I noticed as the Cats come out during the Overture that the rotating platform is still moving, but they run onto it anyway. It’s not moving very fast, though. As Munkustrap came forward for the first line I was waiting in anticipation. I had heard from many sources that Jack Rebaldi is a wonderful Munkustrap, but I had heard the same thing about David Ashley and I didn’t care for him much so I was reserving judgment. Jack’s delivery of the first line left a little to be desired. He sounded like he was straining at the top of his range. But never mind that, his movement was lovely. He was so fluid and seamless that I was willing to overlook the first impression on voice. Another actor I had heard good things about (from Feli) was Kenny Linden as Admetus/Macavity. Granted I was severely missing Clint in the role, but I had to admit Kenny was doing a pretty good job, too. He looked so wonderfully catlike sitting at the edge of the stage and giving the aloof stare to the folks in the first row. Matthew Attwell was another who caught my attention, and I instantly fell in love with the kitten. For one thing he has a cute accent, as I was able to tell when he sang his line, “with book and with bell,” and pronounced book with a long “oo” sound. For another he was making the cutest kitten faces the whole time he was on the stage; he looked so sweet and friendly you just wanted to give him a big hug. And finally he has a wonderful nose! I love large noses and he has a really nice one.
Moving on, Mungo delivered the line “Are you mean like a minx?” and it was Carbucketty who followed up with “Are you lean like a lynx?” Then the two Cats hissed and swiped at each other. Etcetera was on the trapeze with Tugger as her spotter. I noticed this time that she has a harness attached to the trapeze bar on one end and her tail belt on the other. When she came back each time Tugger grabbed her by the tail and pulled her back. I was somewhat disappointed that she didn’t do anything fancy on the trapeze; I realize she was awfully high above the stage, higher than at the WGT, but she had the harness after all. Oh well. Below that a couple Cats were doing walkovers. Tugger came running up to join the rest as they were getting ready to do the choir on the tire (expression coined by Gillian Lynne). Etcy crawled out from behind the tire and joined them as they were running down from it. Cori had been in the first row during the choir and ran all the way down to the head of one of the stage ramps. He caught my eye because his dancing seemed awfully frenetic for one of the mystic twins. On the final “Jellicle songs for Jellicle Cats,” Gus slid forward on his knees to deliver his line. Munk joined him and I was more favourably impressed by his singing this time. He said, “What’s a Jellicle Cat?” as if he couldn’t believe we might not know. The Cats repeated it after him three times, as opposed to twice anywhere else. Munk and Jenny exchanged glances before the second and third times.
For Naming we had Skimble, Jenny, Teazer, and Carbucketty facing us. All three nights because our seats were always on the same side; I have yet to see the London show from the left side of the stage. As they said, “some for the gentleman” Carbucketty straightened himself and preened, and when they said “some for the dames” he made a little bow to Rumpelteazer next to him. He came down from the stage and went all the way up the aisle nearest us. Jenny followed behind him, but didn’t go as far. Teazer came out as far as the back of the first section of seats and stayed there. Skimble stayed on the stage with Munk and Cassandra. When we had Kate Tydman as Teazer it seemed to me that she was out of sync with everyone else. But in the next couple shows we saw I realized that just about everyone was doing their own thing as far as rhythm went. (Musta caught it from David Ashley.) Now I understand that it is probably difficult to listen to the rest of one’s cast mates and blend with them when they are spreading all over the theatre like that, but London is the only production where I have ever heard it that bad. Get it together, guys!
For Invitation Sorrell Thomas was quite lovely as Victoria. And Ben Tyrell was pretty good singing, though he was not as deep as what I’m used to. Munk, on the other hand was fast winning my support. He has a wonderful deep register and a good range.
I did not think to mention this last year, but when the starting pitch is given for Gumbie Cat in London it is lower than anywhere else. The Munkustrap parts at least are sung in a lower key. This was nice for Jack; it seemed to me he was having trouble with the high parts of this role. (Bear in mind that many of Munk’s songs were originally written for Mistoffelees (i.e. Wayne Sleep, a tenor) to sing, and that could explain why the part of Munkustrap is so hard for a mere mortal.) But now that he was in a more comfortable range, Jack was just wonderful with a smooth, rich bass-baritone voice. And he has great presence on the stage. As he sang “tiger stripes” he dragged his fingers down through the air, then on “leopard spots” he made little spots in the air with his hands. But best of all Jack is not a diva. He accepted his role as narrator and stayed to the background when he was supposed to.
