Cats at Landmark Theatre

1/23/99

This was my first time seeing the live show. I went with my entire family, plus a good friend of my mother’s and her daughter. (There were eight of us all together.) We had seats in the last row of the orchestra section. We would have been closer, but I had a certain problem with Ticket Master that is rather complicated and doesn’t bear repeating.

The show started off with a bang as the Cats came out during the overture with glowing cat eye headbands. Nice touch. The prologue went well except for one thing that made my heart skip a beat. When Munkustrap went to lift Victoria onto his shoulder, he didn’t get her situated properly and when he flipped her down, she very nearly landed on her head! Other things of note: Instead of a cat on a trapeze as they had in the video, they had several Cats doing tumbling runs across the stage. Much more impressive. Also, when the boot dropped, for some reason I had forgotten it was coming, and it startled me. Very effective, though.

The Naming of Cats was less than perfect. The actors sounded like they were all out of breath. Granted they probably were, but they should make an effort not to sound that way. Bobby Miranda as Munkustrap was good, but I’m afraid he can never replace Michael Gruber in my heart.

Jennyanydots was cute, but her voice had an unpleasant edge to it. Instead of being in the car trunk she was in the oven. When they opened it she fell out backwards and kicked her feet in the air. Highlight of this song was seeing the full Beetles’ Tattoo instead of the badly edited version that is on the video. Lots more tapping and lots more cute antics.

Andy Karl as the Rum Tum Tugger was a scream! I love the way they have updated his costume with the oversize chains hanging from his belt and shoulder. Even his picture in the program made him look like a stereotypical bad boy, complete with an earring. Near the end of his song he jumped off the stage, grabbed a woman from an aisle seat, and tried to tango with her down the aisle. Whoo hoo! He was half dragging her, though; I’m sure she was a bit shocked.

Then Grizabella came on and poor Tugger lost his audience. He continued dancing for a little bit, trying to regain the center of attention, but without success. I had heard from others who have seen the touring cast that Jodie Langel as Grizabella has a screechy voice. I admit she was a little ear piercing in spots, but she had great control and all in all I think she was pretty good.

Bustopher Jones was a hoot. I had already noticed that the stage costumes didn’t appear as “polished” as the video costumes. This was nowhere more evident than with Bustopher, whose black velveteen coat looked as if it had been used as a kitty blanket from time to time. At least, that was the impression I got from my row M orchestra seat. But as I said, Bustopher was funny. They always get a true ham to play the Bustopher/Gus/Growltiger role. But why did ALW have to slash a whole verse out of Bustopher’s song when the show came over to the States?

I was rather disappointed by Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer. It all started when the other Cats cleared off the stage and we heard Rumpelteazer laugh. Mom and I practically banged heads leaning over to whisper to each other, “I’ll get you, my pretty, and your little pollicle, too!” Yes, she sounded like a bad imitation of the Wicked Witch of the West, a far cry from Jo Gibb’s musical chuckle. (I wonder if she’s ever played Gertie in Oklahoma) In fact, I’m afraid that the wonderful team of Varley and Gibb have spoiled me. And to top it all off, the Landmark stage wasn’t really big enough for them to do the fantastic tumbling that I’ve heard so much about.

Moving on, the only complaint I had about Old Deuteronomy was that he wasn’t fat enough. And looking at his program photo I’d have to say he’s the most attractive Old D I’ve ever seen. Kind of like Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes), only cuter. But other than making a rather thin Jellicle leader, he was just fine, with a great booming bass voice.

The Pekes and the Pollicles was every bit as good on stage as it is in the video. A few things to note: Mungojerrie was saying “bork” instead of “bark”. Tugger’s bagpipe appeared to be part of a vacuum cleaner instead of a football. Much more effective. I loved the way Munkustrap shushed the barking “dogs”. It went something like this: “Hey! Shh! Hey, hey! Shhh! Hey! Hey!!!” then he hissed. It worked, too; the “dogs” shut up and kind of cringed. The Rumpus Cat was a disappointment, but again, I think I have been spoiled by Frank Thompson, who definitely made the most of this small part.

The Song of the Jellicles and the Jellicle Ball were excellent. Old D started it out saying, “Jellicle cats, come out tonight,” in his deepest voice. Spooky! And I got to see the parts that were edited out of the video, making a really bad cut. (Who hired their editors anyway?)

Grizabella again, then intermission, then came the Moments of Happiness. Grizabella was onstage for that one, sitting on the trunk of the car. I’m not sure exactly when she left, probably around the beginning of Gus’ song.

Jellylorum and Gus seemed to have a very good rapport. She got him all situated on the paint can (or whatever it is) and started to move away. But Gus seemed suddenly overtaken by stage fright and grabbed her paw, looking at her beseechingly. So she obligingly started the song for him. Very touching.

Finally, the moment I had been waiting for: the Gus/Growltiger sequence. Because of stupid RUG’s decision to cut Growltiger out of the video, I had never seen it performed, and it is my favourite song of the whole musical. I admit I prefer the way it was first sung by the original London cast back in 1981, but I’m willing to accept what I can’t change. I was not disappointed by the performance of Craig Ricks as Gus/Growltiger. For those of you who have only ever seen the video, I will attempt to describe it:

After Gus first sings, “These modern productions…” etc, he does a segue verse that goes like this:

“I once crossed the stage on a telegraph wire

To rescue a child when the house was on fire.

And I think that I still can, much better than most,

Produce blood-curdling noises to bring on the ghost.

