Here begins the story of my fourth and possibly final trip to New York City. Alice, a friend with whom I have been corresponding via e-mail for about two years, came up to Virginia and accompanied me to New York for two shows of Cats. (We took the bus; it takes longer, but it’s much more reliable than the airlines.) The entire trip was as smooth as it could be I’m happy to say. Here is the itinerary: Arrived in New York in the afternoon of Wednesday, Sept. 6th. Checked in at our hotel, unpacked, had dinner, then went to see Cats. Thursday we met up with a couple friends from the forum and went CD shopping. Back to the hotel in the evening to change, and then off to see Cats again. After the show was a fan and cast party at TGI Friday’s. Friday morning Alice and I returned to Virginia, sleeping most of the way.
Before going in to see the show, Alice and I stopped by the stage door to drop off the cookies we had made for the cast the night before. (I made shortbread again and Alice made peanut butter cookies.) I also had printouts of my Phantom/Cats parody for several members of the cast: Keith Wilson, Jeffry Denman, Jon Erik Goldberg, Julius Sermonia, Billy Johnstone, and Lenny Daniel. In order to make doubly sure that these got to the right people, I asked for Keith and the stage manager paged him. It was close to 7:30, so I rather expected him to be in the process of getting into costume. I was quite correct. He came down the stairs wearing sweat pants (and not much else), his hair back in its stocking, and his face looking freshly scrubbed, preparatory to turning into Plato. I gave him one bag with three tupperware containers full of cookies, and another bag with the printouts, asking him to distribute them. Then I introduced him to Alice. (Okay, backwards, but as usual my nerves were playing up.) We promised to meet after the show, then went out to the front to present our tickets.
Once in the theatre, I commented to Alice, "I’ve never seen Keith without a shirt before. I didn’t realize he was so…" Here words failed me.
"Lumpy?" Alice suggested.
"Something like that," I laughed. Though sculpted might be a better word.
For both shows that we saw, Alice and I sat in seats AA 5 and 7, which is the front row of the orchestra section on the extreme left. This was a new perspective for me; Alice had never seen the show before, so it was all new for her. Roger Kachel was out on Wednesday so Billy Johnstone played Mungojerrie while Billy Sprague Jr. played Coricopat. I’m glad I got to see Billy S one last time; he’s my favourite swing.
During the overture we had first Asparagus then Jellylorum come and stare at us with their green eyes. As the Cats were coming on one by one for Jellicle Songs, Pouncival scared the starch out of us when he popped out of a stage pipe next to the ramp on the far left. He looked around, then sprang lightly onto the stage where he settled himself down for a staring contest. From this new vantagepoint I got a better look at what Plato does during "We can turn double somersaults…" It’s not a tumbling run as I had first thought, but two walkovers. And getting to see them that close was quite impressive, especially since Keith is so tall. When the Cats were up on the tire Pouncival always seemed to be getting reprimanded for being too friendly. Poor kitty. And when a few of the females hit the high C, several of the males flinched and pawed at their ears.
For Naming we had Plato, Mistoffelees, and Alonzo in front of us. Alonzo was getting most of my attention, of course, though Mistoff seemed to be vying for it as well. When Alonzo’s name was mentioned he crouched slightly and pawed the air, darting his head about. As Plato’s name came up he rubbed his head with one paw and reached out to the girl on Alice’s other side. Then on the line "But I tell you, a cat needs a name that’s particular…" Mistoffelees suddenly dropped into a crouch right in front of me and stared, commanding my attention. As the Cats began moving off the stage, Old D settled himself center stage in a very cat-like position and slowly turned his head from side to side.
Invitation, then Jenny. The Gumbie Cat is so cute as she walks across the stage. Her big coat gives her a distinct hour glass shape, and I love the way she waddles. After Munkustrap has finished singing the second verse and the ladies start singing again, Jenny rolls onto her back in front of Munkus with her feet in the air. Munkus made a tickle-tickle motion with his hands first to the right of her feet, then to the left of her feet, then began vigorously tickling the bottoms of her feet at which she went crazy. Then Cockroach Pouncival came along and Munk quickly got out of the way. During the Tattoo, as the kicking line went by, Skimble at the end reached out and gave Jenny a little shove. Later he was the one to chase Jenny with his fork, only to be caught and sent back to his place. He turned and gave us an "oh, darn" look before obeying.
On to Tugger. It is Munkustrap and Alonzo who deliver the line "The Rum Tum Tugger is a terrible bore!" And then Alonzo and Plato are the ones to get knocked down by Tugger on "I’m always on the wrong side of every door." Alonzo has a cute look of surprise when that happens. As Tugger sings, "And it isn’t any use for you to doubt it," he leans back against Tumblebrutus. Tumble pushes him roughly off, and I think I would, too, if I had that ruff in my face. Tugger turns to hiss and swat at him. The Tugger dance of the evening went to Crosswise, another Cats forum frequenter. There was certainly no hesitation on her part. :~)
Grizabella comes on and the mood changes abruptly. The curious kittens tried to approach her, but the adults held them back. I noted with some interest that Alonzo was standing protectively over Sillabub, and when she tried to dart forward he pulled her back and shoved her over to be guarded by Jenny’s motherly form. Plato and Pouncival pushed Tumblebrutus out in front of Grizabella and he stretched his paw out to her, only to scratch her when she tried to touch him. He darted away amid much hissing from the adults, and Jellylorum went to stand in front of Pounce and Plato to prevent them from doing something similar.
I think it is Skimble and Mistoff who first notice Bustopher coming on via the stage right ramp, checking his reflection in a hubcap on the way. As he waddled to the front Tumble was trying to follow him, but Pounce kept grabbing him (by his tail belt of all things) and pulling him back. Bustopher stopped at the front edge of the stage, took his flower from his lapel, sniffed it, and threw it to a little girl in the front row. She looked like maybe seven or eight years old, and just before he threw the flower she had kind of an awed look. Then as she caught the flower a huge grin spread across her face. (Awwww!) Just before Bustopher sang Tumble positioned himself at the edge of the stage with his back to the audience. As Bustopher started singing Tumble was looking over his shoulder at the people behind him (possibly making sure they weren’t playing with his tail), but when Bustopher sat down heavily he jumped and faced forward. Just after "at the joint superior schools" Tumble and Pounce did a sideways roll to each other and started scrapping. Skimble clapped his paws at them and hissed. And as Bustopher was finishing up his solo Pounce pulled himself up on his hands and feet, back to the audience, and wiggled his backside in the air. Very, um, interesting. During the chorus Bustopher waved surreptitiously at Jenny who reacted with tempered excitement, to the irritation of Jellylorum sitting next to her. Then Jenny spread her arms wide as emphasis to her singing and her hand ended up in front of Jelly’s face. With an annoyed look, Jelly deftly flipped it away. And I know Pounce is a brat, but I can’t help feeling sorry for him when he keeps trying for the middle of the line-up and the bigger Cats shove him to the end with an "out of the way, squirt!" attitude. Pounce stood at the end of the line looking very sulky. Bustopher acknowledged Coricopat this time who acted all excited about it. And when Bustopher hit his imaginary golf ball he looked off into the distance then gave a thumbs-up to the audience.
When the first Macavity scare comes, the Cats, of course, all jump and start to scatter. Pounce was in front of me when he did this, only to run face first into Plato’s shoulder. Jon Erik fell back and shook himself, dazed, while Keith, grinning, put an arm around his shoulders and whispered, "Are you okay?" He seemed to be, and the Cats cleared off the stage. Next is M&R, of course, but I can’t think of anything of particular note that happened, nor during Old Deuteronomy, so I shall skip lightly ahead to…
The Pekes and the Pollicles! (Love this song!) Unfortunately I had Jellylorum sitting right smack in front of me and she was more or less blocking my view of the other side of the stage. Oh well. When the Cats "bark" the first time, they start kind of soft, then gradually build. Billy J as the first pollicle pitched his bark very low, sounding quite the dumb dog. (Jeffry, if you’re reading this, I apologize, but I do prefer cats.) Preparatory to the Pollicles’ Marching Song, Alonzo and Mungo seemed to be arguing over who was going to lead the march. Alonzo won out, and when Munkus wanted him to keep marching straight he did an abrupt left face and led the marchers that way. As they broke formation, Mungo (or it might have been Pounce) started to chase Bomba, but Jenny stopped him. Finally the Rumpus Cat appears. I couldn’t see Munkustrap’s face from where we were sitting, but I loved the way he kept turning GRC out to face the audience when he found himself under that fiery stare. Kind of nervous and annoyed with himself for showing it. When Tugger came on with his bagpipes at the end, GRC waved him off, then turned back to the audience and struck a pose as if to say, "Forget about him. I’m the star of this song!" Alice and I were giggling insanely by this time.
The Rumpus Cat’s exit is much more surreptitious on Broadway, as opposed to the take-off-in-a-panic-when-the-thunder-crashes exit that he does on the video. And it was during the quiet part as the Cats were coming back on for the Jellicle Ball that we had a bit of unpleasantness in the audience. It was over in the right orchestra section, so I couldn’t really see what was going on. I heard yelling, then a woman cried, "You keep your hands to yourself! What’s wrong with you?"
A man’s voice: "Shut up!"
A different voice: "You shut up!"
Then over in our section, somewhere behind us "All of you shut up!" in a distinct Brooklyn accent.
There were muffled complaints as someone was escorted out and a general buzz in the audience, then Old D mercifully began Song of the Jellicles. I admit that this incident somewhat marred the rest of the first half for me. (I was kind of worried about Demeter, who was coming up the aisle where this took place just then.) I can only imagine how it made the performers feel. But if they were disturbed or upset they certainly didn’t show it. During this number (and others) I noticed several of them grinning broadly, obviously enjoying themselves.
Some highlights: As usual I got a charge out of Alonzo’s octave drop on "Jellicle Cats are black…and white." After Victoria and Sillabub say, "and pleasant to hear when we caterwaul," they follow Alonzo to the back of the stage. All three of them do this interesting walk where they wiggle their butts in time to the music. Very fun to watch. We had the Jellicle jumping jacks right in front of us. When Tugger came on for his line he was grinning and gesturing to the audience like "Just wait till you hear what I have to say." Then as they all sang, "Jellicle cats come out tonight," Tugger was swinging his hips and Sillabub, Victoria, and Teazer were right behind him, watching them closely. During the Ball I watched and took special note of all the various pairings, and found out that I was right the last time. (See July’s trip report.) Hmmm, Pouncival and Jellylorum? That’s weird, but also very cat-like; when the hormones take over, they hardly care whom they mate with.
Backtracking a bit, naturally I was watching Alonzo more than any other Cat. Shortly after most of the Cats clear off the stage he does this sexy little dance at Bombalurina similar to the one in the video. He hissed at her, though not in a mean way if that makes any sense, then slapped his thighs and swayed his hips in a way that seemed to convey the message "You think Tugger’s something? Take a look at me!" (For the life of me I can’t remember how Bomba reacted to that. I wonder why.) Then Plato came through on a tumbling run and got between Bomba and Alonzo, as Tumble does in the video. After fending off Alonzo, Plato turned to Bomba and nuzzled her from behind, causing her to start in the most delightfully cat-like way. The dancing climaxed to the orgy and the Cats settled down in their huddle. Then they detected something amiss and one by one sat up, looking around alertly. As Mistoffelees sprang up one could see a fine spray of sweat flying from his face. Tumblebrutus, upon spotting Grizabella, was the one to go after her, hissing and swatting. Then the Ball begins again, livelier than ever. It was during the final climax that I noticed the performers smiling, getting much joy from the experience.
Then Grizabella came on and all visible joy ceased. The younger Cats were discouraged from approaching her, though Tumble managed to get close enough to bop her roughly with his hip. Demeter tried to approach her, but Bomba stopped her. Bomba sniffed at Grizabella and turned away hissing. Then Memory and intermission.
During intermission Alice and I rehashed what we had seen. In talking to the lady sitting next to Alice (whose name I didn’t catch, I’m afraid), we found that it was also her first time seeing the show and I was able to help her identify some of the characters. At the appropriate time Alice and I went up on the stage via the ramp on the far left and found out just how slick they are. (Very.) Both of us were wearing high-heeled footgear with little traction and we weren’t even sure if we could make it up there. But we did and began looking around at the junk, contemplating what we might be willing to buy in the charity auction coming up. At one point the heel of my shoe got caught on one of the flaps of the startrap, causing me to stumble. Look out, GRC, I thought, I’m coming down to see ya!
We shuffled carefully back down the ramp and returned to our seats, where the young lady next to Alice told us that she had the scoop on the disturbance in the audience during the Jellicle Ball. Apparently there was a couple with a small child and the latter was being noisy. (Well, they tend to be; it’s the nature of the beast.) Sitting behind them was another couple, sans child, the husband of which decided to take matters into his own hands and smacked the father of the disruptive youngster, presumably issuing a verbal command to control his offspring. The results were pretty predictable: the father turned around and punched the other guy and that’s when the yelling began. The couple with the child left soon after and had their money reimbursed, while the other couple stayed. Why they weren’t asked to leave is anyone’s guess.
Switching to nicer topics, I wanted to mention that during Naming, or perhaps sooner, Lenny Daniel had discovered where I was sitting. He had made eye contact several times throughout the first half, grinning and making faces, and continued to do so in the second half. He seemed to spend a lot of time on our side of the stage, too, much to my delight.
I didn’t really notice any kitty antics this time, because at the start of the second act I was doing a quick who’s who for Alice and our neighbor. Then Old D started singing and I shut up.
Gus’ song was very moving. I may get lynched for this, but I am more inclined to feel sympathetic toward Gus than Grizabella. Especially the way John Dewar plays him. The relationship between him and Jellylorum is so touching. And finally, anyone who can play Growltiger like that is okay by me.