Moving on, I noticed a trunk light that came on as the car hatch opened, waking poor Jenny. As she slid through Munk’s legs he lost his balance and sat on her, but gently so I knew it was intended. Then he scratched her behind the ears. I thought the girls were just a little too loud when they were singing with Munk at the end of the second verse. Bill Bailey came out as the first cockroach and did his own little dance until Jenny stopped him. As the beetles came out and were copying Jenny’s moves I found myself watching Admetus the most. He was in the front row so that was a help. Also because he had on a silly little grin under his mask. Susie Fenwick was charming as Jenny, reminding me much of Susie McKenna from the video. Emma was also good. For some reason she made me think of Julie Andrews in the role. At one point in the dance Admetus and Coricopat tried to fight, clashing their knives, but Jenny made them stop. Carbucketty was at the end of the kicking line and she hurried to get out of his way as he went by brandishing his fork. He then tried to sneak up behind and poke her with it, but was stopped. On 5/7 Skimble caught him and brought him back to his place. On the other two nights Jenny caught him and sent him back. While that was going on something was happening at the other end of the line. As the Cats all turned their left feet out, in, out, then stomp, Etcy was on hands and knees next to them doing the same thing with her left forepaw, with the smuggest look on her face. On 5/7 Munk came over and picked her up by the waist and carried her off. On 5/8 it was Skimble who did that. On 5/10 we had Summer as the brown queen and Skimble just took her by the tail and ear and dragged her away. Probably had something to do with the difference in size between Rebecca and Summer; Rebecca is a teeny little thing. As the Cats continued their tapping Etcy came forward to watch their feet, but got spooked as it became more violent. (Summer didn’t do that, though.)
Another moment I had been waiting for was Tugger’s entrance. I don’t care for John Partridge on the video, but so many people had told me that he is much better live that I just had to see for myself. I wanted to see if I really did hate him. ;~) And I confess I found it hard to dislike him here. He was just as arrogant as on the video, if not more so, but he was so over-the-top that you just couldn’t take him seriously at all. He got huge cheers as he came out and meowed as an afterthought. Things of note: The ball that Tugger kicks is a yarn ball, though it took me until 5/10 to figure this out. On that night I spotted Admetus playing with it before he tossed it to Tugger. And that night Tugger’s kick only sent it skittering off into the wings instead of over the back of the set. When Mistoff sang the terrible bore line Tugger reached over and ruffled his wig and he jerked away. I noticed each night that John’s voice was getting progressively hoarser. (That’s what those nasty cigarettes will do to you.) When it came time for him to choose his, er, victim he said, “Now, who’s in the house?” and pranced down into the audience. Having found a girl he liked, usually in the first row of the second section of stalls seats, he would then fall on top of her and ravish her with one leg in the air. What a sight that was. Then if he could find one he would kiss a bald man on the head before returning to the stage. During the ensemble dance that follows there’s a bit where the dancers place their arms up, then down, then up, and so on. Tugger was doing it at least half a beat ahead of everyone else and snickering about it. After the first squeal from the kittens Tugger said, “Oh yeah!” After the second squeal he flipped his ruff. Then for the third there was one long scream from Etc until Tugger stuffed the end of his tail in her mouth and finished the song as she swooned. During the free-for-all he turned his back to the audience and rubbed his backside at us. When Grizabella showed up he just pointed her out and left.
There was the usual mix of curiosity and animosity for this number. Carbucketty approached Grizabella with his paw held out, making a motion encouraging her to pet him. But when she tried to he reached out and scratched her. Mean little kitty. Then Griz spotted Demeter sort of cornered at the front of the stage and went to her with arms outstretched. But Demeter panicked and pushed past her to be defended by Munkustrap. As the song began I noticed Alonzo crouched at Jellylorum’s feet as if being protected by her. Tut, isn’t he supposed to be Munk’s second in command? I prefer the Broadway-styled Lonz in that respect. Griz faced off against Munkustrap who towered over her, but as she sang he shrank away from her as if unable to bear her gaze. As she sang “You see the border of her coat…” she turned to where Cassandra had taken up the spot Demeter had fled from. Cass put up her hackles and hissed, then carefully circled round the old Cat until she stood at the back of the stage. Then Demeter began to sing. When she sang “she’d ought to be dead” Victoria and Carbucketty cringed and were comforted by Jenny. As Griz left Demeter slid all the way to the end of the ramp after her to watch her go.
