Theater Reviews : Little ‘Cats’ Feat : The poetry purrs, but this incarnation of the musical has no distinctive markings, although some of the cast is show quality.

COSTA MESA —  If touring companies of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Cats” keep going forever--which it looks as though they might--every young actor in America will eventually be able to list the show in his credits. Also eventually, economics might whittle “Cats” back down to the size of the original London production, in the mid-size New London Theatre, which would be a very good thing indeed.

Webber thought elephantiasis would be necessary to attract American audiences. Some of it remains in the show’s latest incarnation, at the Orange County Performing Arts Center through Aug. 20, but at least it has been tailored down enough to let most of T.S. Eliot’s poetry shine through, without the distractions of huge cereal boxes and tennis rackets hanging over one’s head.

It is, after all, Eliot’s delightful feline world that Webber and original director Trevor Nunn were trying to re-create, and the poet’s words still are the heart of the show.

“Cats” obviously continues to please its audiences. But the touring version is starting to look pretty generic, like a copy made from a copy. The direction is credited with being “reproduced by David Taylor,” and Gillian Lynne’s original choreography has been “reproduced by T. Michael Reed and Richard Stafford.”

There is no lack of energy on the part of the company members, who obviously are enjoying themselves. There are even a few who rise above the blandness that plagues the staging. Randy Clements as the boisterous Munkustrap has an explosive energy to match his powerful voice, and Billy Johnstone and Maria Jo Ralabate give an almost British music-hall offhandedness to their charming turn as Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer.

Doug Eskew’s ponderous and wise Old Deuteronomy maintains an indelible feeling of majesty from beginning to end, particularly in “The Moments of Happiness.”

Andy Gales is a heartbreaking Gus the Theatre Cat, one of the best in a long line, with his anguished memories of a stage career long-gone. Jeri Sager as Grizabella the Glamour Cat has a similar forlorn look, but her strident rendering of “Memory” doesn’t create much of an emotional moment, and a manufactured sob at its peak doesn’t help. Lanene Charters’ brief, subdued echoes of “Memory” as Sillabub are much more effective.

*

The silly pomposity of Blair Bybee’s Skimbleshanks the Train Cat provides a rare moment of invention in his utter glee at his own worth, and J. Robert Spencer’s Rum Tum Tugger is high camp. Susan Lamontagne and Helen Frank are impressive as Demeter and Bombalurina singing passionately about the evils of Macavity, but their passion sometimes obscures their lyrics.

* “Cats,” Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Tuesdays through Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Ends Aug. 20. $19-$50. (714) 740-2000. Running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes.

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Randy Clements: Munkustrap

Blair Bybee: Skimbleshanks

Doug Eskew: Old Deuteronomy

Jeri Sager: Grizabella

Billy Johnstone: Mungojerrie

Maria Jo Ralabate: Rumpleteazer

J. Robert Spencer: Rum Tum Tugger

Lanene Charters: Sillabub

Susan Lamontagne: Demeter

Helen Frank: Bombalurina

Andy Gale: Asparagus

A presentation of Cameron Mackintosh, the Really Useful Company Ltd., David Geffen, and the Shubert Organization, with the Orange Country Performing Arts Center. Direction reproduced by David Taylor; choreography reproduced by T. Michael Reed and Richard Stafford; scenic design reproduced by Raymond Huessy, lighting design reproduced by Rick Belzer.