Nearly two years on, the collective nightmare that was 2019’s misguided film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s long-running Broadway musical “Cats” has mostly been scrubbed from memory.
One person however is still dealing with the ignominy of the film – Webber himself. Variety spoke with the famed stage musical maestro to discuss Broadway’s reopening and now, with the movie firmly in the rearview mirror, he’s let his rea feelings about it known:
“‘Cats’ was off-the-scale all wrong. There wasn’t really any understanding of why the music ticked at all. I saw it and I just thought, ‘Oh, God, no.’
It was the first time in my 70-odd years on this planet that I went out and bought a dog. So the one good thing to come out of it is my little Havanese puppy.”
Indeed the ultimate cat person adores his pup to the point that he found a way to bring the dog with him to New York City despite travel restrictions. Turns out the awfulness of the “Cats” movie was good enough to get around a doctor’s certificate:
“I wrote off and said I needed him [the puppy] with me at all times because I’m emotionally damaged and I must have this therapy dog. The airline wrote back and said, ‘Can you prove that you really need him?’ And I said ‘Yes, just see what Hollywood did to my musical “Cats.”‘ Then the approval came back with a note saying, ‘No doctor’s report required.'”
Webber most recently opened a musical version of “Cinderella” in London’s West End in August.
