SPOTLIGHT: Chrissie Cartwright excited for Cape Town to experience the musical wonderment of CATS

Beverley Brommert

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Perpetuating the directorial legacy of Trevor Nunn, UK-based Chrissie Cartwright is currently in Cape Town as Associate Director and Choreographer of CATS, that opened at Artscape on 10 December, 2025.

The cast of CATS. Photo by Nardus Engelbrecht.

With nearly four decades of curating Lloyd Webber's vivid musical behind her, she has every reason to inspire confidence as she takes over the reins from Assistant Director and Choreographer Matt Krzan, who did valuable preliminary work with the cast ahead of her arrival here just a month ago. Under normal circumstances she would have taken charge from the start, but professional commitments in the USA (working on Miss Saigon) made this impossible and she says she was happy with the standard of performance awaiting her.

Taking over a production shaped by other hands is nothing new for her: CATS opened in London in 1981, and had been running for five years when Cartwright  first encountered it; she was tasked with refreshing it, as a lustrum of performance had dulled rather than enhanced its gloss. "I was really thrown in the deep end there," she recalls. Fortunately the young, inexperienced recruit to that production was undaunted by the responsibility of taking on and continuing work devised by legendary Dame Gillian Lynne, who originally choreographed CATS. "The main challenge was to address cast changes for a musical which demands, more than most, proficiency in the triple threat - not easy to find." Auditions for such a show focus perforce on the feasibility of training executants whose talent is not equal to all three branches of the performing arts, however impressive they may be in one or two. Cartwright comments that of the dreaded trio, singing is the most essential to be honed to the requisite standard: "With singing, there is nowhere to hide, whereas with dancing in an ensemble, a misstep is not disastrous... obviously, it also depends on the specific role being filled.”

She feels strongly that the approach to casting must be stringent in assessing a candidate's ability to reach the level demanded by the work. For her, another sine qua non in the 30-strong cast of CATS is, quite simply, enthusiasm. She considers commitment and belief in the message of the show are key to a  production of integrity, much as she values sound technique. Respect for the latter is what she learned from Dame Gillian, whose style marries jazz with ballet, the signature choreography of this musical.

Here technical prowess trumps physique for the dancers in the show, who, while they must all attain the same high level of execution, are not perfectly matched in height or build: "They do not all have to have the same physical attributes, as, like cats, they come in different shapes and sizes. What matters is personality and stage presence, as well as the excitement they bring to their performance."

On the subject of the show's content, she waxes lyrical about the inclusive humanity of its theme: "It's a story of redemption and forgiveness which drives the spirit of Christmas and deserves to be told clearly and cleanly," she asserts.  She goes on to cite the impact of the narrative on a 9-year-old Romanian boy refugee who saw CATS when living in England after the overthrow of his country's government and its attendant suffering. "If a child of that age could grasp the message, it says a lot..." No further words are necessary.

Cartwright will stay to see the VIP opening night performance of this CATS on 14 December, but leaves for home immediately thereafter, handing over her dual role of Associate Director and Choreographer to LAMTA 's Duane Alexander as Resident Director and Choreographer.

She sums up her experience of Cape Town and its artists as "very positive; I love your city, and am enjoying the cast's good humour and steady growth in confidence as we make our way through the singing, dancing and story-telling of this wonderful show.”

CATS, presented by Pieter Toerien and GWB Entertainment in collaboration with Cape Town Opera and by arrangement with LW Entertainment, is at the Artscape Opera House until 11 January 2026 with tickets through Webtickets and 0214217695. The production transfers to The Teatro at Montecasino thereafter.