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!

前阵子，安德鲁·韦伯根据艾略特的诗改编而成的音乐剧 猫　，被拍成了一部电影，引起了一阵骚动。

猫　的出现，既是2018年的大新闻，也是1981年度新闻。

但就个人而言，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·艾尔巴要演一只猫。

正如Variety(电影、票房等新闻网页)提过，他已经在电影里扮演过两次猫了，也没演过一次詹姆斯·邦德。

詹妮弗·哈德森也要演一只猫，她还要唱该剧标志性歌曲 Memory　，你没准儿会哭哦。

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·柯登也将加入，看起来还OK的样子。

只是伊恩·麦克莱恩让我有点儿惊讶，不过当我闭上眼睛时，还是可以想象他闷闷不乐地在一片油漆涂料里，几缕头发搭在脸上，屁股随着音乐节奏晃动着的样子。

而且惊讶的是，朱迪·丹奇也出演了，她甚至还出现在音乐剧原声带里呢!

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·斯威夫特和几位奥斯卡获奖者、午夜TV主持人，还有我梦中的詹姆斯·邦德一起出现在电影的拍摄中，这是个什么情况?

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?

寻思选汤姆·霍珀出演的，请一定要和我解释一下这些演员是咋选出来的，还有形成一个我们不会觉得角色尴尬的连贯性画面，是如何值得期待的。

是动作片?

动画片?

还是都有?

我真的有必要看这些演员穿着滑稽的猫戏服在录音台上吵闹两小时吗?

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.

我明白音乐原声带是什么意思。

作为音乐爱好者的女儿，我成长在二十世纪八九十年代，也成长在百老汇演员贝蒂·巴克利的家乡。

我听过 猫　，也开它的玩笑，而且至少看了它三遍。

但那都是2000年前的事儿了，那时候，作为百老汇持续时间最长的音乐剧之一，它也结束了自己的任期”。

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.

世界变了!

不仅是音乐剧世界变了， 猫　的创造者安德鲁·韦伯的创造影响力也在慢慢减弱，而那些不怎么合成的作品却渐渐兴起。

迪士尼电影的改编代替了韦伯儿，成为百老汇那些开演后，就再也闭不上幕的演出的灵感源泉。

现在有很多被父母带来剧院的孩子，他们第一次欣赏属于父母童年时代的词作者的演出。

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.

猫　是大家叫好的佳作，但它已经成为过去式了。

关于一群猫介绍它们自己，并努力选出谁会通过一座轮胎塔逃离这终会消亡的世界的演出，可能已经不合适了。

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.

至少到刚刚我总结完这些，我意识到也许它又是合适的。

看着一大群不是因舞技闻名的演员穿着戏服，唱着、跳着猫的生活，和它们对死的渴望，可能是唯一能向未来几代人解释2018年的方式。

今年的困惑、欢乐和痛苦，值得变成歌曲和让人尴尬的表演。

【电影版猫　是对2018年比较好的总结查看网站：[db:时间]】