A few weeks ago, I sat in bed with a laptop propped on my lap. I went on the YouTube channel of The Show Must Go On! to watch Cats the musical, which was made available for 48 hours outside the UK (24 hours in the UK). To make it even better, they streamed the 1998 version with the original West End cast. With a cider in hand and in comfy dressing gown, I thought, oh, this is quite nice.
But to my surprise, I found myself almost dozed off after 15 minutes. I never fall asleep during a musical. But then again, this is just a show on a screen, and everything seemed either toned down or too much. I couldn’t see the subtle changes of the lights as the scenes changed, nor the vibrance of the colors on set. The expressions of the actors, which need to be acted out with such gusto on stage so the audience at the far back could feel the emotions, looked strangely exaggerated in zoomed-in shots. I thought I’d enjoy this little treat on screen, but I didn’t.
And that makes me realize, I really, really miss going out to the theater, especially to see musicals.