Now Bustopher showed up. I should mention that Peter Polycarpou had been playing this role until he broke his ankle and they pulled Gareth Snook back in. I say this because Gareth’s picture and bio are not in the final program. Jenny seemed to take exception when Bomba declared BJ was “remarkably fat”, but he hardly noticed as he greeted the kittens. They all sat in front of him in a line with their paws up and he went down the line patting them. He did Carbucketty first, then Bill Bailey. After Bill were Electra and Etcetera, but Bill reached out and pushed their paws down so BJ couldn’t pat them. Tsk tsk. BJ started to walk off down the ramp, but Mistoff stopped him. BJ looked back and shook his head in a “not today” kind of way. Mistoffelees was insistent, though, and Bustopher came back to the top hat set up for him. He put a hand out to guide himself down, the only sign he gave of senior citizen decrepitude. Demeter came back up the ramp about then and lay down along the apron looking pensive. As Bustopher sang Bill Bailey and Carbucketty were sitting out in front and getting very restive. Skimble sat next to Bill and kept a restraining hand on his arm, and that was probably all that was holding the kitten back. As the Cats joined in on the chorus Demeter began to loosen up a little, stretching extravagantly as she sang. Munkustrap was the one to catch BJ as he tipped over backward and pushed him back up, but he didn’t need anyone to keep him from pitching forward off the stage. He then turned his back to the audience and did a few low kicks at the kittens. Bill kept trying to catch the shadows of his feet, silly thing. Before he set up for his golf shot he tapped the stage with his spoon and pointed into the distance. (I thought they only did that in baseball.) When the thunder crashed he and Jenny ran down the ramp together then paused. They hurried out after Demeter cried, “Macavity!” (Is that the same as crying wolf?) As last time Munk protested, “What if it isn’t Macavity?” to his departing tribe mates, but he nevertheless sniffed around cautiously before leaving the stage.
Now the terrible twins showed up. Lynsey Britton I would like to point out has a deeper voice than Kate Tydman. This is not a bad thing, but her cockney accent also sounds more forced than Kate’s. Nevertheless Adrian Edmeades adapts well to both of them. As Rumpelteazer said her name she moved her hips a bit. Mungo was very blatantly watching them with his tongue hanging out. When they talked of engaging policemen in conversation Teazer rushed forward, waving, and primped a little. The two watched the Ming vase fall and Mungo snickered. When they realized they had been caught by the other Cats Mungo grabbed Teazer’s hand and ran with her off the stage and through the aisles, but there were Cats scattered all through the audience. Mungo blew a raspberry at them as they ran back up on the stage and to the car. When the Cats made to pursue them I almost thought they were going to go out through Tugger’s entrance, which was still standing open. But then Old D’s theme kicked in and the Cats stopped.
Munkustrap sent Mistoffelees off to fetch the Jellicle leader and began the song. He didn’t realize Tugger was behind him and was about to begin the second verse when that Cat started singing. Munk drew back with a cute look of surprise and turned to see who had showed up. The two Cats touched paws as they sang together; it looked something like a feline high five. As the Cats sensed Old D’s approach the female kittens wanted to scramble forward, but Munk held them back until he was on the stage. Junix Inocian made a wonderful Old Deuteronomy. He has a lovely baritenor voice with just a touch of a Philippine accent.
Here was another eagerly awaited moment. I adore the Pekes and the Pollicles and am frustrated that it keeps getting left out of the newer productions. Jack was in fine form on this song. He perfectly portrayed an endearingly fussy director, determined that everything should go right and trying not to go too spastic when it inevitably didn’t. He shouted out “Rejoice!” in a falsetto, then picked up Victoria and swung her around once before going to see to the preparations. On the brass punches he was sweeping around the stage in a terribly silly manner. Tugger bounced off the mattress and followed him around, mocking him. Munk turned and caught him on the third and Tugger did a pelvic thrust on the fourth before strutting off. Munk glared after him before beginning the song. As the Cats barked I noticed that there was a recording of people saying “ruff” playing in the background. I don’t know whose idea it was to include that. It was inappropriate since the Cats say bark and not ruff, and on 5/8 it was so loud that it drowned out the actors. Tut. Teazer was the first Peke and Carbucketty was the first Pollicle. They started at opposite ends of the stage, then turned and saw each other. Carbucketty pointed as if to say, “Oh, there she is.” Munk tried to coordinate the second bark, but Carbucketty messed up anyway and it was obvious he was doing it on purpose. Munk glared at him and sent him away. Meanwhile the other Cats were getting ready and we had Admetus, Victor, Skimble, and Mistoff walk by in the aisle in front of us carrying their Pollicle costumes. Admetus in particular had a silly little look on his face as he kept his chin firmly planted on top of his pile of stuff so it wouldn’t fall. He seemed to be thinking, don’t look at me, you’re not supposed to see me! As the Pollicles marched around the stage several of them waved at Old D. The line came to a halt and Mungojerrie sang, “let my meaning be perfectly plain,”; Carb planted his feet, spread his arms, and yelled, “Plain!” just before the Cats behind crashed into him. Tugger followed Skimble and Mistoff up onto the stage and began playing his bagpipes. Skimble actually forgot himself for a moment and doubled over with laughter. But Munk seemed pleased as the whole thing was coming together and approaching the climax. As he sang, “Until you could hear them all over the park,” to Old D he had a blissful tone as if to say, “look at them, aren’t they wonderful?” As the “dogs” all paired off to fuss with each other, Mungo turned his back to Electra and blew a raspberry. (Disgusting kitty.) Some of the kittens shivered when Munk said the underground trembled. And Munk’s voice was quavering as he said the “neighbors were so much afraid.” Then the Great Rumpus Cat himself appeared. Munk was standing just behind the startrap (not where I would want to be) and started back. Chris Jarvis was a bit fiercer than I remember Sebastian Rose being, but still satisfactory. And Jack was milking the poetry for all it was worth. The GRC wig seemed to stand up by Chris throwing his head forward, but he did it too soon, when Munk said fiercer. Munk gave him a look and he realized his mistake and began smoothing the wig back down. Then Munk said “or hairier” and Chris threw his head forward again. Munk made a gesture that said, “ah, that’s better.” (I loved Jack! He was THE BEST Munkustrap!) He seemed annoyed when Rumpus tried to goof off a bit, pushing him away as he tried to do the dance right. They ran to the back of the stage then came forward again, doing a couple of jetes. They were very nice, and Chris has excellent balon (aka hang time). Tugger played his bagpipes again then waved his arms for applause. On 5/7 he actually got a smattering and he gave a thumbs-up before he walked off.
GRC left the stage unobtrusively as Old D sang ashes to ashes. After the Macavity scare the Cats fled from the stage and Mistoffelees hid behind Old D as on the video. The look on Old D’s face as his coat began to shake was precious. Meanwhile Munk was making his way carefully around the stage, completely alert. Then Song of the Jellicles began. I kinda liked Chris Jarvis as Alonzo; his voice was nicer than Sebastian’s. He didn’t exactly turn me on the way some Alonzos do, but he did do a very nice butt wiggle with Victoria and Jemima as he went to the back of the stage. I saw Skimble swat at Bill Bailey for sneaking up on him on “bright black eyes”. That kitten can’t seem to stay out of trouble. C&T came forward saying “Jellicle cats are white and black,” and M&R came right along between them, mimicking their synchronous movements as they said, “Jellicle cats are of moderate size.”
Then the Ball. I noticed some interesting couples at the beginning, including Cassandra and Bombalurina, Alonzo and Admetus, Victor and Victoria (ha!), and Mistoffelees and Etcetera. The dancing was lovely. Let me try to describe the dance that Mistoff and Carbucketty do together. Carb was doing a cutesy little dance and went down on one knee with arms outspread. Mistoff stroked across his back from shoulder to shoulder and he jumped up; they did an elegant dance together, jete-ing over Victoria and Jemima then doing arabesque jumps facing each other and profiling to the audience. They made a great pair; both were very elegant and controlled. Then Mungo jumped in doing his hip wiggles, which first Mistoff then Carbucketty copied. Enter Cassandra who stepped in front of Mungo and kicked her leg up. He gave her a once over then moved to the sidelines to make way for the queens’ dance led by Bomba. Alonzo did the Victoria lift this time, and Chris seemed to have a better handle on it than Sebastian did, though he did have Viccie’s tail hanging straight down in front of his nose, poor guy. When Grizabella showed up and was driven off there was a similar scene as the last time with Jenny and then Victor chasing her off. But Junix made a much nicer Old D; he didn’t hit anybody, just looked sad. Just before the guys’ dance Mungo was doing loads of cartwheels and walkovers across the stage. However, Etcy wasn’t doing her walkovers through the audience that she did last year. Apparently that’s a Sarah-Jane thing. Kid was rather disappointed; I think that was his favourite part. During the girls’ dance I noticed Mistoff about center stage getting a head start on his conjuring turns. Then the climactic part started and I could easily see that Jye Frasca was enjoying himself immensely. Tugger was not in on the dancing, but instead was bouncing on top of the car (I swear the dude has springs in his feet) and playing guitar on his tail.
The Ball ended and Grizabella slunk on. Tugger didn’t quite touch her putting his arm around her shoulders as he swept the other arm around indicating all the Cats she had to win over. Carbucketty bumped her forward and Demeter tried to catch her, but was stopped by Bombalurina. Victoria tried to approach her and Cass jumped hissing in between them. All this under the watchful eyes of Munkustrap. When all the other Cats had deserted the stage he, too, left. Nobody sang the extra lines about the torn coat and twisted eye. Left alone (except for Old D) Grizabella began to sing. I have to say that Chrissie Hammond is one of the best Grizabellas I’ve heard yet. She has a good control that I don’t often encounter, more’s the pity.
During intermission Old D stayed on the stage talking to the fans and signing programs. After they were sent off he would then sit looking benevolent and meditative. On 5/8 Lisa took great pleasure in whispering to him from her front row seat, trying to get him to break character. He just smiled blandly and shook his head at her.C&T were the first Cats to come back on, shortly followed by Cass. Tugger came on from behind the half pipe and bounced on his toes with his arms outspread and a silly grin on his face. He got a bit of applause and cheering, naturally. On 5/10 I was sitting next to Feli and discussing with her whether or not I liked Chris Jarvis as Alonzo. At first I had decided he was not sexy enough, though I did like him better than Sebastian Rose. (Nothing against Sebastian, he’s a nice guy and a good performer, he just doesn’t do anything for me.) But as we watched him lie down at the stage apron in a terribly cat-like pose with the perfect aloof look I agreed with her that he was not so bad, and certainly easy on the eyes. And then Bomba came along and plopped down on the stage in front of him. “Why’d she have to go and sit right there?” I fumed aloud, to Feli’s amusement. “I was enjoying the view!” But no matter, I just turned my attention to Victor, who was constantly making cute kitten faces at the audience, even when he was supposed to be listening to the half-baked philosophy during Moments of Happiness. After the moment of understanding Gus began to move forward as if he meant to leave the stage. Old D intercepted him and motioned back to where Jellylorum had set up the paint can for him. Gus shook his head and tried to keep going, but Old D wouldn’t let him, so he came back to the paint can and sat down.
Gareth did a very good job with the elderly theatre cat. He had assumed what I can only describe as a Parkinson’s mask, completely expressionless, and his lower jaw kept opening and closing, seemingly out of his control. Jelly tried to prep him for the song but he just turned his head away, so she nervously started for him. I have to say I didn’t really care for Louisa Shaw’s voice as Jellylorum, but she was a marvelous actress. And Gus wasn’t completely inattentive. He nodded in agreement when Jelly said “we call him just Gus.” When his part began he started with a terrible wheeze in his voice, but gradually got stronger (and more animated). Behind him I noticed that Bill Bailey and Bomba were together on the mattress and Bill was flirting unabashedly with her. He saw Carbucketty watching jealously and stuck his tongue out at him. Munk and Demi were also getting a little romantic next to the tire. Back to Gus, he sang, “whether I played the lead,” and Jelly waved frantically to get his attention. But he anticipated her and added pointedly in her direction, “or in character parts,” at which she nodded in satisfaction. He trailed off after singing about Firefrorfiddle, seemingly lost in his own little world, and Jellylorum continued, trying to bring him back. She was getting a little too animated, though, and Gus kept trying to cut her off and take over. Finally he succeeded and she cringed in embarrassment. As he sang “these kittens” all the kittens raised their hands, but as he continued they looked quite indignant. When he concluded “they think they are smart just to jump through a hoop” Admetus held his arms in a circle and Electra put her head through. Jelly stopped Gus from scratching himself rather forcefully. As he sang Fiend of the Fell again he had to take a breath in the middle of Fell. His bloodcurdling noises were better than most I’ve heard, very strong and ending in a “hah!”
Then came Growltiger. The lights were out for his transformation, but there must have been a black light on because it was showing a ghostly image of a pirate ship picked out in the clouds on the backdrop. Very cool! When the lights came back up Growltiger let out his best piratical laugh then went about the edge of the stage growling at us. Mistoffelees brought his captain’s sword on, and Growltiger snatched it from him at the end of the second verse. I’d like to point out that instead of putting little caps with ears over their wigs, this crew simply tied on colourful scarves. During the second verse Munk delivered the line about “one ear was somewhat missing” and the crew gasped and looked back at him in warning. He sheepishly added, “no need to tell you why.” And the crew all shuddered in unison on “shuddered at his name” as Growltiger glared at them. The abuse verse was a scream (pun intended). Growltiger beckoned to Skimble who reluctantly came forward so his captain could take him by the throat. He flapped his arms once as he sang the line about the weak canary, then yelped as Growltiger pushed him roughly away. Victor was next; he delivered his line the way Stephen Bienskie always did it, in that sadly resigned air, then grunted loudly as Growltiger elbowed him in the gut. Poor old Munkustrap, sounding nervous, came forward and got punched in the groin. Finally came Tugger, who gave a loud yell when Growltiger stamped on his foot, then fell over backwards. During the next verse Growltiger was down on one knee, checking his reflection in his sword and making kisses at it. Then the crew sang about the Siamese and an involuntary whimper escaped his lips. The crew laughed, but he glared back at them and they immediately stopped. I should mention that the crew were all singing in contrived cockney accents. Cute. Growltiger gave up his sword to Mistoff as they sang about his sentimental side. Then Griddlebone came on. Growltiger responded, “Mi amore!” in a deliberately flat and unpleasant voice. He appeared flustered as she came down to meet him, assisted by the crew. Victor and Skimble took advantage of her nearness and pinched her bum, at which she swatted back and said, “Ooh, get off.” When she swooned back in their arms Tugger fanned her with his neck cloth. Tugger and Victor helped each other set up the mattress in the middle of the stage and saluted, but Growltiger waved them off with barely an acknowledgement. As the Siamese sang their verse, Growltiger tried twice to persuade Griddlebone onto the mattress, but she turned suddenly demure and shook her head no. The third time he just pointed at the mattress and growled, and she quickly acquiesced. She lifted one leg straight up in the air and Growltiger began pawing at it, then a set a footlights came up suddenly all around the mattress. Somewhat chastened, they both sat up and began the duet. Growltiger began by singing to her, then spread his arms out to indicate the beautiful night. Griddlebone held the hand nearest her and was about to kiss it when he pulled away and left the mattress. She began kneading the blanket a little, then puckered up as Growltiger faced her again. But he turned away suddenly and she ended up falling off the mattress face first, yelling loudly. She began lashing her tail faster and faster as he continued to ignore her, finally hitting him over the head with it. He turned and glared at her. She encouraged him onto the mattress and when he finally joined her she raked her claws down his stomach. He didn’t exactly scream, but his tone once again went unpleasantly flat. For the final notes Griddlebone jumped in front of him and, tail in hand, spread her arms wide, completely blocking him. He had to peek out at her waist to be seen. At the end he straightened and pinned her arms to her sides. As the Siamese surrounded them he hid behind her, but Genghis urged her off and she yelped as she jumped away from his sword. She scurried down the ramp making noises of agitation. Growltiger then had to face the Siamese. He fought bravely, but ultimately was defeated. He collapsed at Genghis’ feet then grinning held his head up and stuck his tongue out at us. He adjusted his eyepatch and crawled to the back of the stage where he was forced to walk the “plank”. He fell headlong instead of jumping, giving an agonized wail as he went. Then we came back to Gus. He started to walk off dejectedly, but puffed himself up and swaggered down the ramp. As soon as he was out of the light, though, he deflated.
