Cats in London

(conclusion)

That was the last interview of the evening, and finally at 8:30 p.m. (or shortly thereafter; I’ve never known a show to start on time) the main event began. We all cheered as we heard the overture, and then we saw on the screen the same Cats eyes opening that is on the video (minus the credits). “Well, this looks familiar,” I commented to Feli. It was on the tip of my tongue to say, “Oh no! They’re not really going to show us the final show at all, just the video!” That would have been a real rip off. But as the Overture continued we saw the Cats running around the theatre with their green eyes and were reassured. Then we got to see the Heaviside Layer Cake rise as the Overture concluded.

No swings on tonight, not till the end. All in all I’d have to say the switch operator did a pretty good job with this. As the Cats started coming onto the stage we got some very good close-ups, but usually not of the Cat who was singing. I remember going into raptures over an excellent shot of Admetus. They did manage to focus on Alonzo for his line. They also got a darling shot of Bomba and Admetus crouched at the apron sniffing at each other. Later during the choir on the tire Admetus was looking right at the camera and making eyes at it. Very cute. When Jack came forward for his transition line I could see that his was already flicking drops of sweat with every turn of the head. Just before the Cats got into position for Naming we got a cute shot of Tantomile hissing.

There were many good close-ups in Naming, my favourite being of Cassandra when she said “else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular” and slowly extended her arm straight up behind her, then stroked a hand across one cheek as she said, “or spread out his whiskers.” As the Cats left the stage the camera mainly concentrated on the ones who stayed. As she said, “names that never belong to more than one cat,” Cass appeared to be trying to stare down the camera. And as Munk crawled forward saying, “But above and beyond, there’s still one name left over,” he stared directly into the camera with a very smug look, continuing thus through “and that is the name that you never will guess,” when he abruptly veered away. It was then that we first heard a loud “boo!” from the other side of the temporary fence that separated us from pedestrians. We had rowdy elements making noise periodically throughout the show, but they were usually suppressed quickly, so I guess security was pretty tight. The camera stayed on Victoria from the word effable as she pushed up on her feet. At the end we only heard one “name”; they didn’t allow it to echo as the Cats hurried off.

They did a nice double image of Victoria’s solo dance, one full view shot, the other a close-up. I got to see that she has a cute set of dimples. Then the singing began. The cameras mostly stayed on the soloists, i.e. Mistoff and Munk.

Gumbie Cat was interesting. The switch operator saw fit to show us Jenny’s feet as she did her tapping. For some reason camera crews can’t seem to resist watching tapping feet. When they did show her face she had some really great expressions. Close-ups even allowed us to see the Velcro on her cap where the top part hooks on. And I heard her say, “Ooh!” as she shook her finger at Carbucketty for chasing her with his fork.

Tugger succeeded in kicking the yarn ball over the back of the set this time, and he gave a triumphant “Yow!”. After he ruffled Mistoff’s wig he did a turn and kicked out behind him. From that camera angle it looked like he didn’t miss kicking Ben by much. As he sang the line “As soon as I’m at home I like to get about,” he sat on Carbucketty’s back, that kitten being on hands and knees. The camera was watching Carb’s face then. He cocked his head up as Tugger sat, then when Tugger smacked him on the rump he licked his lips as if to say, “Ooh, that felt good!” At least, that’s how I interpreted it. When Tugger leaned back against Admetus the camera gave a side view so that I could see the ruff came just under Admetus’ chin. He had a cute smirk as he pushed Tugger back up. And when Tugger was doing his little butt dance with Bomba her head rested neatly under the ruff. When he pranced out into the audience I was watching eagerly to see who he would pick. Bonnie Langford was his lucky victim, and she seemed to enjoy it if her grin was any indication. Then he kissed Bob Martin on the head before returning to the stage. As he was doing his hip swivels Teazer was trying to mimic him and Mungo covered her eyes for a minute before she swiped at him. They both covered their ears for Etcy’s scream. Tugger ran very close by Munk during the free-for-all and was repulsed by him. And there was a great shot of Griz slowly creeping across the apron just before she was discovered.

