The British musical "Cats" is known as one of the four classic contemporary musicals. The story is easy to understand but the drama structure has strict logic. The diverse musical styles serve as multi-layered clues, bringing the audience to the stage. It not only enhances the aesthetic feeling but also enhances the logic of the whole play. I appreciate its vocal aesthetic features such as lyrics, song creation and vocal performance.

The British musical "Cats" is known as one of the four classic contemporary musicals. The story is easy to understand but the drama structure has strict logic. The diverse musical styles serve as multi-layered clues, bringing the audience to the stage. It not only enhances the aesthetic feeling but also enhances the logic of the whole play. This article appreciates the aesthetic characteristics of vocal music such as its lyrics, song creation and vocal performance.

The script of "Cats" is based on the poem "The Dress-Up Cat" by British poet T.S. Eliot, and the music is composed by the famous musical master and composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. , and then invited director Trevor Nunn, choreographer Gillian Laney, famous costume designer John Napier and others to join in the creation of "Cats". It officially premiered at the New London Theater on May 11, 1981, and was a great success. It premiered at the Winter Garden Theater on Broadway in the United States on October 7 of the following year, and was another success. Today, "Cats" is among the "four major musicals" together with "Les Miserables", "Miss Saigon" and "Phantom of the Opera".

Introduction to the musical "Cats"

This play has been changed from 15 sections of the original poem to 19 sections, and is divided into two acts. It is based on the annual performance of Jellicle Cats The Ascension Conference on the night of the full moon is used as the background of the story. It tells the story of cats of all kinds appearing one after another, gathering in the garbage dump, waiting for the arrival of the centenary-year-old leader, Old Dutronomi. They tell their stories with singing and dancing, hoping to be selected to ascend to heaven and be reborn. The charming cat Grizebella, who had been tired of the cat tribe's life and went to work outside, also came to the party. At this time, she had tasted the harshness of the world, lost her radiant appearance, and became unkempt and extremely slovenly. She longed for She returned to the cat clan, but the cats were unwilling to accept this wanderer who betrayed the cat clan and were very hostile to her. In the end, she recalled the past with the song "Memories", calming all the cats' hostility towards her and arousing deep sympathy and pity for her. Because of this song "Memory", she was chosen as the lucky cat to go to heaven and be reborn.

This play uses a simple dramatic structure to carry elements such as dance, music, and stage design to present a Broadway-style musical. In terms of overall music presentation, it follows the jazz music style with changing rhythms throughout the play, and is supplemented by a variety of electronic music elements as an auxiliary outline, depicting a dreamlike musical poetic drama.

The music of the entire musical is particularly beautiful and moving. In addition to the cheerful jazz music, there are also fierce rock, resentful blues and noble and elegant classical pop music with a classical flavor. It lasts for nearly three hours. In the performance, a total of twenty-three original pieces of music were included. As the plot progresses, the musical atmosphere changes from the main line jazz music to various types of music elements, forming a smooth outpouring of main music and sub-songs that echo each other, bringing the Give the audience endless aesthetic enjoyment.

Analysis of the vocal aesthetic characteristics of the musical "Cats"

First of all, the metaphorical nature of the lyrics of the opera "Cats" is endlessly memorable. The author restored the qualities that should have been gathered in humans to a cute animal around us, and Weber clarified the anthropomorphic cat through the musical and returned all the content to the audience. Almost every appearance of Jemima is related to Grizebella, and the melody she sings is the same as Grizebella. One is innocent and has an enviable youth, and the journey of life has just begun. The other is weather-beaten and nearing the end of his life. People can't help but think that Jemima is the young Grizebella. Seeing Jie It is not difficult for Mima to understand that Grizebella is nostalgic for the happy past.

One of them faces the moonset, the other faces the sunrise; one is remembering painfully, the other is yearning innocently; one is weathered, and the other is innocent, which also implies the cycle of life.

Secondly, the melody style of "Cat" is very different, and the timbre changes in various ways, which brings people strong auditory stimulation and plays an important role in expressing the personalities of different characters. Jenny Dot's voice in "Gambi Cat" is bright and lyrical, and the melody is melodious. Hero Cat's baritone voice slowly sang the lyrical part, and then the music suddenly changed into a cheerful jazz style. When the trio of Jerry Loren, Dimit, and Bombaluna combined together, they immediately formed a gorgeous and fancy song. Tone, a happy and exaggerated feeling arises spontaneously. The female cat Jemima exudes the breath of youth, and her voice is extremely sweet, pure and natural. Although the "Memories" she sings has the same melody as Grizebella's, it gives the song a different emotion. Grizebella sang sonorously and full of vicissitudes and heaviness. Jemima handles it very lightly, allowing people to clearly feel her purity and innocence, but they both express the themes of love and forgiveness. Although the cat leader is a tenor, his voice is dark and hoarse, with obvious signs of weakness, trembling and old age. He has no confidence and his voice is hollow, which is very suitable for the characteristics of an old man.

Finally, although the play shows all kinds of cats, it actually uses cats as metaphors for people, as the cat leader sings: "Cats are a lot like you." Jellicle cats have three names. The first is a name that is used in daily life, the second is a strange and more noble name, and the third is a name that humans cannot discover and can never guess. The so-called names of cats are actually various aspects of human nature. Everyone's human nature is multi-faceted, including the ordinary side in daily life, and the arty and pretentious side. The third name is just like the desire side of human nature, because they are complex, obscure but absolutely impossible. What is missing is the secret deep in everyone’s heart. After the audience accepts this hint, they will understand that the performances of various cats later are actually showing various different human natures. Every cat on the stage has its own distinct personality and represents every type of person in real life, making every audience feel the same way.

Thoughts after watching the musical "Cats"

Because I was attracted by the classic "Phantom of the Opera" in class, I watched the opera with the same name out of curiosity "cat". But after watching it carefully twice, "Cats" left a deeper impression on me than Phantom. At first glance, this seems to be a fairy tale without any deeper meaning, but upon closer inspection, some characteristics of these cats are very similar to humans. My heart was captured when the shambling, disheveled glamor cat Grizebella appeared again to express her feelings, and her unique expression announced the birth of an immortal song in the history of musicals, "Memory." Grizebella, who ran away and returned home lonely, wanted to recover the lost footprints and the warmth and happiness in her memory. She longed for a new life. She realized happiness in the outside world. The true meaning of the song, so she came back, which really makes people care and feel sad about what the world was like in the past. The distant singing brings people back to a separate world where they can talk. The leader of the cats finally chose to send the wandering and once beautiful Charming cat to heaven to get a new life, giving Charming Cat a noble understanding.

Lost, but always looking. I like this musical. The lost people are artistically tolerated and understood in "Cats". This kind of tolerance and love deeply touched me and allowed me to calm down my impetuous heart and think again: about pursuit, about freedom, About true happiness.