Chapter 1
This is a lake-blue stage. The top of the theater is divided into three areas. The sculptures made of bronze and gold foil set off the gorgeous chandeliers. Although they are all extinguished at this time, you can still draw in your mind. Dazzling light when lit. The arched pillars around are covered with exquisite gold leaf paintings, which is amazing. The burgundy curtain on the stage has been pulled up, and the 800 crimson seats under the stage are fully occupied at this time. The intertwined golden and red flames on the stage reflect hazy colors on the whole theater, bringing a thrilling beauty to every audience. Familiar and moving music fills the theater as "Cats," the top-grossing musical in history, plays in its final Broadway season.
Broadway Avenue is located in New York City. Because of the large number of theaters on both sides of the road, it is an important place for the development of American dramas and musicals. One of the pronouns. "The Phantom of the Opera", "Miss Saigon", "Les Miserables", "Beauty and the Beast", and "Cats" are all classic Broadway plays. Broadway Theater is one of the famous theaters on Broadway Avenue.
"Cats" is a musical that originated at the New London Theater in the West End of London, England. It has not only become the most successful and longest-running musical in British history, but has also become the darling of the world after landing on Broadway, the mecca of American musicals. It's the highest-grossing musical of all time. But this summer, the 18-year performance of "Cat" on Broadway will come to an end, so Broadway theaters have been full for two consecutive weeks, and more and more audiences have entered the theater to appreciate the charm of "Cat".
In the middle of the night, in a moonlit junkyard, the cats of the Jericho Plock gather to await the arrival of their leader in order to choose a cat who will be chosen to be reborn in the Empyrean, a Cats with different personalities and appearances appeared one after another. Cats with different personalities brought their own unique stage, singing and dancing, and presented wonderful performances, which made people overwhelmed.
At this time, a lame cat appeared, she was Grizebella, she entered the stage with difficulty, her appearance was tattered and haggard, dirty and devastated by life. She once betrayed the cat family and went to the outside world. She went through hardships and suffered all the pain in the outside world. She lost her happy and beautiful days forever. Now Grizebella is exhausted and comes back alone. She longs to go home, longs to return to the old days, but everyone avoids her. Who would have thought that she was so beautiful and charming back then , and now she is lonely and weak, spurned by others, wandering in the most inferior neighborhoods, and excluded by the cat clan. Even if all the cats do not forgive her, even if all drive her away, she longs to go to heaven, but it is obviously a luxury for her.
In this situation, Grizebella sang about the past with "Memories", sad and desolate. The astonishing singing of this song made the family accept her return again, and she was selected as the cat who was reborn after "Going to the Nine Heavens". It also made the 800 audience at the scene burst into tears and applaud her sincerely.
The stage of Broadway has never lacked talents, let alone stars. Stories of overnight success are not uncommon here, not to mention starring in such a popular musical as "Cats", and the most important protagonist in it, Grazer Bella, naturally It is even more eye-catching.
The musical "Cats" has a total of 36 characters, among which the charming old cat Grazebella is one of the most important characters. Musicals are different from movies and TV. Everything happens in front of the audience. Even if there is an accident, it is still part of the performance. Generally, top-level musicals like "Cats" will have a fixed lineup, and a backup lineup can replace the lead actor when he is injured, so as to ensure the smooth progress of the show. In addition, there will be a third-tier and fourth-tier backup echelon below. As far as the role of Grizebella is concerned, the troupe has three actors who are backup actors for this role.
Grizebella, who appeared on the stage today, surprised many regular customers of Broadway theaters. It turned out to be an actor who had never seen it before. Although every actor on the stage wears thick makeup on his face, it is impossible to see his face or even his gender, but in terms of dance movements, singing voice and singing skills, these professional audiences with extremely sensitive ears are very happy. Soon a new continent was discovered.
The voice of this new Grizebella is a little bit hoarse, which is not very obvious, and only some resonance can be heard during the turn and end. But it is this little feature that makes the performance of "Memory" so sad. The song "Reminiscence" is Grazerbella's confession song, telling about the pain she suffered in the outside world, the happy and beautiful days she lost forever, and her longing to return home.
From the perspective of the plot, "Memories" is the turning point and the climax of the whole play, because all the cats' views on Grizebella have changed after this song. If this song is not touching, it is undoubtedly the whole play s failure. Today, the performance of the new Grizebella is undoubtedly a success. The touching voice and strong and deep emotions easily touched the hearts of the audience present. When the song ended, many audiences Only then did I realize that my cheeks were already wet with tears, and the emotion lingered in my heart for a long time and never dissipated.
At this moment, Grizebella is like the most dazzling morning star in the endless night sky, making it impossible to look away.
This is the first performance of "Cats" in its last season on Broadway. The troupe has boldly adopted a new actor. Does that mean that this actor will play the role of Grizebella in the next two months? This makes the professional audience excited, are they going to witness the rise of a new star again!
When the performance ended, the 800 audience members stood up and applauded collectively, expressing their lofty respect with the most sincere applause. Although many excellent actors have performed the role of Grizebella, there is no doubt that today this new actor has also received the highest recognition from the audience. When the chandeliers on the sky dome were all lit up, many viewers picked up the promotional brochures in their hands and searched for the actor who played the role of Grizebella. They suddenly found that it was a completely unfamiliar name, Evan Bell, It's supposed to be a boy's name, right?
In the backstage of the Broadway theater, after stepping off the stage, Travis Nahn, head of the "Cats" American Theater Troupe, stood at the entrance, smiling and congratulating each actor, celebrating the successful end of the performance.
Standing at the door, Travi Nahn happily watched the actors celebrating each other. This is the last season of "Cats" on Broadway in the United States. The actors have also endured a lot of pressure, and today they got off to a good start. It's a good start for the performances in the next two months, so it's something to be happy about.
Payne-Lecce stood far away, looking at the laughter of the actors with a cold face. His twenty-five-year-old face was expressionless, but the deep jealousy in his eyes could not be concealed at all, as if he would transform into a The man-eating beast devoured that handsome figure in the crowd. "Evan Bell is only eighteen years old, why, why can he be on the stage of Broadway theater, and he still plays the most important role of Grizebella, and I have to be the third substitute Work hard." The flames of jealousy nearly burned Penn-Lecce to ashes.
At this time, Travi Nahn whispered a few words in Evan Bell's ear, and the two walked towards Penn-Lecce together. Only then did Penn-Lecce wake up a little bit, and quickly hid at the corner of the stairs to prevent others from discovering.
"Evan, are you sure you want to leave? You performed so well today, and in the following performances throughout the summer, even if you don't play Grazer Bella, you can still play the role of Alonso." En said to the young man in front of him in a persuasive manner. Alonso is the name of the third leader in the play. Like Grizebella, the role of the play is very important.
The boy in front of him has removed the cat-face makeup on the stage, revealing his original appearance. He has neat short brown chestnut hair, and his deep facial features are like Greek gods. The smile on the corner of his mouth is innocent and pure, but with a little The ruffian is very seductive.
Evan Bell smiled heartily twice, his round British accent was very elegant, "Mate, I told you a long time ago, this week is my last show, our contract was a week ago It's over." It's hard to imagine that this 18-year-old boy with such a clear smile played the role of Grazebella, who is old, faded and weather-beaten, and won unanimous praise from the audience , and he is still a boy playing a female role, which is amazing!
More importantly, the director and team leader, Travi Nahn, who has seen countless excellent actors, actually expressed his affirmation to him and invited him to continue to stay. This is the highest honor. What needs to be mentioned is that Travis Nahn is the creator of the lyrics of the song "Memory" and the general director of the musical "Cats".
However, Evan Bell didn't seem to care about all of this, and the smile on the corner of his mouth was still bright, "Dude, if Judy hadn't suffered from severe Achilles tendinitis five days ago, Elaine's high fever didn't go away, and you wouldn't I will be asked to temporarily replace the role of Grazer Bella. Now that my task of performing two performances has been completed, Elaine is about to return, and this role should be handed over to her." Judy - Dench and Elaine - Pei Ji is the No. 1 and No. 2 actors for the role of Grizebella, respectively. UU reading www.uukanshu.com
Telavi Nahn smiled wryly. The accident of the two actors, and the huge change in the family of the third actor, Jenny Polly, left the group for three weeks. After careful consideration, he decided to be replaced by Evan Bell temporarily. Evan Bell has always been the second actor of Alonzo, the third leader of the cat clan. Although he is only 18 years old, he is highly praised by Travie Narn for his singing ability, dancing ability, and acting ability. attention.
"Evan, I really don't understand you. Everyone wants to be on the stage of Broadway. You have successfully done it. Why are you unwilling to achieve greater achievements on this stage?" Travis - Na En expressed his helplessness, and he really couldn't understand Evan Bell's decision.
"Tagore once said that life is as gorgeous as summer flowers, and death is as delicate as autumn leaves. Life is like summer flowers, which is my life motto." The corners of Evan Bell's mouth are drawn into an elegant arc, but there is a touch of his age in his eyes. The vicissitudes of inconsistency flashed by. "I'm going to attend the Eagle Rock Music Festival next week, and then the fall semester of college will start. My life is very colorful. It's not that I don't want to achieve more on this stage, it's just that there are more attractive My business is waiting for me, that's all."
After finishing speaking, Evan Bell gave Travi Nahn a big hug, "Man, I will still come back to this stage in the future, I am only eighteen years old, life has just begun, isn't it? At that time, I hope you can still accept me."
Telavi Nahn patted Evan Bell on the back, and the corner of his mouth smiled involuntarily, "Of course, I welcome you here anytime."