There were too many close-ups in Grizabella. They kept focusing on her and you couldn’t really see the interaction between her and the other Cats. And a rather unfortunate impression came when she faced off against Munk. She was singing directly into his face and as he cringed away the camera angle made it look for all the world like he was backing away from her bad breath. The only way it could have been more obvious would be if he had waved his hand in front of his face. As Demeter sang there were some good close-ups, Grizabella giving a smile at the remembered good times. Then her face kind of fell after “she’d ought to be dead.” As she walked down the ramp the camera followed her and I saw a lady in the audience wipe her eye as if tearful. I wonder if she was a former Grizabella.

The camera was just perfect as Bomba sang that BJ was remarkably fat. It was focused on Jenny who was bending over to talk to the kittens. On “fat” she straightened up with a very indignant look and turned to face Bomba, but Jelly quickly jumped in with her line to deflect any confrontation. Meanwhile BJ was on the stage greeting the older males who were lined up. Munk was at his side pointing them all out in a fond, fatherly kind of way. (So cute!) Jelly sang the line “or such an impeccable back” then turned her head to glare at Bomba. (She was really in the doghouse on this song.) There were good shots of Demeter, first as she was lying along the apron looking pensive, then again as she was singing the chorus and stretching. And something I had not noticed before, when BJ sang, “then I’ve lunched at the Tomb,” I saw Admetus in the back make the sign of the cross. Hmmmm. As Jenny sang the last verse Etcy was making fat faces behind her back. And as BJ prepared to walk down the receiving line we got a lovely close shot of the fire exit sign over his shoulder. :~)

The switching on M&R was pretty much the same as in the video. We had a nice close-up of Teazer as she gave Mungo a dirty look for snitching her pearls. And here’s something it took me a while to notice: As Mungo sings, “If the area window is found ajar…” he pantomimes the opening of a window. He does this in any production, American or European, but there is a subtle difference between them. In America he pushes the lower pane up to open the window. But here, and also in Germany, he pushed the upper pane down, because that is how the windows are designed to open in Europe. I just thought that was kind of interesting.

At the beginning of Deuteronomy, the switcher was getting the right close-ups, but at the wrong times. When Mistoff said, “Old Deuteronomy?” we were looking at C&T, and when they sang their line we were looking at Mistoff. Oops! But he orchestrated the switch from Munk to Tugger perfectly. Remember Munk would look surprised when Tugger started singing behind him? At that point we were still looking at Munk, but were fading from him to Tugger. So we got to see the surprise, then the singer. Excellent! Munk seemed amazed by Tugger’s continued participation, the switcher still doing a great job at covering both of them in turn. As Old D’s presence was noticed the view went down to the stage where the kittens were. Cass was closest, down on hands and knees, and she suddenly began crawling away in reverse rather quickly. Not that I haven’t seen cats backpedal like that before, but it seemed a bit out of character for her.

Jack went just a trifle flat as he sang “Great Rumpus Cat!” The top note is just a little too high for him I think; I wonder why he didn’t take it down an octave. I noticed an example of Elvis shots as Tugger made his grand exit at the beginning of this song. They are so called because the term springs from when Elvis Presley did televised concerts and the networks felt the need to censor his gyrating hips, so most views of the King were taken from waist up. As Tugger did his pelvic thrust we were getting an Elvis shot. Tut. But they did get some great close-ups of Jack, who has the most expressive face of any Munk I have ever seen. I also appreciated the fact that I was getting a view from the left as well as the right; remember I have never seen the show from the left side of the theatre. When Teazer was rubbing her backside against Munk he nonchalantly pushed her away without even looking at her. He stared at her incredulously as she pushed through his legs. She was still pressing close to him, and after he sang, “a dour Yorkshire tyke,” he turned and gave her a glare. He hissed at Tugger as the latter came through with his bagpipes. And when the GRC arrived, ooh, such wonderful close shots! Jack seemed to anticipate the over-the-head kicks, but only after seeing the first one. Then he cowered down with his hands covering his head until Rumpus was quite done.

