Cats: The Jellicle Ball

I now understand why there was such an outcry online over Cats: The Jellicle Ball posting a closing notice of August 8 after opening in April. The amount of talent on display in this show—the singing, dancing, choreography and costumes (Cats won Tonys for Best Direction of a Musical, Best Choreography and Best Costume Design of a Musical, and deservedly so)—is incredible.

I’ve always tried to support gay artists (and I suppose every Broadway show has some gay artists within their ranks), but it must be said that trans people—and particularly trans people of color—are the most marginalized segment of the LGBT community. So to see this display of sheer pride and joy coming from this community is particularly moving.

There’s a larger issue here, too.

Broadway musicals are struggling right now because of the huge costs involved in mounting (and attending) them. On the flip side, straight (i.e., nonmusical) plays with celebrity casts are doing better and star-studded plays are now moving to off-Broadway. The economics of Broadway are such that, like movies, it’s become the realm of revivals and adaptations. Very little original work is being done on Broadway.

Cats: The Jellicle Ball, while ostensibly a revival, is a complete reimagining that makes it an original Broadway show in its own right.

And that brings up another issue, which is the Tony Awards.

There was a big controversy this year over which musical should win the award for Best Revival of a Musical. It was seen primarily as a competition between Ragtime (which I didn't see and did win the Tony) and Cats.

I think a lot of times the Tony Award is given to the show which is considered to have the best chance of touring and Cats may just have been seen as “too gay” and/or “too Black” for middle America.

That should not be seen as a criticism of Cats, but a criticism of middle America. Cats: The Jellicle Ball may not have a big audience, but they have a devoted audience. I’ve never seen an audience reaction to a show like I’ve seen for Cats.

Everyone associated with this show should be proud of their work. The reason this show is closing is not their fault.

It’s ours.

Jill Clayburgh/Starting Over/An Unmarried Woman

Last night, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) featured a Jill Clayburgh lineup, including Starting Over (1979) and An Unmarried Woman (1978). Clayburgh was one of the most important film actresses of the 1970s (along with women like Jane Fonda and Meryl Streep), but I feel like younger audiences (i.e., those under 50) might not be familiar with her work. (Marsha Mason is another great ’70s actress who I feel has been forgotten. Perhaps TCM will devote a night to her as well—but I digress.)

And while I saw both Starting Over and An Unmarried Woman when they were originally released, it was so long ago that I had forgotten them and they now function as time capsules of that period. And since the ’70s is my favorite period of film, they unleashed a whole bunch of emotions and memories.

This was the era of women’s liberation, Helen Reddy’s “I Am Woman” and Ms. magazine, and these two films are emblematic of that. An Unmarried Woman, in particular, seems to focus on women’s emerging sexual liberation, as it discusses such things as female orgasm and dating younger men.

Starting Over seems a little bit corny by today’s standards. (I missed the beginning, so I might have to—wait for it—start that one over!) But it was notable for a few reasons.

It was Candice Bergen’s first comedic role after being cast (miscast?) in a series of dramatic roles (most famously, Carnal Knowledge). It also marked a transition for Burt Reynolds from sex symbol/action hero to a more sophisticated comedic role, playing a college professor (complete with tweed jacket with elbow patches).

Some interesting tidbits about both films which tie them to the ’70s: Both films make references to Valium and therapy, and feature scenes at Bloomingdale’s. (An Unmarried Woman also features a pre-gentrification Soho in which artists still lived!)

Some interesting biographical notes (which TCM host Ben David Mankiewiz helpfully supplied): Starting Over was written by James L. Brooks, the co-creator of such TV shows as The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Taxi, who, a few years later, would win several Oscars for Terms of Endearment.

An Unmarried Woman was written by Paul Mazursky, who I feel is an auteur on the same level as Woody Allen. (I attended both Paul Mazursky and Woody Allen film festivals in the pre-VHS/DVD/streaming era, when revival houses like the Bleecker Street Cinema and Cinema Village were important parts of New York City’s cultural landscape.)

Missing from the line-up (not surprisingly) was Bernardo Bertolucci’s Luna, in which Clayburgh plays a woman who has sex with her son!

Next up: Marsha Mason, who was married to Neil Simon (who wrote her Oscar-winning role in The Goodbye Girl) and starred in such edgy fare as Cinderella Liberty.