Alice and I immensely enjoyed Growltiger’s Last Stand. The pirate captain and his raffish crew were at their finest. The crew nervously swabbed the deck and cleaned the railings as they sang about their ruthless captain. Munkustrap was at the wheel, but during the second verse Alonzo tried to take over, and he looked like he was goofing off more than anything else. While his underlings were singing about him, Growltiger came over to our side and favoured us with a piratical chortle. As Tugger sang his line just before he got smacked, he had such an air of sad resignation, as in he knew he was going to get hurt, but also knew he couldn’t do anything about it. And the change in expression that occurred as Griddlebone announced her arrival was hysterical. She sings her first bit and all the males tense, grabbing each other for support. Growltiger sings, "Mi amore," and the crew all make disgusted faces at him. Griddlebone sings her reply and they all grin and slowly turn their heads to her. As she comes up on the stage both Tugger and Mistoffelees get pushed out of the way by their crew-mates, and Mistoff misses his chance to greet her entirely. Tugger at the end of the receiving line was puckered up hoping for a kiss. When Griddlebone sees Growltiger and swoons back into Tugger’s arms, he takes full advantage of the fact and buries his face in the fur of her wig. It is with some difficulty that his crew-mates manage to pry him away. As they sing, "In the fore-peak of the vessel…" the crew go back up on the deck, and for some reason Alonzo is carrying Munkustrap on his back. From the deck they wave and make eyes at Griddlebone until their captain sings, "my raffish crew WERE SLEEPING!" Then they jump and look indignant, but nonetheless go below, except for Munkustrap who stays out and promptly falls asleep on the poop deck. The rest of the piece went much as it usually does; I’ll save the intricacies for Thursday’s report. Moving on…
Skimble’s song was delightful as always. And my favourite part would have to be the train-riding bit. Skimble is running to and fro, getting all the kittens in position. Pouncival stands as he is directed, but he is scowling like a thundercloud. As soon as Skimble is gone he glances over at Coricopat standing next to him and reaches over to tap him on the opposite shoulder before snapping back to his position. Cori looks around, puzzled, but sees no one. Pounce does it again and Cori turns all the way around looking for who tapped him. He sees Pounce standing there looking deceptively innocent, puts two and two together, and goes after him. I must say, Billy S makes a much more threatening Coricopat than does Billy J. He chased an alarmed Pounce all the way to the wings before Skimble noticed and clapped his paws at them, hissing for them to behave. Later when Skimble sings, "and a crank to shut the window should you sneeze," Sillabub lets out a loud sneeze. As the train is about to be assembled the car trunk opens and out comes Munkustrap pushing ahead of him the front wheels of the train. It looks for all the world like he’s pushing a lawn mower, and that could easily be what the thing is. Just as a point of interest, at the end of the song it is Alonzo who gives Skimble a hand up first on Mungo’s, then Tumble’s back. Skimble jumps down as the Cats start to sing the chorus again, and that’s when we hear the crash.
Macavity was excellent as always. Gayle Holsman and Marlene Danielle were really throwing themselves into the singing. And the fight was terrific. (This is the only fight Cats is supposed to have.) Interesting to note, near the end of the fight as Alonzo and Munkustrap were both running at Macavity, Alonzo let out a wild yell. Also Cassandra seemed to be acting just as much a fighter and protector as Munk and Lonz.
Moving on, the problem with Tugger’s costume is that he can’t sneak anywhere because the rattling of his chains gives him away. This was the case as Old D’s melody played quietly and the Cats milled around the stage looking for their loved ones. I heard a faint jingling and knew that Tugger was getting into position for the intro to Mistoffelees. When he first makes his suggestion to ask Mistoffelees the Cats treat the idea with vague scorn and for the first time we hear a sense of urgency in his voice. He quickly regains his confidence and cockiness, though, as he gets their attention. When Mistoffelees came down on his rope there were flashing lights and one was angled in a way that it seemed to be hitting me right in my left retina. Then when he was making his little explosions the smoke from the one nearest bothered me a bit. I can only imagine how someone with a fragile respiratory status would deal with it. But pardon my griping. The rest of the number, especially Julius’ dancing, was dazzling. Though I was a little startled by something Tugger and Bomba did just after the dance routine. They were facing each other singing a high note together, holding hands and leaning back, and their legs were intertwined. I had never noticed that before. I’m not sure how I missed it! And it was with some amusement that I noted as Julius danced that you could see one of three things flying from his body: either beads from his costume, glitter from his wig, or sweat from his face.
Finally, Grizabella comes and sings Memory one more time and then it’s up, up, up, up to the Heaviside Layer. One thing I noticed from this new vantagepoint: the tire has all spotlights on the underside and written on the lenses of all of them in grease pencil is the number 202. Anybody have any idea of the significance if any?
For Ad-dressing we had Munkustrap and Alonzo right in front of us. It was quite a treat to have these two great voices singing directly to us. I found myself torn over which of the two to watch, but for the most part if I noticed Munkustrap looking at me I’d watch him, and when he broke eye contact I’d look back at Alonzo. I found his gaze on me quite a lot, which delighted me no end. He also made faces at me, at which I grinned insanely. And I finally got to see up close what he does when Old D talks about food. On "dish of cream" his eyes widen and he becomes very alert. As Old D continues on about caviar and the like he goes a little crazy, smacking his lips and wagging his tongue in the air. Alice and I were in hysterics. Then gradually he calms down and when he was fully composed he gave us a smug look that said, "You didn’t see that!" Hee hee! That could easily count as the best part of the show for me.
Then came bows and the show was over. I asked the young lady sitting next to us if she wanted to come with us to talk to the cast, but she said she didn’t have time. So Alice and I waited by the stage door on our own. I had gotten enlargements made of pictures I had taken of myself with Keith, Lenny, Jon Erik, Julius, Jeffry, and Billy J that I was planning to get autographed. I had my own camera, of course, but Alice had brought her digital camera and offered to take all pictures.
Stephen Bienskie was the first one out. Being as I wasn’t with Cindy this time, my natural shyness took over and I didn’t talk to him much, but I did get a picture with him. While we were waiting for the others to come out we met Matt from the forum. He had not been at the show, but knew we would be there and came to meet us. I introduced him to Alice and we chatted while we waited for the other performers.
Jeffry was the next one we spotted. I was a little startled when I saw him because his hair is now brown instead of blond and he got rid of his goatee. I commented on this when I talked to him, saying that I had liked the beard. He pointed out that it was hard to put the makeup on over it, which I expect would be the case. He signed my picture and thanked me for the Phantom Cats parody I had given him. He actually sounded excited about reading it. I wonder if he knew yet that Munkustrap plays the Phantom.
As we drifted away from Jeffry, I noticed Keith heading our way. When he got up to me he thrust out a large bag that I recognized as the one I had brought cookies in. At first I was puzzled, then I realized that he was returning the tupperware containers, which I had actually had no intention of reclaiming.
"Oh, you didn’t have to do that!" I protested.
"Well, we finished them all," Keith pointed out.
