Cats (1998 film) Carbucketty being renamed Tumblebrutus and Pouncival, respectively. Cats (1998 film) Cats is a 1998 direct-to-video musical film based on the stage musical "Cats" by Andrew Lloyd Webber, itself based on the novel "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" by T. S. Eliot. Lloyd Webber himself personally oversaw orchestration for the film and called on Gillian Lynne, the original show's choreographer, to personally train the cast for the film. Trevor Nunn, the original director, did not serve as the director of this production. Andrew Lloyd Webber and others on the production team for the film wanted to keep the feeling that
Cats (musical) childhood favorite. The songs of the musical comprise Eliot's verse set to music by the composer, the principal exception being the most famous song from the musical, "Memory", for which the lyrics were written by Trevor Nunn after an Eliot poem entitled "Rhapsody on a Windy Night". Also, a brief song entitled "The Moments of Happiness" was taken from a passage in Eliot's Four Quartets. Lloyd Webber began composing the songs in late 1977 and premiered the compositions at the Sydmonton Festival in 1980. The concert was attended by T .S. Eliot's wife, Valerie Eliot and she loved the songs