‘Cats’ Onstage at Benedum; PPG Paints Arena Host The Lumineers (Tues., 2/25/20)

If you’ve had them, you know that cats can be very guilt-inducing when they desire attention, as Grizabella does here in ‘Cats.’ (photo: Matthew Murphy)

1) It’s unclear whether T.S. Eliot would be amused, or has rolled over in his grave. Eliot received the 1948 Nobel Prize for Literature. He once was lionized for revolutionizing modern poetry with works such as “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” and “The Waste Land.” And yet now, most people know of Eliot through a Broadway musical based on a little book of doggerel that he wrote for his godchildren. “The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter / It isn’t just one of your holiday games / You may think at first I’m as mad as a hatter / When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES”: So begins Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. You’ll hear the lines (and many more) verbatim in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats, which visits Pittsburgh in a touring production for an 8-performance run. 

Cats was supposed to arrive here riding momentum from the recently released movie version. Unfortunately the movie pretty much laid an egg (or, let’s say, a hairball). But the stage show remains phenomenally popular, for some obvious reasons. Lloyd Webber could draw crowds by dramatizing and musical-izing a technical manual. The Eliot poems, though not exactly masterpieces of the Western canon, gave him good, unusual material to work with. And there are lots of cat lovers. 7:30 p.m. Continues through March 1. Benedum Center, 237 7th St., Cultural District.  

2) Denver-based and Americana-tinged folk rockers The Lumineers opened for U2 in 2017. They played a fun and well-received set of their hits, including “Ho Hey,” “Cleopatra,” and “Stubborn Love.” The Lumineers, in support of their third album, titled III, now headline PPG Paints Arena. Guitarist/singer Wesley Schultz and drummer Jeremiah Fraites started playing together in New Jersey after Josh Fraites, the brother of Jeremiah and best friend of Schultz, died of a drug overdose in 2001. They relocated to Denver in 2009, and cellist/vocalist Neyla Pekarek, after responding to their ad on Craigslist, joined in 2010. She left the group in 2018 to pursue a solo career. The Lumineers were nominated for Grammy Awards in the Best New Artist and Best Americana Album categories in 2013. Mt. Joy and JS Ondara open. 7 p.m. 1001 Fifth Ave., Uptown. (RH, CM)

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