The Ball was interesting. During the recitation the camera caught a shot of Tugger and Etcy being naughty. Tugger lay cradled in the halfpipe with Etcy sitting next to him. He pushed up into a horizontal pelvic thrust and she put out her paw and touched his crotch. It was hard to see the look on his face, but he did turn away from her onto his side. Strange, that. Feli and I knew not what to make of it. As the Ball started an awful lot of people got up and left. This was annoying and distracting, but it was to get worse. Just as the couples dance got underway the fine mist that had been hanging in the air suddenly turned into a medium downpour. There was much jumping up as people hastened to put up umbrellas or pull blankets over their heads. * sigh * Now really, why couldn’t the rain have waited just a little longer for Memory when not much is happening? Even more people got up and left at this point, but we die-hard fans were hanging in there. It would take more than a little bracing dampness in the air (and getting more bracing all the time, to quote Asterix and Obelix) to keep us from witnessing this historic show. Things more or less settled down as Mistoff and Carbucketty began their little dance together. As the Cats were pairing off for the orgy we had a lovely close-up of Munk leaning back protectively against Old D, who placed his hands caressingly on the tabby’s shoulders. The camera then closed in on Alonzo and Victoria. As he lifted her I could see in the close shots that he had bent his head slightly forward, which meant that the bangs on his wig formed an awning of sorts that held Viccie’s tail away from his nose. Clever boy. Now Sarah-Jane was back on tonight; not only was she doing her walkover routine through the audience (Kid must have been happy), but the camera showed the last half of it, yay! There were a lot of shots of Tugger bouncing on the car playing guitar on his tail; I think the switch operator must have liked him. As the number ended we got a shot of Carbucketty downstage center with his arms spread out in a ta-da pose and a huge grin on his face. The applause was tumultuous and endless! Most of the Cats broke pose long before it stopped; Teazer in particular we saw smiling and nodding at the people in front of her in a manner that seemed to say, “You really like us!” Finally the applause died and we heard a few more idiots making a ruckus on the other side of the fence with comments like “Boo!” and “You suck!” Not very imaginative, are they?

I can’t really find anything to say about Chrissie’s performance of Memory that I haven’t said before. It was the response that was vastly different. There was a short silence, then the applause and cheers suddenly swelled from the theatre, and we in the Piazza quickly joined in. Wonderful!

The rain had slacked off a bit by now, but I was kicking myself for leaving my umbrella in the hotel room. This was England after all, land of perpetual rain.

Another cheer arose from the Piazza as the screen flickered back to life at the end of intermission. For a moment we saw an empty stage, and then C&T came out and did some synchronized crawling. Cass joined them then moved to the downstage apron where she regarded the audience speculatively and the camera got a lovely profile shot of her. Tugger’s entrance was not nearly as grand this time. He came out, looked around unconcernedly, and settled down in the halfpipe. During the swells of Moments he shifted in the pipe as if he had suddenly become aware of a burr underneath him.

Again, the switching in Gus was not very different from that in the video. There were very few wide shots; we were mainly concentrating on Gus and Jellylorum. Granted they had some good expressions, but it would have been nice to see some reactions now and then. We did have a few more rowdy elements turn up about now, but they were quickly silenced. As Gus made his disparaging comments about “these kittens” Jelly was quick to soothe those present, “He doesn’t mean you, dear.” When he sang that the theatre was not what it was, the theatre audience suddenly laughed and erupted into applause. Gareth played right into it; as soon as he was able to continue he delivered his next line (These modern productions are all very well) putting a ton of emphasis on “modern” and wrinkling his nose in disgust. Well done.