Three containers of cookies finished in one night. Hungry kitties, aren’t they? I shrugged and took the bag from him, then had him sign my picture. He, too, thanked me for the Phantom Cats parody, saying he would probably have plenty of time to read it on the subway. We talked for a bit about the joys of reading versus the vices of television, then we said goodbye.
I noticed Julius standing off a little ways surrounded by adoring fans and decided I might as well get in line. As I stood there, I sensed a presence at my right elbow. I turned and there was Jon Erik right next to me. I think I must have had a super adrenaline charge going that night because I greeted him more effusively than I intended and asked him to sign my picture. He made it out to me, then stood lost in thought, wondering what else to put.
"I’m the cookie lady, if that helps," I commented jokingly.
He nodded and thought a bit more before putting down a message thanking me for my support, goodies, and thoughtfulness. (sniff) We parted soon after (he’s shy and I’m shy; not a winning combination) and I went back to waiting for Julius.
But before too long I once again became aware of someone at my side. I turned, and there was Lenny grinning at me. I nearly had a heart attack right there! And if my greeting to Jon Erik was enthusiastic, then the one Lenny got was ten times so.
I had him sign my picture and as he did so he commented, "I look so evil there!"
Evil? Not at all! But then I could be a bit biased. "It’s the best one I have of us," I told him.
He nodded, then said out of the blue, "I was platinum yesterday."
"Really?" I said a little incredulously, my eyes irresistibly drawn to his minimal hairdo.
"Yeah," he nodded, "but I shaved it all off."
Okay. Having signed the picture, he began looking at the others that I had out of the envelope and I asked him if he would be at the party on Thursday. He replied that he would come for a little while, but he would have to leave early to meet his family. I gave a disappointed "oh!" and explained that I had hoped we would get a chance to talk about the Cats story and the various relationships as it is something I’m interested in and I had been told that he was well-versed on the subject. He nodded and said that he had his own version that someone had passed on to him, and maybe we could get a chance to talk about it at the party.
As he said this he came across Jon Erik’s picture and paused to read the message inscribed. Then he nonchalantly pulled his own picture out again and proceeded to add something under his signature. I like what he put: "Thanks for all your smiles!" He certainly got to see plenty of those; I was usually grinning like a maniac whenever he glanced my way.
We parted company soon after. He said goodbye, and then he leaned forward and kissed me on the cheek. Whoooo! I was in such total shock, it was all I could do to stay upright and say goodbye back. (What he must think of me I can’t imagine.)
I finally got to see Julius by the way. He signed my picture and we talked a little. I can’t really tell you what he said, though. I was still dazed from my encounter with Lenny. :~)
After the performers had all gone home the fans hung out and chatted. I think just about all of us were from the forum; Alice may have been the lone exception. This was a first time meeting for most of us, and the introductions tended to go like this:
"Hi, I’m soandso, but I’m Delilah on the forum."
"Oh, you’re Delilah."
And so on. It was fun meeting all these folks in person at last, but I admit I was a bit overwhelmed by all of them at once. I was actually somewhat relieved to see a familiar face, i.e. Jack Shot. We had met briefly at the Sunday show back in May. With a little prompting he remembered me and we had a nice little conversation. Talked mostly of Cats I believe. (Well, what else?)
I think it was close to midnight when Alice and I decided to call it a night. Both Jack and Matt were staying at the same hotel that we were in and they chivalrously offered to walk back with us. I’m glad they did. New York can be a bit scary for a little country girl like me, especially at night.
Late the next morning Alice and I met up with Jack and Matt in the lobby and we went CD shopping together. Specifically Matt and Alice, both Rockapella fans like me, were looking for the Japanese Rockapella CDs. I am pleased to say that I am a proud owner of all seven of them, though I admit it was like pulling teeth to get the last few. I had asked among my New York-based e-mail correspondents and gotten a couple ideas on where to find the CDs. As luck would have it, Jack was well acquainted with both the places I had in mind and how to get there, and was able to suggest a couple other places to try as well. So we let him lead the way. Went to four stores and found a grand total of two Rockapella recordings, Vocobeat and Out Cold. Alice already has these and Matt was looking specifically for From NY, so we kind of struck out there. Did find a couple other things of interest, though.
At the Virgin Mega Store Alice was looking at the children’s section (a bit meager in my opinion) which was right next to the classical and opera section. She asked me to keep her out of the latter because she would spend too much money there. I said I would, but then I got caught up in a conversation with Jack and Matt and Alice drifted away in the meantime. A few minutes later I heard her call to me plaintively from the opera section, "You’re not doing your job!" I think she did get one CD there, though, despite my best efforts. ;~)
Had lunch, then stopped at one more music store, which didn’t have much that I was interested in, but was rather entertaining for all the TV and music memorabilia they had lining the upper shelves. After that we hit the Backstage Memories shop next to the Winter Garden. I got a few things there and gloated over the fact that they had the Joseph video for $25 and I had already gotten it at Wal-Mart for $14. Then it was back to the hotel to change for the show.
I had some things to drop off at the stage door again, drawings I had done of Keith, Lenny, and Jon Erik in costume. It was rather chaotic back there, so I didn’t even try to have Keith paged. I just gave the drawings to the stage manager and left.
As I said, Alice and I were in the same seats both nights. This time there were no swings, all the regular folks were in their usual roles. I admit I was a little disappointed as this meant I wouldn’t get to see Billy Sprague anymore. Well, at least I saw him on Wednesday.
The thing about seeing the show twice in a row from the same seats is that there isn’t much different to report the second night. Again we had Jellylorum and Asparagus staring at us during the overture. And Pouncival scared me again coming out through the stage pipe, even though I knew he was coming.
Lenny spotted me early on. I can’t remember exactly when, but around this time he came over to our side of the stage and stuck his tongue out at me. And of course, we had the benefit of Alonzo’s cute faces for Naming as well, along with Mistoffelees and Plato.
Nothing really different in Gumbie Cat. In Tugger’s song, the dance partner he chose was not as quick to respond as on the previous night. From the gestures he made I got the impression that she didn’t entirely understand his request. But finally she stood up and danced with him. I kind of liked Bomba’s attitude in this song. She seemed to convey the message, "I can easily do without him, I just choose not to." The final abow-wow-wows are hysterical. After the girls go crazy the first time, Tugger shrugs and says, "Huh," as if he doesn’t understand why they’re acting that way. After the second time he just laughs at them. (And he has a cute laugh.) During the last abow-wow-wow he is using the end of his tail as a mic, the girls are really going crazy now, Cassandra reaches out and grabs one of his chains, and in the end it is Rumpelteazer who goes completely nuts and has to be silenced.
Then came Grizabella. I was watching Alonzo closely this time. (So when am I not?) He stood at the back of the stage with Sillabub peeking out between his legs. After the line "which opens on her like a grin" Sillabub darted suddenly forward, but Alonzo grabbed her by the hips, dragged her back, shoved her over next to Jenny, and actually smacked her paw and hissed as an admonition. I don’t know for certain, but I have a feeling Sillabub may be Alonzo’s kitten. Also as Bomba was going over to join Demeter she passed Alonzo and they nuzzled each other affectionately. Hmm, could she be Sillabub’s mother?
