“Memory” is a beautiful song. T.S. Eliot was a fine poet. Cats are cute. But people running around in cat-shaped underwear and shag-rug wigs mangling T.S. Eliot poetry to music that is not “Memory,” but just Andrew Lloyd Webber noodling around? That’s not beautiful, or fine, or cute. It’s excruciating. It’s The Musical That Will Not Die. Cats may have nine lives; Cats the musical has 9,999,999 lives and counting. Take the kids. Prepare to be bored. And if your kids get bored, too, take them out for ice cream and congratulate them. They’ve got taste! Jan. 6-11, 7:30 p.m. Tues.-Wed., 2 and 7:30 p.m. Thurs., 8 p.m. Fri., 2 and 8 p.m. Sat., 2 p.m. Sun., Progress Energy Center for the Arts – Mahaffey Theater, 200 First St. S., downtown St. Petersburg, $30-$59, 727-892-5798.
This article appears in Dec 24-30, 2008.