鈥淚 use a reference to Halley鈥檚 Comet,鈥� says choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler when asked to describe his dance style. 鈥淲hen you see a picture of Halley鈥檚 Comet, it leads with a big face and then it trails away. So, what I try to do is I try to hit the front of the movement 鈥� that creates a pause, and in the pause, behind it, you have to capture a recognizable picture that when the audience hits the slow motion pause, they see the idea, they see the emotion, they see the character, and then it goes way again.鈥�
Such was Blankenbuehler鈥檚 approach to his Tony-winning In the Heights, his Tony-nominated Hamilton and, soon, this summer鈥檚 anticipated revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber鈥檚 Cats.
In bringing his sensibility to the show, Blankenbuehler hopes to use these pauses and pictures to define character. 鈥淚鈥檓 trying to take the show into a new layer of character depth,鈥� he explains. 鈥淭here was a real tribe mentality of the original production, which was exactly perfect on the heels of Hair and those kinds of shows. That was mesmerizing to watch onstage. I鈥檓 interested in them trying to maintain tribe, but then taking a closer look at the individuals that make the tribe.鈥�
In fact, when I met up with Blankenbuehler on a May day, he had been working the day before with Tyler Hanes, Broadway鈥檚 soon-to-be Rum Tum Tugger, to develop character through his number.
This was also before that anyone was re-envisioning her work in the first place.
Still, Blankenbuehler says the show 鈥渋sn鈥檛 going to be contemporary, like 2016 Cats. It鈥檚 going to still be timeless Cats.鈥�
The difference? 鈥淚鈥檓 trying to add staccato syncopation in many places where it never existed before, whereas Gillian and Andrew鈥檚 tendency is this long, melodic line. Long melodic line鈥檚 not easy for me,鈥� he admits. 鈥淲hat I鈥檓 good at is the stop and start, and so I鈥檓 adding a lot of stop and start to the show, making it more guttural.
鈥淔or example, Grizabella walks out the first time, and in the original staging, [the cats] all reacted in real time,鈥� explains Blankenbuehler. 鈥淲hat I鈥檓 doing in that moment is they hit these stances where the venom is coming out of them, and then in that pause other action is happening; so, it鈥檚 like an impressionistic painting, where you see the shape of the cats, and you understand what the one cat who鈥檚 moving is thinking.鈥�
But Blankenbuehler is cognizant that with a beloved property, he can鈥檛 change too much, and he doesn鈥檛 want to. 鈥淚鈥檓 quoting a lot of Gillian, and the show鈥檚 going to look the same design-wise, and it鈥檚 going to move the same.
鈥淪o many people were like, 鈥業t was the first show I saw. My mom took me to that show,鈥欌� says the choreographer. 鈥淚 want those people to go back to the show and be like, 鈥楾his is the Cats that I remember, but I don鈥檛 remember it being X, Y, Z. I don鈥檛 remember it being so complicated. I don鈥檛 remember it being so deep. I don鈥檛 remember it being so funny.鈥欌�
