Poppa, I should note, was wearing a tux already, but underneath was an Asparagus costume. Later on he took off the tux and donned makeup, wig, and warmers. It was very breezy out, though, and he looked terribly cold. He’d have been better off to keep the tux on.
We met Feli at the appointed time and brought her back to the Piazza where most of our costumed crew had already assembled, and also some new ones. We saw Belle, Purrdy, ThingyWot (with a new Etcy costume), Idiosylph (as Victor this time), and AnnaBomby, as well as a Jemima (Dinah706) and a Quaxo (Rocky1), both adorable. We also had the parents of some of these kids join us, but I can’t remember their names, if indeed I ever learned them.
As last time, Dad wandered off and found St. Paul’s where the street performers were, coming back periodically to see if anything was happening with us. (He stayed after the interviews started.) Every now and then the big screen would show bits from the video, and all the costumed fans would get up and dance along with it. In between those times they carried on the cavorting they had done before, playing with the kids or just posing. We had a lot of people ask us what was going to happen in the Piazza and when. I can’t imagine why they thought we would know. ;~) I even got asked such questions, possibly because I was wearing my fan-produced Cats London T-shirt, my Hamburg Cats cap (with Keith Wilson’s signature), a pin with the word CATS picked out in rhinestones, and a badge with a headshot of Lenny Daniel as Alonzo (given to me by Carbucketty, thank so much!). I was kind of advertising, wasn’t I? :~)
A little after 2PM everyone who was going to the matinee left, leaving the rest of us to pass the time until 8:30 when the final show was to start. Playing with the kiddies was one thing that produced a lot of enjoyment. Then EtcyWot took it one step further and got out her black makeup pencil to draw whiskers and noses on the kids that were interested. Then, I’m not sure how this came about, but all of our kitties led by Rocky1 elected to transform one little girl into a mini-Misto. There was a camera crew from RUG running around and when they saw this they immediately came over to film it. Then they talked to our Cats on camera, and I have an adorable picture of them batting at the boom mike.
Other things were happening in the Piazza now. A young man whose name was Ben something-or-other got up on the stage in front of the screen and told us what we had in store. As well as the show at 8:30 we would get to see interviews with the cast and other notables. Also a draw was going to be held to give away what remaining tickets there were for the final show. And they had set up a souvenir booth at the other end of the Piazza, with a few costumed swings (never found out which ones) at a nearby table doing free face painting for the kids. They also passed out free balloons that said Cats Now and Forever, and I immediately snagged one of those. It was a lovely carnival-type atmosphere, and I found myself wishing they could have done something like it for the closing on Broadway.
After a while we, that is the costumed fans and their associates, were allowed into the audience area. The chairs were still being reserved (though they did let our Cats sit there after the show started), but we were able to scout out good spots to sit and spread out our coats and bags, marking our territory as it were. While waiting for something to happen Ben came up and made us practice our cheering, saying he wanted us to be heard all the way down to the NLT. Not sure if we managed that, but we gave it our very best shot. Then a few fans got up and led us all in the wave a couple times. The atmosphere was very excited as we awaited the big moment.
Not too long after that the screen came to life, not with images from the video, but with our host, Ben on the stage at the NLT with Skimbleshanks (Ross Finnie), Mistoffelees (Ben Tyrell), Bombalurina (Alexis Owen Hobbs), Rum Tum Tugger (John Partridge), Demeter (Barbara King), the Brown Queen (Summer Strallen), Grizabella (Chrissie Hammond), and Munkustrap (Jack Rebaldi). He let them introduce themselves then proceeded with a very casual and engaging interview. He was an excellent host, very witty and clever, but not so much that he took away from his subjects. Things of note during this interview:
Ben Tyrell commented that the long-time fans coming again and again put the pressure on them to be as good or better each time because, “they know the show, sometimes better than we do!”
Barbara, when asked what was the difference between watching the show and actually doing it, replied, “Watching it, you want to be a part of it…I can’t watch it and sit still.”
John talked about when things go wrong, “Things happen, like the tire won’t go up…or wigs fall off, but it’s kind of like when you watch an ice skating show. You want someone to fall down, don’t you?”
(Speaking as an avid figure skating fan my first reaction to that statement was an indignant "No!" But then I thought about it and had to add, "Well, that depends on who it is...")
Summer was introduced as the niece of Bonnie Langford, the original Rumpelteazer. Her mother had also joined the show two years later as Victoria, so she's kind of carrying on a family tradition.
Chrissie, when asked if she would continue singing Memory in the shower, commented, "Oh, I sing it all the time...I'll be walking down the street and I'll suddenly feel a twitch and sing it to anyone who's standing still!"
Our host Ben turned at last to Jack and said, "It's been an amazing twenty-one years...not that you've been in it the whole time, despite the makeup..."
"What are you saying?" Jack interrupted.
"Oh, it's not makeup," Ben joked, "I'm sorry!"
Jack went on to talk about how they wanted to make this final show the ultimate performance of Cats, but at the same time not go too wild and mess things up. (Which they didn't.)
To conclude, (host) Ben stated that there were going to be a few extra surprises at the end of the show to which Jack queried, "Are there?"
"Yeah," Ben continued, "the people watching don't know what it is...but you should."
"I dunno," Jack shrugged then laughed.
They all waved at the camera as the interview ended.
