There were definitely technical limitations in the 1981 London, 1982 Broadway costumes! The techniques for painting the costumes were developed over time - as Cats cosplayers will tell you, it's really hard to get paint to stay on spandex! Paint doesn't really stick to the shiny spandex and nylon fibres, it washes out, it smudges, it goes grey... Parsons-Meares, who made the Broadway costumes, developed the technique of using acid dyes as a thickened paste that can be set with steam heat, which allowed for realisation of John Napier's designs for "Sketches of Cats".
There's also been significant developments in the lighting technology- but I'm not qualified to speak on that, I know nothing! But stage lighting used to be far harsher, bleaching out faces and expressions much more than in more recent years.
The distinctive look of the 1998 video developed about 1991, 1992 in London - the London makers adopted the steamed acid dyes quite early on, by the mid 1980s, but the designs were more "Geometric" in their scribbles, more experimental for a while.
The 1998 video designs are absolutely the 1997 London costumes.
Unfortunately, the 1997 published photos are pretty dark and low quality prints!
I love the creativity and experimentation in the 1980s/early 1990s, as much as I love the bright, distinctive late 1990s London costumes for being so... "Cats"!
Another major development in the looks of the Cats is in Wigs/Makeup - the original London production was put together on a relative shoestring budget for what they were trying to achieve, and the stories about the struggles are well known - Judi Dench was originally to play Grizabella and Jennyanydots, but also the original Mungojerrie Les Saxon left the show, who was doing what in what role, and what costume related to which character, was all in flux.
Not everyone even had a wig - Bonnie Langford as Rumpleteaser retained her trademark ginger curls, Finola Hughes had "ears" made by her hair in buns. Sarah Brightman's wig, as several others, appears to be human hair styled out, rather than the yak hair that became standard.
The 1982 Broadway production was a completely different situation - rather than "Has Andrew Lloyd Webber lost his mind?!" producing a show that makes no sense, the Broadway show was mounting a transfer of a huge hit. THEY HAD MONEY! They could do all the things they couldn't do the year before. EVERYONE had a wig. There were costume details the audience would never see - the fabric fluffies on the shoulders to create "fur"? THAT fabric was fully hand painted and patterned to match the costume, despite being just frayed fibres. They paid someone to paint scribbles onto organza fabric that was then literally shredded into fluff. That was the 1980s!
The makeup was interpreted from John Napier's sketches, it needed to be bold for the stage lighting that bleached out details. Broadway seems to have decided they got it right in 1982 (well, with a few changes in 1987) but design wise, they did the same thing from 1982 until the show closed in 2000. They literally never re-shot the souvenir programme, selling the 1982 photos right til the end, but the show looked the same!
Back in the UK, things changed a lot more. One of the biggest influences was hiring Karen Dawson as makeup artist. Now, John Napier is an ABSOLUTE GENIUS set designer, world class! Amazing talent! As a set designer. He's said he's really not a costume designer, it's just something he dabbled with for fun in the early 1980s - for Cats and Starlight Express primarily, but sets are his thing. Makeup is a further step away from his expertise - there's so much in the field from the psychology of "why are clowns creepy?" (because their makeup disguises their human expressions) to technicalities of lighting angles and colours. It's not John Napier's world. It is Karen Dawson's world. Karen came in on the 1989 UK Tour of Cats, but we saw her influencing the makeup designs a few years later.
Karen Dawson worked on UK productions, the 1998 video, several European shows, but notably did NOT work on US productions. But after the video came out, her work became "Standard" for Cats, with her makeup designs often going uncredited. Her makeup for the video was not the same as onstage - softer, more appropriate for closeup shots, but the designs are immediately recognisable.
.... oops that's a Boxing Day ramble for you! I hope that kinda makes sense, there's so much history and I'm endlessly fascinated by the changes to the designs, and learning to identify individuals' fingerprints on the look of the Cats!
