Hello Kitty

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Cats” has been as common as an alley cat in this region, having toured through Spokane in 1987, 1988, 1993, 1997 and 2004. But this production, ladies and gentlemen, is a whole different breed of kitty.

The Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre is staging the Inland Northwest’s first-ever regional-theater production of “Cats,” beginning Saturday.

The distinction is crucial. It means this production is homegrown and original, as opposed to a packaged touring version of the Broadway show, trucked into town and trucked out again.

“We’re proud to be the first in the Northwest to build this show from the ground up,” David Hollingshead, the theater’s general manager, said when he first acquired the rights last winter.

“Cats” has been a phenomenon for 23 years, including a 21-year run in London, 18 years on Broadway and more than two decades on tour. Yet the rights were released only last year to regional theaters, school groups and community theaters. The CdA Summer Theatre snapped up the rights immediately.

This production won’t be too different – it will remain a whimsical musical about a group of cats living in a junkyard, based on the poems of T.S. Eliot.

Yet director Michael Ericson, choreographer Ross Cornell and husband-wife designers Michael and Judith McGiveney will be free to add some of their own interpretations to the look, feel and sound. Where the touring version must be – and should be – a scrupulous version of the original, this production can give it some new, creative flair.

For instance, each cat has a unitard based on the original color schemes. Yet costume designer Judith McGiveney is able to give each a unique look.

“Each unitard is individually hand-painted,” said McGiveney. “It’s almost like making 19 different paintings.”

The overall goal, however, was to make the show as close to the original as possible — a goal made easier by the fact that director Ericson and choreographer Cornell have both toured nationally with “Cats.” They know exactly the way the show is supposed to be done, which means, for instance, they can show the actors the right way to apply the extensive cat makeup.

This production will allow audiences to see some well-known CdA Summer Theatre performers tackle these famous roles for the first time. William Rhodes, last seen as Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof,” plays the role of Old Deuteronomy. Frank Jewett, who played Seymour in “Little Shop of Horrors,” plays Mungojerrie. Thara Cooper, who played the Witch in “Into the Woods,” plays Grizabella the Glamour Cat, which means she gets to wrap her fine voice around the one song from this show that has become a standard: the beautiful “Memory.”

This production will feature a 10-piece orchestra in the pit, led by musical director Steven Dahlke.