There were two very young girls in the front row across the ramp from us that Bustopher tossed his flower to. They missed catching it, though, and their mother had to pick it up for them. Skipping to the end, as the males were lining up to receive Bustopher, Tumble decided instead to try and climb the junk next to the wings. Skimble hissed at him to come and join the others. Good thing he did, too, because he was the one to get Bustopher’s acknowledgment. He seems to rotate them. I wonder if Pounce was picked at the next performance, he being the next in line.
The sirens blare suddenly and all the Cats react. Sillabub was crouched in front of Alonzo and he grabbed her by the waist, pulling her back between his legs until she was behind him. This would seem to strengthen my theory that Sillabub is Alonzo’s kitten. Why else would he be taking such care to protect her?
On to M&R. Having had the opportunity to compare them closely, I have to say that Roger just edges out Billy J as my favourite Broadway Mungojerrie. (Sorry, Billy!) Some of the cute details of this song include: After the line "and you couldn’t find one of your winter vests" Mungo gives the "vest" he pulled out to Teazer and she proudly holds it up to her chest. Then she decides that she doesn’t like it after all, makes a face, and throws it away. After Mungo had pretended to steal Teazer’s pearls and she looks down to see that they are still there, when she next says her name she snaps the pearls on their elastic string. On the line "and remarkably smart at a smash and grab" Mungo holds something in his hand and Teazer crawls between his legs and grabs it from him, then stands and holds it out to him as he pretends to examine it with a jeweler’s loupe. When singing about Sunday dinner, Teazer says "potaters and greens!" Finally, Mungo tries to take all the credit himself and Teazer comes over and shouts "And!" right in his ear, which he then paws at painfully.
Nothing exciting in Old Deuteronomy. And actually, even though I love P&P, and it is always hysterical, it wasn’t really any different from Wednesday to Thursday, apart from Roger being the first pollicle this time. Though at the beginning I did notice Alonzo whapping his tail at the audience members nearest him when he was settled on the stage left ramp.
The main difference between the Ball on this night and the one the previous night is that there was no fight in the audience. Yay! But someone’s cell phone did go off during the orgy. It rang four times before the person finally answered it. How inconsiderate! But otherwise the Ball was more or less the same.
Grizabella, Memory, and intermission. Alice and I elected not to go up on the stage this time. Once was enough for us when a major risk factor was a broken neck from going up the ramp. Hector Montalvo and Christine Alducin were sitting next to us on Alice’s side, but we didn’t talk much. Sitting on my other side was a gentleman who had obviously been hitting the bar. Every time the Cats ran by, the breeze they created sent a whiff of liquor up my nose. But at least he was fairly sedate.
Not much in the way of kitty antics on our side of the stage. And nothing different in Moments, nor in Gus.
Moving on to Growltiger, let me pick up where I left off in Wednesday’s description. As Munkustrap was settling down for his snooze on the deck he caught sight of the parrot on his shoulder and did a double take as if he’d forgotten it was there. As they prepared for the duet Griddlebone acted like a very typical lady cat. Growltiger held out his hand to her, but she wouldn’t accept it until she was absolutely ready. She was particularly annoyed later when he ignored her upturned, puckered lips, but when he tried to get fresh with her, she warned him off with a hiss and a swat. And he was taking it all in stride. He must be truly smitten by this feline femme fatale. Then come the Siamese. Munkustrap gave a violent start when he awoke and saw them all glaring down at him. After battening down the hatches they swarmed around the lovers. Growltiger, coward that he is, crouched behind Griddlebone, eyes covered and knees knocking. When she was making her grand exit he realized she was no longer in front of him and began feeling around for her, eyes still covered. He encountered someone and straightened up only to find himself face to face with one of the Siamese. He turned just in time to see Griddlebone blow a kiss to him before she jumped off the ship. Then the fight, which went as usual, and then the Siamese drove Growltiger out onto the plank. He turned to appeal to them for mercy, but they were all singing to the audience just then. He waved them off in disgust, shook his fist at the sky, then held his nose and jumped. And it ended as usual.
Couple of things in Skimble’s song. During the train-riding bit Pounce did the same trick with Coricopat, but it was Billy J this time instead of Billy S and he reacted differently. He caught on after the first tap and reached over to do the same to Pounce. The little kitten looked around, startled, then started to tap Cori again. But Cori caught him this time and they started scrapping until Skimble came along and made them stop. Later as the Cats sing the verse that begins "When they crept into that cozy berth…" they start out sitting on the stage facing the audience with their knees drawn up. Then in this position they scoot around 180 degrees to face Skimble. Alonzo started this move facing us. He locked eyes with me and held my gaze as he turned so that he was looking over his shoulder at me. Then he faced forward again. Hmm, interesting.
Macavity was just as good as it always is. I finally thought to count the spins that Alonzo does while holding onto Mac. (They’re easier to count than Mistoff’s fouettes.) He did nine. That may not sound like many, but it’s pretty awesome considering he’s got a heavier guy hanging from his shoulders while he’s doing it. For those of you who have only ever seen the video, I will attempt to describe it for you: First, call to your mind the bit in the video where Munkustrap and Macavity are bent over, each scratching at the other’s back. Put Alonzo in Munk’s place. While they are bent over each other thusly, Alonzo grabs Macavity by the waist and flips him upside down. Mac hooks his legs at the ankles around Lonz’s neck; he is hanging down Alonzo’s front, facing out. Then Lonz starts spinning, holding onto Mac’s waist. After about the seventh spin, Alonzo starts to slow down. Macavity, who had been flailing around, puts a hand down to the stage to slow them down further, then Alonzo eases him down from his shoulders and the momentum causes him to slide away. Impressive, no? Well done, Keith and Lenny!
Just a note, I find it very touching the way Demeter and Alonzo nuzzle each other in obvious relief after the fight is all over. Even if he has had a kitten with Bomba, Demeter would appear to be Alonzo’s true love. Then again, they could be very close siblings, which still wouldn’t prevent them from being lovers, these being cats.
Mistoffelees’ number went much as it usually did (great job, Julius!), but there was one cute thing that I must mention. The first time that Tugger sings about producing seven kittens from a hat, a coffee can shoots out of the stage; Mistoff catches it and flings a long, coloured scarf out of it. At the end of the scarf is a cardboard disc to give it some weight and Coricopat catches this. When that bit was over with, Cori threw the disk back at the can and it went right in. Bet he couldn’t do that again in a million years. Also, when Mistoff brings Old D back, Tugger looks absolutely dumbfounded, as if to say, "I was expecting seven kittens, not this!"
Now we’re winding to a close: Memory, Journey, and finally, Ad-dressing. Again we had Munkustrap and Alonzo in front of us. I was really savouring this song, enjoying their great voices and Alonzo’s cute faces. His reaction to the mention of food is just priceless.
One thing I keep forgetting to mention in my reports: After the final chords of Ad-dressing the Cats all scatter to the lively strains of the Jellicle Ball. As the tire lowers to the stage, Old D is boogying to the music. Hee hee!