And I once played Growltiger, could do it again,

Could do it again, could do it again…”

As Gus, Mr. Ricks had more or less spoken his part in a wavering old man’s voice, but on the final “could do it again” his voice suddenly came to life. A curtain dropped behind him that said “Growltiger’s Last Stand”. Gus threw off his shabby coat to reveal himself as Growltiger and let out an evil piratical laugh. He hurled his Gus costume into the wings as the curtain rose to reveal Growltiger’s “ship” and “crew”. It was hysterical! The pirates were Tugger (of course), Mistoffelees, Munkustrap (with the stereotypical parrot on his shoulder), Alonzo (with the stereotypical hook for a hand), and Skimbleshanks. Munkustrap stood behind a big ship’s wheel, turning it in rhythm to the song. (Cute, but that’s not a good way to steer a ship, oh well.) The pirate costumes were all larger than life, making them easy for the people in the balcony to see. For the verse that begins “Woe to the weak canary…” each crewmember would sing a line, then get smacked by Growltiger at the end, kind of like punctuation. The last one to sing was the pirate played by Munkustrap, and I remember thinking, He’s not really going to hit Munkustrap, is he? Not only did he hit Munkus, he hit him in the groin! Oh dear, how is he going to father a new generation of Jellicles now?

The only thing in the song that really displeased me was that the Lover’s Last Duet was the silly Italian Aria instead of the Ballad of Billy M’Caw that I grew up with. But Growltiger and Griddlebone did so well with it that I was able to resign myself. I loved the antics they pulled. Growltiger was trying to sing his solo and Griddlebone was trying to get him to pay some attention to her! At one point she ran her claws down his belly, causing him to hit an unexpected high note. Then, disgusted with him she started to crawl away, but he was standing on her long, fluffy, white tail. She was crawling in place for a few seconds until he picked up his foot, causing her to splat on her face. As they sang their final notes, she stood up, and tail in hand, threw her arms wide, hitting Growltiger in the face. Not to be outdone, he took hold of her tail and flung it back into her face.

Then came the Siamese. There was a well-staged fight and Growltiger was forced to hurl himself off the ship into the wings. He did so in a manner that seemed to say, “Well, I don’t want to hang around with you geeks anyway.” I half-expected him to thumb his nose at the Siamese. As the final bars of Growltiger faded the ship set was taken up, revealing Gus once more in the Junkyard. A single Siamese (Genghis; so whatever happened to Gilbert from the OLC?) took the place of Firefrorfiddle in the video and Gus was led off by Jellylorum.

I liked the opening for Skimbleshanks. Skimble was sleeping curled up on Bustopher’s top hat as the kittens crept up to him, and he fell off when they yelled: “Skimble! Where is Skimble?!” Boom! I also liked the train better than in the video. The top was a piece of metal roofing with a teakettle and lamp attached. Each line was punctuated alternately by a flash and pop from the lamp and a toot from the teakettle. Very clever.

Macavity was very well done. Demeter had a pleasant mezzo voice while Bombalurina was a throaty alto. Perfect combo. I have found that in general with this pair, one is never good while the other is bad. Either they are both excellent, or they are both deplorable. Celina Carvajal and Parisa Ross were excellent. I was interested to note at the end when the girls joined in for the chorus, Tumblebrutus and Pouncival were also dancing and singing with them. I didn’t like the fight with Macavity as well as in the video, though. For one thing, Munkustrap got his clock cleaned too soon and Alonzo did most of the fighting. Oh well.

The beginning of Mistoffelees was a little different. You couldn’t see what the kittens were doing around Tugger mainly, because the headlamp that was used provided the only light on the stage. Somehow Macavity had managed to put out the Jellicle moon as well. (Wow!) But when the headlamp was pointed at the Rum Tum Tugger, it threw a Tugger-shaped shadow on the backdrop. (Cool!) Brian Barry as the Magical Cat was excellent, both dancing and singing. Yes, in this show Mistoff sings the second verse of his song. For reasons of personal preference I don't think Mistoff should be singing his own song. (His manner is vague and aloof after all.) But at least Mr. Barry has a good voice. The only complaint I have is that his makeup seemed to overemphasize his cheekbones and chin, at least from where I was sitting, but that is hardly his fault. Moving on, the Cassandra/Deuteronomy switcheroo was more convincing than in the video, mainly because Craig Benham is not as bulky as Ken Page. And I liked the ending. Instead of the split jump into a disappearing act, Mistoffelees was lifted into the air by three of the toms, Alonzo, Plato, and someone else; I’m not sure who. Then he was lowered to the stage and started to walk away, but there was still one spotlight focused on him. He turned and did this thing with his hands where he boxed the light down smaller and smaller and then blew it out. Very cute.

Now Grizabella appeared again and sang her famed solo. Then it was up, up, up, up to the Heaviside Layer…in a flying saucer! I kid you not. A round, lighted platform was lowered, Grizabella got on it, and it carried her up and away. (Heaven’s Gate, here I come!;~p) Too, too truly weird. I think I prefer the stairway to heaven that they use in the video, but I guess the flying saucer was more portable and easier to set up.

The Ad-dressing of Cats was one of many parts where I was grateful to be seeing the whole stage. Much as I love Ken Page, I don’t think I needed to see his sweet, smiling face for the whole song. For bows each cat came out and did something appropriate for their character. But the best part was when everyone had left the stage except Tugger and Bombalurina. These two had been overtly flirting with each other for the whole show, inevitably with Bombalurina getting the brush off. Now Tugger came to Bomba with lust in his eyes (I assume). She pushed him down onto his back and stepped on his belly and over him. “Yeow!” was his reaction and his body convulsed. Then he jumped to his feet, watched her slink seductively off the stage, yelled, “Oh yeah!” and ran after her. Perfect ending. All in all, I think it was well worth my money.


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