About half an hour later we had another interview, this one right on the stage in front of the screen with Elaine Paige. I admit I’m not overly fond of her as a singer, but I did enjoy her interview. She told a very appealing story about how she got into Cats in the first place, because as some of you may know she was brought in to replace Judi Dench after the latter broke her ankle. She was driving home around midnight listening to the radio when the DJ played a little bit of Memory, announcing it as the main theme from ALW’s new musical. He said he would give the midnight news and then play the whole thing. Well, Elaine fell in love with it at once and hurried to get home before it played so that she could tape it. As she got to her door a bedraggled black cat came out of the darkness and began twining around her legs. Her mother had apparently told her that for a black cat to cross your path was lucky (sounds backwards to me), so she was waiting rather impatiently for the kitty to get across so she could go into the house. When she finally got inside she put the tape on to record the song when they played it, and then thought to herself that she would call ALW the next day and ask him to let her sing the song for an album because she loved it so much. In the meantime the little black cat had invited herself in, and since she looked “so terrible and ghastly” Elaine gave her some milk, and of course you know what happens when you do something like that. The next day, Cameron MacKintosh called Elaine and asked her to step in for them, and the rest is history. And as for the black kitty, Elaine kept her for the next 16 or so years, calling her Grizabella, naturally enough.
Shortly after this the matinee-goers returned. I had given Feli my two programs, asking her to get Clint to sign them if she could find him. He had indeed been on for Ad-dressing, along with the other swings, in a quasi-George costume and makeup, so Feli was able to catch him. Yay!
Meanwhile I had been eyeing a Starbucks that was just around the corner from the Piazza all this time. I had not drunk any coffee all week because I don’t like the way the Brits make it. But I thought to myself that surely the Starbucks people could do it properly, so I finally decided to give them a try. I also got a couple large chocolate chip shortbread cookies to go with my cappuccino. It was quite good and my need for coffee was finally satisfied.
The next interview we had was with Bob Martin, an elderly gentleman who has seen the London Cats many, many, many, many times. Sort of like the Cat Morgan of London. I’ve heard he’s very nice; he was not particularly fascinating in the interview, though. Some people just aren’t at their best when they have a microphone thrust under their noses and a whole bunch of people watching.
Next was Gillian Lynne. She didn’t seem to have a problem with talking into a microphone for a large group. She told us a little about how the show evolved, starting with ALW’s musical settings of Eliot’s poems, then adding the dancing, the additional poetry and music, the set, the costumes, the dancers, etc. One very interesting bit was how Wayne Sleep kept pestering her to show him his dance for Mr. Mistoffelees so he could practice it, but she couldn’t because ALW hadn’t yet written the music for the conjuring turn. But Wayne was getting very “shirty” with her, so she finally told Trevor Nunn that she was going to take Wayne and choreograph something for him to a drum beat, and then ALW would just have to fit his music to that.
Ben also got her to talk about the big finale that was planned for the show, saying, “There’s going to be a very special moment…”
“Moment?” Gillian interrupted. “It’s ten minutes!”
“Well, ten minutes worth of moments then,” Ben amended with a grin.
Gillian revealed that the finale would bring many of the former Cats up onto the stage, introducing them by character and allowing them to take a bow. And there would be a little girl called Jessica who would be a teeny little white cat, “a white cat for the future,” as Gillian put it. So now we were all greatly looking forward to the show, like we weren’t already. :~)
Next was John Napier, the set designer. Ben was starting to get mixed up, though, and introduced him as Trevor Napier. Oops! John corrected him. And don’t stone me, but if Bob Martin was not very captivating, John Napier was downright boring. Ben would ask a question and John would ramble on and on, occasionally contradicting himself and never quite getting to the point. The most interesting part of the whole interview came when Ben asked him, “Is there a certain moment or a particular Cat that you’ll be watching for tonight?” John laughed and Ben grinned, “There’s a story here!”
“Well, I’m married to one of them,” John told him, “There are our children.” He pointed into the audience just in front of the stage, “He’s actually been onstage in Cats.”
“Oh really!” Ben said in amazement.
“As an embryo,” John added.
“Oh,” Ben laughed, then said to the boy, “Well, you’re looking much better now.”
Now we had Trevor Nunn, but Ben didn’t try to call him John. First they did a draw for the tickets to the final show then Ben talked to him a little. Trevor commented that after missing out on directing Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, and others, when ALW approached him and said he wanted to do a show about cats, “I thought I’d really drawn the joker card.” It turned out all right in the end of course, but Trevor detailed the process a bit for us, adding to what Gillian Lynne had already said.
Next Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron MacKintosh got up together to talk to us. Cameron made the very pertinent observation that “We wouldn’t have had the privilege of running for 21 years if it wasn’t for all of you.” And Andrew reminded us that it never would have happened at all if not for the poetry of TS Eliot. It was a very well thought out speech, and almost made me like them.
Finally we had an interview with Bonnie Langford, whom Ben confessed he had had a crush on a long time ago as a boy. “I didn’t know you had a crush on me,” Bonnie said gleefully. “But you shouldn’t say it was an awfully long time ago. It’s not very good for my ego!” Bonnie was very amiable, and absolutely adorable; I can understand why Ben fancied her. And she actually has a pleasant voice, which means that horrible piercing voice she had as Rumpelteazer (and also as Mel in the Doctor Who series) was a put on. I can’t imagine why, though.
It was amusing when Ben asked her what it was like to turn into a Cat. She told him that when the show started the makeup was completely different. “I just did my hair up in two little bunches and shoved on a couple of dots and a nose, with a little cat suit and a bit of rope round m’waist. That’s it, it was very simple. It’s moved on quite considerably.”Ben then asked her if she’d seen it recently, and she said she had gone a couple months previous when her niece, Summer was going to be on, and she took her eighteen month old daughter. The little girl loved it, and even started saying “Hello!” to all the Cats as they came on for the second act, much to her mother’s chagrin. Ben commented that as Cats took on a new life maybe Baby Langford would be in the cast as well, but Bonnie sounded rather skeptical.