For the transformation the screen went completely black. The lights came back up as the crew came out on the tire. With the close shots I got to see that Gareth’s eyepatch has a hole in it for him to see through. No wonder he keeps adjusting it periodically; I had thought it was just characteristic gesture. During the abuse verse I noticed that Mistoff retreated back to the tire, thus avoiding his captain’s wrath. The camera showed us Griddlebone from her perch just before she comes onstage, something that I could never see from where I was sitting. As she sang her long note she twirled her tail. Of course this close-up meant we didn’t get to see the crew reactions, darn it. The crew escorted her down and Skimble and Victor pinched her bum. As they were moving away from her I saw that Victor managed to get one more pinch, the naughty little kitten. As the Siamese sang about moonlight reflected, Growltiger was kissing his way up Griddlebone’s arm. At the time when the footlights came up around the mattress the camera was closed in on Griddlebone and we saw only her reaction. Skipping to after the duet, Griddlebone jumped back onto the mattress after her bow and beckoned to Growltiger, putting her tail around his neck as he slid over next to her. He swung the tip of his tail in front of her like a hypnotist and she slumped against his chest. Then they looked like they were just about to have a very tender moment when Genghis made his presence known. At this point an awful lot of people got up and left; it was very annoying, and made me miss most of the confrontation. I did see Growltiger throw his sword away as he was stabbed in the rump. Genghis caught it and did kind of a juggling routine with the two.

As Skimble’s song began several kittens crawled through Munk’s legs from upstage. Mungo was visible up on the halfpipe mimicking Skimble’s pantomime. Ross did the morning tea line very loud and followed it up with a “’Sallright!” The camera closed in on Skimble as he caught his mouse and he turned to give it to Carbucketty. Then he made a gesture that said, “No, no, not you,” and turned and gave it to Bill Bailey instead. Poor little Carbucketty was a bit put out while Bill looked quite smug. At the end of the song Mungo and Victor (in that order) were Skimble’s steps up to Munk’s shoulder.

We had some great close-ups of Macavity during the kidnapping. And another view of the fire exit sign over Bomba’s shoulder. As the song ended we got to see the fake Mac running through the dress circle when we should have been watching the fake Old D come onstage. Tantomile seemed to be right along with Demeter in her suspicions, hissing but not quite daring to get close. Then the fight was on. There were a few confused shots of the kittens lining the apron. We saw Mungo pushing Teazer behind him, smacking her rump to get her to move faster. And we also saw Bomba take a surreptitious swipe at her nose, no doubt trying to brush away a bit of lint or something stuck to the makeup. A camera view from upstage showed us that Munk drew back from Macavity when he went down for the count and allowed the kittens to cluster around him protectively. And this was really weird: after the lights went out there were still two lights on at the back of the stage, and they were close together so they almost looked like a pair of eyes. There was some uncertain applause in the Piazza, and when the Cats observed, “Macavity’s not there!” some of the first timers, including a group next to us actually laughed. (Ooh, Keith Wilson would not have liked that.) Amazingly the camera managed to find Munk and Demi snuggling in the headlamp’s glare.

There were several great shots of Tugger as he came down from atop the car, and the beginning was not entirely unlike how it looks on the video. The camera was too close as Mistoff came down and we didn’t see how he was only holding on by his hands. When he yelled “Presto!” it was louder than I have ever heard it before. As Tugger removed the beaded jacket, Mistoff threw his head back and they exchanged glances before Mistoff went into his dance. I have mixed feelings about Ben. He has the elegance needed for the part, but unfortunately not the stamina. His jetes were beautiful, though. The camera missed his freezing of Electra and Etcy. When Old D came back his expression was clearly perplexed, then the camera caught a shot of Ben waiting for acknowledgement and we saw a steady drip of sweat running out from under his wig. Ick! Poor guy. Then the chorus was sung over and over and over again as the Cats cavorted through the audience, Etcy led Old D around the stage, and Mistoff got in a few more dance tricks. Then it got quiet again and we could hear the rowdy elements. Tsk.