Bows and then out to the stage door where we met even more forum frequenters. "This is certainly a chummy bunch of fans," Alice commented after talking with some of them. Very true.
I had somehow missed Billy Johnstone the previous night and still needed him to sign my picture. Since he was the only one I really needed to see, he was naturally one of the last ones out. Stephen, again, came out first. He was munching on a pear and he bemoaned the fact that we caught him stuffing his face. At least it was with something healthy.
We chatted briefly with Keith and Lenny, and Lenny gave me a goodbye hug. I’m glad of that, too, because due to my usual shyness, and the knowledge that he would be in a hurry, I didn’t approach him at the party at all, and of course, he left early. Oh well.
(since it went a good bit past midnight)
After a brief detour to the gift shop to pick up more film for my camera, we headed over to TGI Friday’s for the party. I was tense, but I didn’t quite pull a Heartland. That is, I didn’t feel like eating, but I ate anyway. And it was a great party. There was a DJ, and a few fans were brave enough to get out on the dance floor, along with Julius, who proved that yes, he can dance something other than Cats. ;~) There was also a raffle and auction, the latter being the highlight of the party. The items being auctioned ranged from rare Cats items to things that were related to Cats only in the remotest sense (ex: the giant chocolate bars and the gift basket with, among other things, catnip tea). It started out as a silent auction, but turned into a bidding auction, which was all the more entertaining. Due to some strange circumstances in the course of the trip, I found myself with more money than I anticipated, so I was a little bolder in the bidding than I might have been normally. And the glass of red wine I had probably helped. I found it interesting, though, that the wait-staff went around wearing these "We ID" buttons and they didn’t. I almost always get carded, but not this time. Hmmm…
But back to the auction. The auctioneer, who was also co-organizer of the party, dragged Julius up to the raised area they were using for a stage to help plug the items. First up was a photo of Stephen Bienskie in full costume backstage. It was not autographed, but Julius promised to fix that the next day. Julius was actually very good at the auctioneer bit. As they called for a higher bid he pointed to someone in the back and asked, "Was that twitch for a reason?"
In the picture Stephen had a very mean look on his face. Julius said that he had been sitting on the stairs with his head down. Julius called, "Hey, Stephen!"
Stephen looked up, "What?"
Click!
Sounds like Julius was a real menace backstage, and I haven’t even told about the scrapbook yet!
Someone asked, "Was that taken before or after he hit you?"
"I will not answer that," Julius replied blandly.
Being the first item, it didn’t go for much. I think $32 was the final bid, though I didn’t see who got it.
In contrast was the next item, an autographed photo of Julius and Jon Erik in costume on the roof of the Winter Garden "giving you GQ back to back," as Julius put it.
"And I thought Tugger had an attitude," the auctioneer commented.
The final bid from the silent auction had been $133 from Cindy. "A very bashful $133," Julius put in. Well, it would just have to stay bashful because no one put in a higher bid and Cindy got the picture.
The auction really got swinging with the next item, a photo of Billy Johnstone as Coricopat and Amy Hamel as Tantomile backstage. It had been autographed by Billy, and he promised to get Amy to sign it as well. So far the bid was $75. As the auctioneer commented, "If this," she gestured to Julius, "can sell for $133, then this," she held up the picture, "should at least go up to $80."
"I don’t know about that," Julius countered, "but still…"
The bid slowly began to climb and Billy offered to throw in another autographed photo, this one of him as Cori on the set. I think at about this time a bidding war between Dax and Whimsey began. Billy offered an autographed head shot as well.
"If you call now," Julius said gleefully, "we will include…"
"You have to remind me," Billy said urgently.
The bidding war continued and Billy came up to the stage area to offer his support. Then he threw in yet another picture, this one of him as Mungojerrie with Lassie. (Lassie? Why?) And then he threw in a Skimble picture, which almost got a bid from the auctioneer herself. Finally the bid got up to $250 from Whimsey.
"Dax, $260?" the auctioneer queried.
A pause, then, "Lemme stop and think!"
"Take all the time you need," the auctioneer offered.
But Dax decided to back out and the auctioneer declared, "Sold to Whimsey for $250!"
"What she failed to mention," said Mandakay (Whimsey’s older sister), "is that it’s sold with my money!"
Next up was a Hamburg Cats cap signed by Keith Wilson, who played Plato/Macavity in Germany before coming to Broadway. Keith came up to offer his support during the bidding. The top bid (mine) was $160. "Come on, people!" the auctioneer exclaimed. "Can’t we do better than that?"
"Oh, I think that sounds pretty good," Keith commented.
We had to laugh at that. It wasn’t exactly the proper auction attitude.
But Keith did attempt to plug his hat. "I don’t know if they make these here," he said, referring to the Cats eyes embroidered above the Cats logo. "We had these in Germany, but I haven’t seen them in the States. But it’s got the eyes, and…it’s a hat." Having exhausted his supply of plugs he turned to the auctioneer and asked, "What now?"
The auctioneer went on to tell us about Broadway Cares, a charity for AIDS in general. I noticed her looking at me a lot as she spoke, and she may have been thinking she would appeal to my sympathies as a nurse. (I have worked with AIDS patients, including one who was in the end stages; it is very draining.) But at the time I was thinking, Is she expecting me to up my own bid?
As incentive the auctioneer said Keith would kiss the cap for the winner (oh, thrill), but even this was not enough. The bid stayed at $160 and I got the cap. Keith did kiss it, though. :~)
Next up for bid was the first pair of shoes. Yes, Keith and the others had apparently scrounged around backstage and dug up several pairs of old shoes, which they had the owners sign and donate to the auction. Keith’s Plato shoes were the first. Having just sold Keith’s cap, the auctioneer stated that she wouldn’t make Keith kiss the shoes, "that would be too gross."
"No," Keith shook his head as he held up the shoes, "I ain't kissin' these!"
Instead, Keith put on the shoes and modeled them for us, propping one leg up on the railing that separated the auction area from the dance floor where we were. There were plenty of flashbulbs going off just then, and mine was one of them. ;~)
"There’s a shoe," Keith said as he posed before bringing his leg down and taking off the shoes.
"Keith is not included in the bid," Julius pointed out.
"That’s right," the auctioneer agreed, "performer not included." Oh, darn!
But nevertheless the bid began to climb. "They’re really comfortable, too," Keith pointed out. "Lots of padding, size 9 ½, suede, dance rubber, they bend…"
Finally the auctioneer cried out, "Okay, I will have Keith kiss the shoes!"
Keith made a counter-proposal: "I could kiss the winner."
"If it’s a girl," the auctioneer added.
"I’m sure it will be," Keith said dismissively.
(Gasp) Was that a chauvinist comment that came out of Keith’s mouth? But the winner was a girl, Lynette, and she got a Kodak-captured kiss on the cheek from Keith. Her final bid was $150.
Next was an autographed Cats T-shirt. "Just about everyone’s signature is on here," Keith said as he held it up for display.
