電影版《貓》是對2018年比較好的總結

The last few weeks have seen a flurry of casting news for a new movie based on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s T.S. Eliot-inspired musical about actual cats hanging out. It is both the most 2018 news to appear on the horizon and also the most 1981 news. Personally, I’m still trying to understand it!

前陣子，安德魯·韋伯根據(jù)艾略特的詩改編而成的音樂劇《貓》，被拍成了一部電影，引起了一陣騷動?！敦垺返某霈F(xiàn)，既是2018年的大新聞，也是1981年度新聞。但就個人而言，我仍在努力理解它。

Idris Elba is going to play a cat. As noted by Variety, he has twice been cast as a cat in films. He has also never been cast as James Bond. Jennifer Hudson is also going to play a cat. She will sing the show’s iconic song “Memory.” You will probably cry.

伊德瑞斯·艾爾巴要演一只貓。正如Variety(電影、票房等新聞網(wǎng)頁)提過，他已經(jīng)在電影里扮演過兩次貓了，也沒演過一次詹姆斯·邦德。詹妮弗·哈德森也要演一只貓，她還要唱該劇標志性歌曲《Memory》，你沒準兒會哭哦。

They will be joined by James Corden—which okay, that tracks. Ian McKellen is a little more surprising, but when I close my eyes I can see him smothered in grease paint, hair teased out a few inches from his face and hips moving in rhythm with the musical’s synth score. Same goes for Judi Dench—she was even in the original cast!

詹姆斯·柯登也將加入，看起來還OK的樣子。

只是伊恩·麥克萊恩讓我有點兒驚訝，不過當我閉上眼睛時，還是可以想象他悶悶不樂地在一片油漆涂料里，幾縷頭發(fā)搭在臉上，屁股隨著音樂節(jié)奏晃動著的樣子。而且驚訝的是，朱迪·丹奇也出演了，她甚至還出現(xiàn)在音樂劇原聲帶里呢!

But Taylor Swift? This movie is getting made and Taylor Swift is appearing in it alongside a couple of Oscar winners, a late-night TV host, and the James Bond of my dreams?

但泰勒·斯威夫特和幾位奧斯卡獲獎者、午夜TV主持人，還有我夢中的詹姆斯·邦德一起出現(xiàn)在電影的拍攝中，這是個什么情況?

Someone, preferably planned direct Tom Hooper, please explain to me how all of this casting went about, and how it’s expected to form into a cohesive vision that will not have us embarrassed for the cast. Is it live action? Animated? A mixture? Am I really going to have to watch these actors wear those ridiculous Cats costumes for two hours and cavort and clamor across a soundstage?

尋思選湯姆·霍珀出演的，請一定要和我解釋一下這些演員是咋選出來的，還有形成一個我們不會覺得角色尷尬的連貫性畫面，是如何值得期待的。是動作片?動畫片?還是都有?我真的有必要看這些演員穿著滑稽的貓戲服在錄音臺上吵鬧兩小時嗎?

Look, I understand what the original musical is. I grew up in the 1980s and 90s as the daughter of a musical lover, and I also grew up in original Broadway cast member Betty Buckley’s home town. I’ve heard Cats, made jokes about Cats, and seen Cats at least three times. But that all happened before 2000, when the musical finally ended its tenure as one of the longest-running musicals on Broadway.

我明白音樂原聲帶是什么意思。作為音樂愛好者的女兒，我成長在二十世紀八九十年代，也成長在百老匯演員貝蒂·巴克利的家鄉(xiāng)。我聽過《貓》，也開它的玩笑，而且至少看了它三遍。但那都是2000年前的事兒了，那時候，作為百老匯持續(xù)時間最長的音樂劇之一，它也結束了自己的“任期”。

The world has changed! And not just the musical theater world, where Cats’ creator Andrew Lloyd Webber’s vise-like creative influence has finally diminished and other less synth-infused works have flourished. Adaptations of Disney films have supplanted Webber as the inspiration for the shows that open and never close on Broadway—there’s now a long line of children who have been given their first taste of theater by the lyricists of their parents’ own childhoods.

世界變了!不僅是音樂劇世界變了，《貓》的創(chuàng)造者安德魯·韋伯的創(chuàng)造影響力也在慢慢減弱，而那些不怎么合成的作品卻漸漸興起。迪士尼電影的改編代替了韋伯兒，成為百老匯那些開演后，就再也閉不上幕的演出的靈感源泉?，F(xiàn)在有很多被父母帶來劇院的孩子，他們第一次欣賞屬于父母童年時代的詞作者的演出。

Cats, beyond its one show-stopper, has aged dramatically, and a show about a group of felines introducing themselves and trying to figure out who will be chosen to escape the mortal world via a tower of tires is maybe not appropriate.

《貓》是大家叫好的佳作，但它已經(jīng)成為過去式了。關于一群貓介紹它們自己，并努力選出誰會通過一座輪胎塔逃離這終會消亡的世界的演出，可能已經(jīng)不合適了。

At least...until I just summarized it and realized that perhaps it is appropriate. Watching a large group of actors not especially known for their dancing skills put on Spandex and dance and sing about cats’ lives and their desire to die might be the only way to explain the year 2018 to all future generations. This year of confusion, elation, and misery deserves to be explored through song and embarrassing performances.

至少....到剛剛我總結完這些，我意識到也許它又是合適的?？粗淮笕翰皇且蛭杓悸劽难輪T穿著戲服，唱著、跳著貓的生活，和它們對死的渴望，可能是唯一能向未來幾代人解釋2018年的方式。今年的困惑、歡樂和痛苦，值得變成歌曲和讓人尷尬的表演。