no more detail than that to enjoy the production. The story is character driven.