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Cathy Roberts’ enchanting book, Moggies, has been something of a runaway success, although it has always been the intention to turn that into what has recently been staged at The Liverpool Unity Theatre. The question is, though, would it work? The answer is “yes”, largely, and what has been created will have young and old smiling long into the night.
Primarily, this is a pastiche of the Rice /Lloyd Webber monolith that is Cats, just shifted to Liverpool and with the premise of finding a testament to save the cat’s beloved Lark Lane Eatery, rather than the elixir of life. Brian McCann has deftly crafted the music and songs that make things go with a swing –particularly the Memory moment supplied by Edwina Lea, who when reminiscing as to how her hairdresser life has turned out, truly shows that she can hold a very capable tune indeed.
Brilliant too is Lesley Butler, turning in turns from screeching newspaper seller of The Liverpool Weakly Squeak into a quite delightful vocalist who nails everything she is provided to do with aplomb. Special mention also has to go to Susan Hedges, whose keyboard skills throughout are an absolute delight, although it might have been better had she been given a more upbeat number to perform as Moggie Mae West.
The stand out performance pawdits (sorry) have to go to Robert Southworth as Dutch, Steve MacFarlane and particularly Samuel Raymond Heller, whose clear enthusiasm, zest and energy keep things rolling along nicely and more than once prevent it rolling from the stage altogether.
With some judicious pruning – Moggies: The Mewsical could easily lose at least twenty minutes and still come together – this is a show that could easily become a firm family favourite and is one that more than deserves to placed as far away from the litter tray as possible.
Moggies: The Mewsical
The Unity Theatre, Liverpool
April 14 – April 16
Author: Cathy Roberts
Director / Music: Brian McCann
Cast Includes: Robert Southworth, Lesley Butler, Susan Hedges, Samuel Raymond Heller, Steve MacFarlane, Mark Lacey, Edwina Lea, Peter Turner, Ozzie Yue, Maximillian Chase, Peter Grant
Running Time: 2 hrs 10 mins
PR Rating: *** Amewsing!