"Wait a second, is James on here?" the auctioneer demanded. She and Keith spent a minute searching, and eventually concluded that James Hadley had not signed it after all. "Then I won’t bid on it," the auctioneer decided.
The bidding began and Jon Erik, who was video-taping from the dance floor, saw fit to remind us, "This is the final cast of Cats if you are not aware!" Amid some scattered snickering he added, "It…may have gone over your head."
To push the bid higher the auctioneer pointed out, "Keith is holding it. Keith is actually touching the shirt!" At which Keith made as if he was going to sneeze and pretended to blow his nose with it.
"Okay, we have $110," the auctioneer said. "Can we have…" she turned to Keith, "what comes after ten?"
"Fifteen," Keith grinned.
Apparently math is not one of her strong points. :~) And $115 was the final bid.
Now came another pair of shoes, this time Marlene Danielle’s Bombalurina shoes. She was not there to plug them, but Billy, Julius, Jon Erik, and Keith did a fine job on their own, Billy more or less taking the lead. "This is Marlene Danielle we’re talking about," he said, "the lady who’s been in the show from the very beginning! She’s even in the Guinness Book of World Records. Marlene Danielle. See how it just rolls off the tongue?" He held up the white shoe for inspection and commented, "She has very pretty feet."
"Yes," the auctioneer agreed, "and you will never see a sexier foot on any of the Cats…except Jennyanydots."
Then Jon Erik jumped in, "Say it with me people!"
"Marlene Danielle!" we chorused.
"That’s all we have to say," Jon Erik nodded.
And all I have left to say is that the shoes went to Crosswise for $130.
Then yet another pair of shoes, Lenny Daniel’s Alonzo shoes. "Wouldn’t Lenny be surprised," the auctioneer said, "to hear that his shoes sold for more than Marlene Danielle’s if we work it up that high."
Well, they got close. I had bid on these, a rather bizarre number, $113.56. As the auctioneer read this off she gave me a look and asked, "Can I at least have $114?"
Feeling a little silly, I replied, "All right, I’ll give you $114."
"Thank you," she smiled back. "I’ll even let you up your own bid!"
Someone else, I didn’t see who, bid $115 and I immediately upped it to $120. They must have heard the urgency in my voice or something, cos no one seemed to want to bid after that. "I have a bid of $120," the auctioneer said. "Can I have $125 for Lenny Daniel’s shoes?" Pause. "$125 for Lenny Dan--" she turned to the cast members, "help me!"
"Everybody say it with me!" Jon Erik called as he came forward. (Do I sense a running gag here?)
"Lenny Daniel!"
"That’s all we have to say," Jon Erik concluded and started to walk away, then he decided to take it upon himself to plug the shoes. He picked them up and was starting to tell us something, but as he spoke he put his hand inside the black shoe and suddenly demanded, "Why does he have padding in his shoes?" In response to our laughter he added, "There’s extra padding! Which I don’t have!"
"He has tender little feet and you’re tough!" the auctioneer giggled.
"That’s right," Jon Erik agreed, "I have tough feet." He then continued on to tell us his little story about the shoes: "They can’t make us new shoes all the time, but they do get worn and they have holes. So they just keep sewing patches on them until you have a shoe full of patches. So you can tell that these are genuinely worn shoes."
Julius came over and sniffed one, then stated, "Unmistakably Lenny Daniel’s shoes!"
Jon Erik sniffed it, too, and nodded, "Yeah, I have to agree. But Lenny works very hard in these shoes. And…that’s all I have to say to you."
And that’s all anybody had to say. The bid stayed at $120 and I got the shoes! :~)
Next up was a giant Ghiardelli chocolate bar. "Keith, pay attention!" the auctioneer called as she brought it forward. "This baby will keep you in chocolate for a couple of weeks unless you’re Keith, in which case it’ll probably last about an hour!" She made several attempts to get Keith, the confirmed chocoholic, to bid on the bar, with little success. "This would be good for Broadway Cares!" she pointed out.
"And good for energy," Keith added, not taking the bait. "You eat that and watch the video, you’ll do the Ball all night long!" (Yeah, I’ll bet!)
The auctioneer finally asked him directly for a bid. He looked very tempted, his eyes alight with desire, but he begged off on the excuse that he would soon be out of a job.
The bid wasn’t moving, so Julius offered to have the cast members present autograph the box. "An autographed chocolate bar!" the auctioneer cried. "You can’t get much better than that." It succeeded in getting the bidding started and got past $40 (the actual price of the bar) before it was sold to Lynette.
There was another large chocolate bar, Lindt this time, which I bid on mainly because the top bid was $10. This was the actual price of the bar, and I wanted them to at least get a little profit so I bid $15. After that, a gift basket with various items including catnip tea, something that Billy readily endorsed as a relaxant. Again autographs from the four cast members encouraged the bidding. Billy signed the tea, Keith a chocolate bar, and Julius and Jon Erik both signed a package of cookies. The entire basket went for $50.
Now another pair of shoes, the ones Billy wore as Coricopat. The bid started at $75. "Everybody say it with me!" Jon Erik called out. (There it is again…)
"Billy Johnstone!"
"That’s all we have to say."
Billy started to talk about the shoes and Jon Erik suddenly cried, "Oh, wait! I have to get my camera!"
While he was gone Billy looked the shoes over and commented, "These are patched up. There’s been some hard times in these shoes. In fact, I’d say, from the looks of them, these are pre-herniated disk." (Ouch!) "You know they were begging me to break in my new shoes by this point."
Jon Erik returned at that moment and with his handy-cam at the ready said, "Okay, now."
"Now what?" Billy said distractedly.
"Who’s got the heart to bid more than $75?" Jon Erik demanded.
There was no immediate response and after a moment of thought Billy said, "Let me tell you my little Cats story."
"There we go!" Jon Erik nodded. "This is what I was waiting for." We giggled and he added, "I’ve never heard this story, just heard about it."
So here’s the story, somewhat condensed: Billy came to New York with his parents at age 13 to see Cats, his first Broadway show. After seeing it his life was changed forever and all he wanted was to be in Cats. He would even doodle the Cats logo and tagline (now and forever) in the margins of his textbooks at school. (Wonder how his teachers felt about that.) As the bid began to climb he offered to throw in a scanned copy of a picture of him at 17 with Laurie Beechman, the Grizabella at the time, whom he greatly admired, plus a picture of the two of them in costume in her dressing room when they actually got to be in the show together in ‘97. (Talk about going full circle!) Julius actually put in a bid, which surprised everyone, Billy not least of all. The bid kept climbing and Billy offered to throw in another scanned copy, this one of him waiting at the stage door of the Winter Garden. (Oh, the irony!) "I’d give you the books with the doodles in them, too," he said, "but I don’t know where they are. My mother might have thrown them away." The last thing he threw in was a scanned copy of his high school senior yearbook picture, with the caption beneath, "Cats now and forever! Broadway, here I come!" If the bid hadn’t finally stopped, he might have ended up offering his entire photo album. This whole package went to Crosswise for $190.
