Cats and The Beyond Broadway Experience

Elizabeth performed in Cats the musical at His Majesty’s Theatre this weekend as part of The Beyond Broadway Experience (BBEXP), an intensive professional show for young talent under 25. Elizabeth has been obsessed with Cats since 2020 so she was ecstatic to have the opportunity to be in it but it was a roller-coaster of emotions for her with lots of disappointment in addition to the highs.

Her costume was a top and leggings of mine, the fluffy hands and leg warmers I got off Vinted and I knitted the stripy leg warmers especially for the show.

Elizabeth holding her tail and smiling with claws up.

Electric Kitten Creations created the collar for Elizabeth.

A close-up of Elizabeth's makeup which has a white patch around the mouth with whiskers and dark eyebrows.

I did her makeup which I found hard as I don’t wear any makeup myself. I copied off a YouTube video and I think it worked out ok.

BBEXP have an interesting business model which must be very successful for them as they’re expanding productions all over the country after having run in Edinburgh for 10 years. Each cast member pays £475 to participate and participation is 13 full days (14 days for those with a principal role) of rehearsal before putting on three shows. They’re very upfront about the cost at the start and made it clear that everything about the show is professional from the choreography to the band except for the cast who provide the funding for it and who are amateurs. To make it profitable for them they therefore need a big cast and I believe Cats had about 130 people in it. That’s over £60,000 they get from two weeks but there are a lot of people they have to pay not to mention the hiring of venues for rehearsals and what is basically 8 hours of child care every day for 14 days.

Despite the cost and the size of the cast there were auditions with more than 250 young people auditioning for the Aberdeen show so Elizabeth was delighted to be selected for it. She also auditioned for principal roles but was not successful there. However, many of the main parts went to budding young performers from Edinburgh and Glasgow who clearly want to make a career out of this and who came up to Aberdeen especially for the show. The talent was extraordinary and I’ve no doubt that I’ll be hearing some of the names in future when their careers take off. The young woman who played Grizabella belted out a perfect rendition of Memory that would have done Elaine Paige very proud. The ballerina who played Mr Mistoffelees has just won a scholarship to a prestigious ballet school in New York. Those two really stole the show but there were others who were also stand-out performers and who are clearly semi-professionals already so it’s not 100% true that it was an amateur cast.

Elizabeth was in about 6 numbers and she was a stand-out performer too. Her enthusiasm and acting shone through and you could tell she was loving every minute of it. The main disappointment for her was not getting to do any dancing. I guess when there are 130 cast members and limited stage space they have to make careful choreography decisions. She also ended up at the far back corner most of the time so most people would not have seen her apart from us. I felt she was wasted at the back and given she’s a dancer she should have been given some dancing. She’s a smart girl and wants to be challenged and stretched.

When she went for her audition for a part she did her own choreography and researched the personality of the character to try to convey it. I’m sure she did a good job. She knows more about Cats than most people and indeed another disappointment for her was their interpretation of it which she felt they got wrong in places. For instance, in Memory, Grizabella sings, “If you touch me you’ll know what happiness is” and then in the original version Victoria touches her after she sings this. However in the BBEXP interpretation they had Jemima touching Grizabella before she sings it rendering the lyrics pointless.

Despite the highs and lows she wants to do it again next year. Overall it’s a good experience and even disappointment can provide lessons for us. As a parent I’m in two minds about it. I would not have gone to see Cats had my daughter not been in it and as it was we spent much of the show trying to spot her. BBEXP have a difficult task because on the one hand they want to put on a professional show and have their principal roles front and centre throughout but parents who pay for their kids to participate want to see their kids. Without a doubt most of the audience were friends and family of the 130 cast members. At times I wondered whether the 100 or so extras were really wanted or needed as they could have easily done the full show with a cast of less than 20. At the same time His Majesty’s Theatre is such a magical place and even just to stand on stage doing nothing is a privilege.

Rachel and Elizabeth smiling with Elizabeth all dressed up as a cat.

A view of the stage at His Majesty's Theatre before the show.

Next year they’re taking Cats to Cardiff and for any Cats fans down there I recommend the show as it was excellent and the principal roles will likely be all the same people again. For Aberdeen the show will be Bring it On. Bring it, Aberdeen!

Posted

August 3, 2025

Journal

Rachel M

Tags:

Beyond Broadway Experience, cats, Elizabeth, His Majesty's Theatre, muscial, musical-theatre

Comments

9 responses to “Cats and The Beyond Broadway Experience”

Denise

August 5, 2025

The school where I used to work had a drama school teacher informally associated with it and the spin off was that when our school did a production, all the kids were fabulous, mastering accents with ease and projecting confidently into their characters. Whereas with other schools that don’t have a large proportion of kids with drama as a hobby, it’s all a bit “Aren’t they brave?”/”Haven’t they tried hard?”

One of my friends has a mission to bring drama to non-middle class kids and she does have to bring in an enormous amount of funding in for it. She does well to get a performance out of all the kids that come to her, and watching her work made me wonder how I would view performing if I’d been taught how to do it. Beyond Broadway sounds invaluable for giving children confidence on the stage, besides the confidence to have got through an audition with only a 50% success rate.

