‘Cats’ will overrun stage this weekend for ATP Kids production
Director Betsi Morrison applies makeup to one of the student actors in an ATP Kids production of “Cats.” (Photo by Alpine Theatre Project)
More than 100 Flathead Valley students will prowl about Whitefish Performing Arts Center this weekend in an ATP Kids production of Broadway juggernaut — “Cats.”
Based on T.S. Eliot's 1939 poetry collection, “Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats,” Andrew Lloyd Weber's celebrated musical tells the story of a tribe of cats called the Jellicles and the night they made the "Jellicle choice" by deciding which cat would ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new life.
Two casts of first- through eighth-graders will present Weber’s musical in condensed, hour-long performances. The “Grizabella Cast” will take the stage Saturday, Oct. 21 with performances at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. The “Macavity Cast” will appear on Sunday, Oct. 22 at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.
This “young actors edition” introduces students to the musical sensation in an accessible way while capturing the magic of Broadway’s fifth-longest-running show. The magnificent musical score includes one of the most treasured songs in musical theater — "Memory.”
ATP Kids is Alpine Theatre Project’s after-school theater program for students. Taught by professionals and Broadway veterans, students learn the basics of theater through improvisation, storytelling, movement and games, with sessions culminating in a stage performance.
This session of ATP Kids is sponsored by the Foley Family Charitable Foundation, Kalispell KiDDS Pediatric Dentistry, the John Morrison Healthy Montana Kids Fund, Great Northern Whitewater Raft & Resort, Markus Community Market, Bay Equity, Columbia Falls ACE Hardware, First Interstate Bank, Flathead Electric Co-op, Frampton & Purdy Law Office, Freedom Bank, the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation, and Measure Law.
For more information, or to purchase tickets, visit https://atpwhitefish.org or call 862-7469.