Next up were the shoes Keith wore as Plato when he was in the Cats production in Hamburg. (A well-traveled performer, isn’t he?) "These are German shoes, people!" he said as he held them up. Ah, a rarity then, at least on this side of the Atlantic.
Keith then proceeded to point out the differences between Broadway shoes and German shoes: They were hard leather where his Broadway shoes were suede. Also they had snaps instead of hooks to hold the bottom of the leg warmer in place, and there was just one elastic band going straight across instead of two criss-crossing. To encourage the bidding, Keith began reciting the Naming of Cats in German. He got maybe a third of the way through before he stopped, saying he couldn’t remember anymore. "And don’t ask me to tell you what I just said because I have no idea," he told us. "I learned it phonetically." How disappointing.
I think I stepped out at this point to get another roll of film. When I came back they were bidding on a ticket to the Saturday show of Cats. The incentive this time was a chance to go backstage during intermission and get a picture taken with the cast. "And we’ll smile really big in that picture," Julius promised. Groovy! Alice and I looked at each other and lamented the fact that we were leaving New York on Friday. I had to work on Saturday and she had a plane to catch.
As the bid went up Julius kept pushing it by reminding us that it was the last public show. He got a little emotional at that and leaned against a handy table for support. But the table was none too steady and began to tip over. He managed to catch it before anything fell off, though not before Jon Erik said sarcastically, "Also Julius will try to stay on two feet."
"Except for that spin," Julius put in. "That would be kind of hard to do." Then an idea struck him and he added, "I will throw in an extra spin!"
Goodness! I wonder if he delivered on that promise.
"It’s a center orchestra seat," Julius told us, "row M, and a picture of us smiling really big…"
"What more can you people ask for?" Jon Erik burst out. "Come on!"
Whatever more they might ask, the ticket went for $170.
It was getting late so they started trying to speed things along. There was a carousel-style horse sculpture by Bandersnatch that had been christened Mistoffelees. Then an embroidery of the Cats eyes and logo by Ms. Jellicle, which I bought. (This put me up to four items. Good grief!) And there was a pair of Beanie Baby kitties, one grey tabby (Silver) and one orange tabby (Amber), which James Hadley had bid on. Apparently he wanted something to help him remember his part in Cats. Knowing that, absolutely no one bid against him. How touching.
Finally they got to the photo album which Julius had put together. He had taken pictures of the cast backstage, both candid and posed, and put them all in a big scrapbook along with some autographs. "Look for my pictures in Vanity Fair," he told us jokingly. As you can imagine, this was a much-coveted item. Before the bidding started, however, Julius walked us through the photos, explaining each one. Jon Erik sat at a nearby table filming this and making smart comments throughout.
Included in the album were several pictures taken on the roof of the Winter Garden. Why they were up on the roof doing a photo shoot is beyond me, but they evidently got a few stares from passersby. Among others was the first attempt at the pic of Jon Erik and Julius that was sold earlier. Just as this picture was taken Keith started to walk in front of the camera. The result: you saw Mistoffelees in the background, Plato’s back view in the foreground, but not Pouncival. "I remember that clearly!" Jon Erik exclaimed. "The anger that was boiling…"
Keith, of course, acted chagrined but still amused. And there were several other pictures of note:
Craig Waletzko as Tugger backstage holding a banana.
Jon Erik: You can’t ask for anything more than that. That's Cats!
Maria Jo Ralabate packing her things in her dressing room with her unitard pulled down off her shoulders and arms. (Didn’t I say Julius was a menace?)
Jeffry Denman and Maria Jo having an earnest conversation backstage. (Taken from both angles.)
Billy Sprague (as Pouncival) getting his wig put on.
Some of the men in the bathroom taking off their makeup.
Keith: Lots of skin!
Julius: Yes, very Chippendales-like.
A fan: How much are you selling the doubles for?
Jon Erik: (suavely) The negatives are in my possession.
Lenny Daniel and James Hadley clad in towels waiting for their turn at the sink in said bathroom. (That would probably be my favourite one!)
Jeffry and Julius together, pic taken by Julius. (Came out remarkably well, too.)
Lenny backstage taking ibuprofen with a very intent look on his face. (It’s a hard life…)
Jessica Dillan as Victoria doing The Leg Lift, and Jean Arbeiter as Jellylorum trying to copy her. (A brave attempt.)
Julius: I don’t think Jean actually approves of this picture…
Linda Balgord in her Pre-Grizabella costume. (Taken from waist up as she refused to have a full shot done.)
Jessica as Victoria and Julius as Mistoff both doing a leg lift on the WGT roof.
Julius: Keith Wilson took this picture!
Jon Erik: Say it with me, folks.
All: Keith Wilson!
A picture of Julius’ dressing table.
Julius: I don’t know if you can see it, but there’s a picture of Jon Erik and me from the National Tour.
Jon Erik: There ya go. Price just went up.
Several pictures of various cast members putting on and touching up their make-up, and others.
And on the last page was Marlene Danielle’s autograph, but no picture. Julius told us he had been planning to put one of Bombalurina there, but he’d never been able to catch her. Very elusive lady.
Now that we had all previewed the thing, the bidding began. I had placed a bid early on, but dropped out when it hit $300. (I figured I’d better save some money for potential emergencies on the trip home.) It finally went to Balurina for $625. Wow!
The party started winding down after this. I collected my auction items and wrote a check. Got Keith, Jon Erik, and Julius to sign the box that the Cats embroidery was packed in (I think Billy left right after the auction), and got a hug from each of them. I grieved the fact that I would never see any of them again, but Keith brushed that aside, saying he was sure he’d come on a tour to my city sometime in the future.
"Richmond, Va?" I said skeptically, it being the nearest big city where I live (near being strictly a relative term).
"Sure," he said, "I’ve been to the Carpenter Center before. It’s a nice place."
Well, I guess that’ll be something to look forward to anyway.
Alice and I walked back to our hotel, attended once again by Jack and Matt. We parted company with our gentlemen escorts in the hall by the elevators after hugs and promises to keep in touch. Alice and I got back to our room at three AM, with a 9:30 AM bus departure staring us in the face. Alice called for a wake-up call at 6:30 and told the desk person, "Pray for us!" Not surprisingly we slept all the way from New York to DC.
I now have in Alice a Cats convert. She watched the video at my house and has now gotten her own copy, commemorative edition even. Though she was rather peeved, as we all were, by the extensive cuts RUG made. (Now that they’ve shut down the Broadway show, don’t you think they should make a more complete video?) She liked Elaine Paige as Grizabella and Ken Page as Old Deuteronomy. And she thought Michael Gruber was good as Munkustrap, but said she likes Jeffry Denman better. (Hear that, Jeffry?) She went home on Saturday and began proselytizing on her own. Already she has converted her six-year-old daughter (that was an easy conquest), and her husband agreed to watch the video just so he could see what she was raving about. All in all a job well done.
A final note to the cast members who made this experience so special. You have all been part of a historical event and have touched many hearts. I know you must be proud. Wherever life takes you after this, you will always be remembered for your part in Cats. May you have the best of luck in all you do. Love y’all!