Skimble managed to lighten the mood. On “gave one flash” he feinted back at Bill Bailey who did a back handspring and landed on his knees. There was no one there to catch him if he were to do the fallback. Victor and Alonzo were up on the car playing cards until Skimble stopped them. When the kittens all said, “Tell us about the sleeping car!” Carbucketty did his pelvic thrusts again, but this time he did them at Cassandra instead of the audience. Not surprisingly she swatted at the cheeky kitten. When Skimble caught his mouse he gave it to Bill Bailey. Then the Cats put the train together. Coricopat and Carbucketty had the two large wheels on our side. Cori gave his wheel one good start, obviously intended to keep it spinning until the end. Carbucketty had to keep restarting his. Toward the end he began banging his wheel against Cori’s to start the collapse. The Cats hooted loudly as the train went down. Tugger was the one to escort Old D around the stage as they finished up the song. They began to sing the final verse again and Mungo was mimicking Skimble as he pantomimed a cup of tea.
The gaiety was cut short by Macavity’s appearance. As he came out and held up his hands to hypnotize the Cats I noticed that he had glow-in-the-dark strips outlining his fingers on the palms of his gloves. How cute. Kenny was delightfully evil as the ginger feline criminal, almost as good as Clint. ;~) Barbara King had a beautiful, deep, throaty voice as Demeter. Unfortunately this made her seem older than the higher voiced Alexis Owen Hobbs as Bombalurina. Since Bomba is kind of the older sister of the pair, perhaps the two ladies should have switched roles. Except that Barbara is a good bit shorter than Alexis. Oh well, they did a pretty good job together, but I found myself eagerly awaiting Macavity’s return. Though I couldn’t help but notice as he came on in his Old D disguise that Kenny is much taller and skinnier than Junix, so how exactly are the Cats fooled? After he revealed himself Mac slapped the Cats around a bit. I should mention that on Broadway Cassandra always took an aggressively defensive stance against Macavity. In London it was Mungojerrie who did this. Munk stopped Mac from carrying Demi off and the fight was on. At the bit where Mac picks Munk up and throws him I saw that Kenny was not able to get much lift, though Jack is about the same height and a bit bulkier, so that might be the problem. After Munk went down Bill Bailey did a couple handsprings between him and Mac. Then Alonzo jumped on him, but was flung off. Now Mac was weary of fighting and quickly retreated. The electric crackling began as Mac grabbed the cables. He raised them slowly over his head as it increased in volume, but was not able to time the bringing together with the bang. The headlamp swept all the seats in the stalls and the upper level before coming to rest where Macavity was last seen.
I must say I enjoyed John’s delivery of Mr. Mistoffelees. He recited the intro with an excellent sense of poetry. As Mistoffelees came down on his rope he let his foot slip out of the loop so that he was only holding on by his hands. And to my amusement he set off the first firework just under Tugger’s tail; that Cat yelled loudly, sounding as if he was suppressing an oath, and jumped away, waving his tail to put it out. When one of the fireworks didn’t go off Mistoff simply snapped his fingers and it did. Tugger took his jacket and gave it to Electra (I think). Ben danced elegantly and with confidence, but he seemed to have a slight stamina problem; he was tiring too soon. Tugger was at the back of the stage cuddling with Etcetera and Electra, but he came forward to do some kind of disco-like move with Mistoff. When he came back he found that Etcy and Electra had also been discoing in his absence, and he made a gesture that said, “Well, come on, do you want me or not.” Tsk. Just my reminder of how arrogant he can be. At the end of the spins Tugger yelled, “Come on, give it up! He da man!” When Mistoff was looking for his victim Munk and Demi were pointing Bomba out. (Hmm, do they have some grudge against her?) She tried to get away but was blocked by the kittens. Mistoff made many magical passes over the covered shape and Tugger indicated his impatience by looking at his watch wrist. When Old D was revealed Tugger began singing the chorus very slowly at first, wiggling his head on “so clever”, then picking up speed until he pointed out Mistoff. Ben seemed to have recovered somewhat from the conjuring turn and began doing lots of dancing tricks. (Don’t ask me to name them, because I don’t know them all.) The Cats came out into the audience to encourage our response. On 5/10 there was a young man sitting a few rows ahead of us at the front of the second section of seats whom I think was afflicted with Down ’s syndrome. He was getting extremely excited as the Cats came out, clapping and reaching out to grab them as they went by. I was pleased to see that Demeter, Alonzo, and Victor in turn came over to squeeze his hands in greeting. As the song wound down Tugger put up his hands to silence our applause and looked surprised when we actually stopped. He said, “Ladies!” in his best sexy-macho voice, and was answered by a few hoots and cheers. He then added, “and gentleman” as an afterthought. Mistoff was lifted by Alonzo and Victor where he held up both arms, then put a finger to his lips to silence us. We were a well-disciplined audience; we actually shut up promptly each night. The boxing down of the light was off by just a smidge.
