Cats (the Musical) and Putt Putt
Apr 14, 2022 | Roanoke, VA
We pretty much have a tradition going where we have to mini golf at every long term spot we stay. It's something that actually started with our anniversary trips because we happened to golf in New Orleans and Maui in years prior. Only thing is, the mini golf course have gotten increasingly, uh, ragged as we've gone through the south. So we did our best with what we had available and checked out the Putt Putt Fun Center in neighboring Hollins.
It was pretty crappy and despite being like 72 the wind and clouds decided to make it feel much colder than that so we kind of rushed through the course. Something weird about the Putt Putt brand courses is that apparently they are always "par 2" on every single hole. Yet they also have this proclivity for putting the hole directly into the side of slopes on many of them, which seems very not par 2, if you ask us.
In the evening we went to a showing of the musical theater play Cats at the Berglund Center. We literally didn't know a single thing about Cats going into it besides that everyone trashed the movie adaptation. But we also knew that it's a play that has been popular for decades, and since there isn't a huge plethora of things going on in this area, we pretty much signed up to do everything, including this.
First of all, it was a large turnout at a fairly large large venue. People were definitely coming out for this show. Our seats were in the Y row, but despite being in the back back, there were people around us even back there who knew the play well and were very excited. We were also impressed by the enthusiasm of the crowd---extremely hearty cheering and applause after every song and even during certain individual dance moves or appearances, if they were fairly impressive. But as newcomers to the play and being completely blind to any knowledge about it, we were confused. We whispered to each other "What does Jellicle mean? Why do they keep saying it?" and we kept waiting for some semblance of a plot to appear.
After the show Erika was somewhat mad at the whole affair. She had certain basic expectations for what a theater performance should provide her based on other shows we've seen before, and this was most definitely a whole other animal. Although I was also a bit disoriented by the shift in expectations as well, my processing of it in the hours afterward eased me more onto the defense of the experience. It wasn't meant to be about plot, or dialogue, or to even make sense. Cats is about the spectacle. The dancing and the music and the lighting and the costumes and the set design are what you are meant to absorb when watching Cats. It's more of a sensory experience, and given that we were in the nose bleed seats, we definitely missed out a bit on the intensity of what that experience could have been. Another thing that placated me on the artistic merit of the show is that I read about its source material and history. It's based off a series of poems by TS Eliot where he describes different types of cats in with made-up names, fanciful words and absurd language. The fact that it was based on a series of silly poems made it clear that there was no intention of having a plot, and that the play purposefully was based on such material as to limit the focus of the art onto the visual aspects. Also in reading about the history I found that Cats set a lot of standards in the technicality of lighting and set design. At that point I had to appreciate the way an innovative artist might limit or downplay the scope of their creation (aka ignore plot) in order to accentuate other areas. After listening to the music a bit more afterward and talking about these points, Erika began to come around to it as well. We've decided that we may even give it another try one day, but with better seats perhaps.
After the show it was kind of late but Cain and Courtney texted us to come over to Courtney's house. They were having a little 2 person dance party so we joined them. We were warned that Ajax (Courtney's dog) gets territorial at home, and she wasn't kidding. He's a little weinery thing except a bit bulkier due to some kind of mutt situation. I stayed away from him as best I could, but Erika got a bite on the finger when trying to stop him from chasing me up the stairs, and he also bit her on the butt at another point. So we probably won't be going over there again, but the dancing was a nice way to end the evening. Courtney even gave us a funny little novelty gift in the form of a "30 Second Dance Party" button you can press to get instant dance music pumping.
Beautiful golf scenery (Erika, I mean)
Beautiful golf scenery (Erika, I mean)
This elephant can levitate
This elephant can levitate
Vegan Broccoli Mac courtesy of Erika
Vegan Broccoli Mac courtesy of Erika
We had no idea what we were in for
We had no idea what we were in for
Every time I see this thing I think it says "Angry Club" for a second. Too bad it doesn't.
Every time I see this thing I think it says "Angry Club" for a second. Too bad it doesn't.