Cats (1998 film)

Cats
DVD cover
Directed byDavid Mallet
Based on
Produced byAndrew Lloyd Webber
Starring
CinematographyNic Knowland
Edited byDavid Gardener
Music byAndrew Lloyd Webber
Production
company
Distributed byPolyGram Video
Release date
  • 5 October 1998 (1998-10-05)[1]
Running time
115 minutes[2]
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Cats is a 1998 British direct-to-video musical film based on the 1981 stage musical of the same name by Andrew Lloyd Webber, itself based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (1939) by T. S. Eliot. Lloyd Webber oversaw orchestration and called on Gillian Lynne, the show's original choreographer, to train the cast members. David Mallet served as the director of this production.

The film is a recreation of the stage musical, but with new staging and significant edits made to reduce the runtime for television broadcast. It was filmed at the Adelphi Theatre in London in 1997, with the cast selected from various past and (then) present international productions of Cats. Initially released to VHS and subsequently DVD and Blu-ray, the film has since been shown on television channels including PBS, BBC and Ovation TV.

  1. ^ "Paws and play – Cats goes to video". BBC News. 1 October 1998. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  2. ^ Holden, Stephen (1 November 1998). "THEATER ON VIDEO; More Intimate 'Cats'". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 December 2019.