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The hit musical 'Cats' has had a slight makeover for its comeback performances starting in December in London. One of the traditional songs will now be a rap. The musical's writer, Andrew Lloyd Webber, said he felt the musical needed to be updated to appeal to a new generation of theatre-goers. Lloyd Webber based his musical on a famous book called "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" by the famous British writer T. S. Eliot. It tells the story of a group of cats called the Jellicles, who have to decide which cat gets to come back to life after death. 'Cats' first opened in London's West End in 1981 and on Broadway in New York in 1982. It won numerous awards and ran for twenty-one years in the English capital.
音樂劇《貓》在經過簡單裝扮之后，12月份在倫敦重新登臺演出。其中一首傳統的歌曲現在已經變成說唱音樂。音樂劇的作家安德魯.洛伊德.韋博，說他認為音樂劇應當與時俱進來吸引那些看音樂劇的新一代人。洛伊德.韋博將一本由英國著名作家T. S. Eliot寫的一本書《貓》作為這一音樂劇的基礎。這本書講述的是一群名叫Jellicle的貓的故事。它們需要決定哪只貓能夠死而復生，“貓”于1981年在倫敦西區首次登臺演出，在1982年在紐約百老匯也曾演出過。這一音樂劇獲得了許多獎項，并在英國首都流行了21年。
The rap will be performed by the Rum Tum Tugger character, who is a rebellious street cat. Lloyd Webber said the original poem that the cat sings, written in the 1930s, has a strong rap rhythm. He joked that T.S. Eliot may have been the world's first rapper, saying: "I've come to the conclusion…that maybe Eliot was the inventor of rap." He added: "I think Rum Tum Tugger is going to have to become a street cat for today and he has to do hip-hop." The show's producer, Sir Trevor Nunn, explained the decision to include the rap. He said: "There is a whole generation of kids who haven't seen 'Cats' or discovered it. And there are certainly elements of the show that can be reinvigorated in very contemporary terms."
說唱音樂將會由“好奇的貓”這一角色演唱，它是一只富有叛逆精神的街貓。洛伊德.韋博說，這只貓原來所唱的詩歌，是在20世紀30年代被創作出來，并帶有明顯的說唱節奏。他開玩笑說，T.S. Eliot可能是世界上第一位說唱音樂家，他還說，我已經得出結論，或許Eliot是說唱音樂的創造者。他補充說道，我認為“好奇的貓”將會變成現在的街貓。這只貓需要跳街舞。音樂劇的制作人，特拉維.拿恩爵士，解釋了將說唱音樂融入進來的原因。他說，當今有一代人完全沒有看過《貓》或者發現過這一音樂劇。演出的一些元素可以借助非常現代的名詞來復興。
譯文屬可可英語原創，未經允許，不得轉載。