I watched a young people’s ballet school production recently and did find myself wondering how someone else would have interpreted it. I thought the characterisation through choreography was quite weak – they all looked like teenaged girls practising their technical steps and I had no idea what type of characters they were supposed to be, apart from one girl who was better than the rest and was obviously playing an old woman. I’m sometimes not sure what is(n’t) going through directors’ minds when they are interpreting a play/dance.

Reply
Denise

August 5, 2025

The school where I used to work had a drama school teacher informally associated with it and the spin off was that when our school did a production, all the kids were fabulous, mastering accents with ease and projecting confidently into their characters. Whereas with other schools that don’t have a large proportion of kids with drama as a hobby, it’s all a bit “Aren’t they brave?”/”Haven’t they tried hard?”

One of my friends has a mission to bring drama to non-middle class kids and she does have to bring in an enormous amount of funding in for it. She does well to get a performance out of all the kids that come to her, and watching her work made me wonder how I would view performing if I’d been taught how to do it. Beyond Broadway sounds invaluable for giving children confidence on the stage, besides the confidence to have got through an audition with only a 50% success rate.

I watched a young people’s ballet school production recently and did find myself wondering how someone else would have interpreted it. I thought the characterisation through choreography was quite weak – they all looked like teenaged girls practising their technical steps and I had no idea what type of characters they were supposed to be, apart from one girl who was better than the rest and was obviously playing an old woman. I’m sometimes not sure what is(n’t) going through directors’ minds when they are interpreting a play/dance.

Reply
1. Rachel M
  
  August 6, 2025
  
  It is important for young people to have drama opportunities even if they have no intention of going into the industry as adults. Drama helps build confidence particularly with public speaking which most of us have to do at some point. I hope your friend is successful in bringing drama to more kids.
  
  Reply
Denise Reid

August 6, 2025

Oh my word! It just goes to show how some people view this youth programme.

This is a fantastic opportunity for our kids to experience the industry they think they want to be in.

My granddaughter played Victoria the white cat. She is from Aberdeen and only aged 10. She took the role of Victoria from the ballerina going to the prestigious ballet school in New York. My Granddaughter is a fabulous dancer who holds 23 juvenile dance champion titles. I am unsure where your daughter dances but there is an incredible amount of talented dancers in Aberdeen. At no time did BBEXP ask for a resume. They merely asked the kids D’s to dance and based on the choice of professionals (Jo Gibb) from the Cats Movie, my granddaughter was chosen.

I actually thought that all of the kids got their turn to shine and show themselves at the front. For a cast of 130 that was not an easy accomplishment.

Amy the ballerina is a 16 year old and made a huge difference to the show. Why shouldn’t they try out for the part? There is an associates programme where the kids attend once a month in Edinburgh and participate in industry training by professionals. My Granddaughter is joining them this year.

Reply
1. Rachel M
  
  August 6, 2025
  
  Congratulations to your granddaughter. She did such a great job! You must be very proud of her.
  
  Reply
  1. Denise Reid
    
    August 6, 2025
    
    Thank you. I am very much proud. I guess what I’m trying to say is that they need some seriously good characters or they wouldn’t sell tickets the next time they are here. However I believe there was a lot of Aberdeen youngster s had the principle roles. Well done to your girl too. It was a whole lot of work x
Kelly MacBeath

August 6, 2025

My daughter is from Aberdeen and this was her theatre debut. She was delighted to just be part of the cast and fully expecting to be part of the ensemble after seeing the talent in the auditions. I would refer to my daughter as a talented dancer/singer/performer who is part of Scottish ballet and competes all over Scotland winning many championship titles but this did not make me think that she would automatically get a starting role. I specifically remember being told after the initial audition that they were bringing cast with them and most likely our young people would be unsuccessful in obtaining a principle role. We were however encouraged to audition for experience and that there was a small chance they may be successful. My daughter did so because she had never had the opportunity to do something like this before and nothing like this happens in Aberdeen usually. My daughter was successful in obtaining a principle role along with many local dancers. I feel like you are very wrong about not needing the cast. I was told that they had 250 of a cast in Edinburgh but due to His Majesty’s size they could only take the number they had. Cats definitely needs the large cast, it is a spectacular piece and the group singing gave me chills. I thought the whole cast were incredible and had commented how they all had a moment to shine. My daughter had many little moments in show that had nothing to do with her principle role but because she put herself forward to show what she could do. There were tap auditions and workshops where the kids could show their skills and they were asked to demonstrate any acrobatic skills they might have too. As for the expense I think it was worth every penny, you would have been around £400 for two weeks sports camp for the summer without the experience, training and the chance to dance in a beautiful theatre.

We are so grateful to the BBEXP for bringing this opportunity to the children of Aberdeen and I know for a fact that the cast will not be the same as it was this time as some will be graduating and becoming “professional” and others off to prestigious performing arts schools in other countries.

Congratulations to your girl for being part of a fantastic production.

Reply
1. Rachel M
  
  August 6, 2025
  
  I agree it was good value for money especially given the cost of summer camps and even compared with musical theatre during term time which can be very expensive. Well done to your daughter! It was definitely a good experience for them.
  
  Reply
Six and allotment things – rachel.blog

August 10, 2025

[…] say this just because I’m a parent whose daughter was in it. As I said previously, the young talent in Cats was extraordinary and those young people are already semi-professional and at the top of their […]

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