Chrissie came back out and did a wonderfully controlled performance of the signature theme. I saw that most of the Cats turned back to watch her well before she collapsed. When she did they all gave a start forward, watching her intensely. When presented to Old D, Grizabella bowed her head and curtseyed, but he stopped her and bowed to her before leading her to the tire. I noted with interest that it went up and forward and then backward. Strange.
For Ad-dressing I was torn between watching Carbucketty and Mungojerrie. They were both making cute faces, and Victor was out of sight anyway. Old D got quite excited as he talked about food and there was much lip-smacking from the Cats.
Victor was the first to come out for the bows and Feli and I made sure we cheered for him since nobody ever does. When Kate was on with Adrian they reprised the double cartwheel, but when it was Lynsey and Adrian they just did the final pose from their song. Bill Bailey was the last one to bow, doing a tumbling run across the stage with his tail tucked into his belt. Just before the Cats left I saw Mungo up to some naughtiness. He was kneeling just behind Victoria and watching her bum wiggle with his tongue hanging out. On 5/7 and 5/8 Teazer caught him and made him stop, while on 5/10 it was Victoria herself who caught him. Each night Grizabella also caught him and swatted at him with her coat. As the other Cats left Mistoff began dancing for Grizabella. Tugger cut in, mocking poor little Mistoffelees before escorting Grizabella off the stage. Mistoff was the last one off.
Show’s over, you know the routine. Out to the stage door we went. I am now reverting to chronological telling, starting from our wait at the stage door on 5/7. With Feli’s help I managed to stop and talk to quite a few cast members, though the talk was mainly along the lines of, “Will you sign my program?” and “May I take a snapshot?” I had two programs that I was getting signed, one for me and one for my friend Rheow in Singapore.
First out was Kenny Linden. Having heard so many good things about him from Feli (and others) I had decided to get him a little present. (Also for Clint Brown.) I had already left half a dozen yellow tulips (white tulips for Clint) for him at the stage door. As Feli introduced me now I told him I had something more for him. At first he made protesting noises, but as I rummaged around in the shopping bag for his present and accompanying letter he exclaimed, “Oh, she’s got a Thornton’s [chocolates] bag, I’m so excited!”
I finally retrieved the letter and a small box of chocolates, for which he thanked me profusely. Then I told him, “Feli has told me so many good things about you…”
“And none of them are true!” he cut in. “They’re all lies.” Then he turned to Feli and asked, “And why aren’t you in Spain? Aren’t you supposed to be in school?”
“She’s skipping,” I said gleefully. I almost said she was playing hooky, but stopped myself because I wasn’t sure if that was a familiar expression in England and was afraid they might misunderstand me.
So in short Kenny was charming. He signed both my programs and posed for a picture with me, the only one that was taken of me that night.
The rest of them kind of went by in a blur, especially John Partridge. I had heard differing accounts of what he’s like at the stage door and was a little leery of approaching him. And frankly, without Feli to point him out I probably would have missed him. He was sporting a rather odd hairstyle, short at the sides with sort of a Mohican at the top, an effect not at all helped by the fact that he’d just pulled off a wig he’d been wearing for a few hours. Couple that with sunglasses and he’s practically unrecognizable. But he got stopped by a few folks right next to the door so I had a chance to prep myself. As he started to walk by I stepped out in front of him and politely asked him to sign my programs. He was gracious, in a John Partridge kind of way, but I did get the impression that he was aching to be away. I snapped a picture as he was signing, somewhat bashful about asking him to pose.
All the other cast that we talked to were courteous as well. I remember in particular Matthew Attwell who seemed very pleased with the fan attention and was eager to sign and pose for pictures. He had the cutest grin and warm brown eyes. He and Kenny were fast winning me over.
Once we were sure we’d gotten all the cast we went our separate ways, Feli back home, Dad and I to our hotel. Feli promised to meet us between nine and ten in the morning and we were to meet with a few others to do the Covent Garden thing.