Again I can’t find much new to say about Memory, though they did have some very nice shots of Jemima during her solos. And she did a good job, btw. The applause again was riotous.

The stage seemed rather crowded for Ad-dressing with all the swings on in contrived costumes. When Old D mentioned “a dish of cream” the camera switched to look at a tall swing in a quasi-George costume. Feli leaned over and whispered that he was Clinton and I got excited. We saw him lick his lips and shiver slightly before the camera went back to Old D. Then on the first “evidences of respect” we saw him again, standing just in front of Demeter. I was delighted!

Just before the bows the Cats were capering in the audience and I saw Ben exchanging a high five with someone. Back up onstage the Cats got a standing ovation, both in the theatre and in the Piazza. During the bows the switcher tried getting close-ups; some of them were good, others not so. And that camera crew from RUG were making their way through the crowd; every now and then we would see the boom mike cross the bottom of the screen. As the applause continued long and loud we saw Mungo and Viccie sniffing each other, then a close shot of Mistoff. I may be mistaken, but Ben looked like he was ready to cry. Then the Cats all left, Mistoff and Tugger last off.

The applause had not quite died when Tugger strolled back out and it began again with renewed vigor. But like the obedient fans we are, we hushed up when he held his hands up for quiet before bowing out again. As he left we saw folks creeping out of the garbage at the back of the stage, and also coming on from the ramps. They were dressed in black pants and the special Cats T-shirts made for the final show. (I’ve got one of those, too!) These were the former cast, coming out to take their final bows. To the energetic beat of the Jellicle Ball they surged forward and began a reprise of that dance. I saw a few that I recognized. Jason Gardiner, for instance, with the sleeves of his t-shirt rolled up to show off his biceps (he was not the only one to do that, either) was right at the front and in the camera’s face at one point. He gave us his distinctive grin. I caught a quick glance of Leah Sue Morland as she rushed by. Then they began introducing them by character. How it worked was each costumed cast member came forward accompanied by several other persons who had also played that part. They would do some characteristic choreography before making way for the next group, the Jellicle Ball playing all the while. First we had a group of Munkustraps, which seems appropriate as he’s the one to kick the whole thing off. Next a group of Cassandras, and I think the Tantomiles were right behind her; I spotted Kaye Brown briefly. We had loads of kittens after that, I can’t remember the order. Then all the Mistoffs; I knew Jacob had to be up there, but I couldn’t spot him. All the Guses came forward, each holding up a trembling paw before a Jellylorum came up behind him and tenderly led him away; that was one of the best moments I thought. After that the Coricopats and Victors came on together, followed by some more girls and guys, then the Tuggers when we got another good shot of John. A group of Jennys, some of whom were a bit fluffy around the middle (how matronly), came up making typical gestures of exasperation as they tried to get things in order. (Maybe that’s where Munk gets it.) The Bombalurinas and Demeters came on together, and I couldn’t help noticing that they, like Jason, had altered their shirts to show more skin. Some had the sleeves rolled up, some had knotted the tails to show their midriffs, and one woman had even cut the neckline wider so that it tended to slip off one shoulder. I guess that is appropriate for the character. The Grizabellas were last of course, then ALW came on and gave a very quick speech:

“This has been a very emotional evening, but unfortunately I was sitting next to Cameron. [laughter] As the tire went up he whispered to me, ‘Kitty Kitty Bang Bang!’ [laughter and cheers] But we did try the same trick twenty-one years ago, didn’t we!” (On opening night all those years ago, the cast and audience were forced to evacuate the building, the cast still in costume, because of a bomb threat.) He continued on with the rather trite comment that this show would have many more lives to come. I heard someone in the Piazza yelling, “Thank you! Thank you!” At the time I assumed it was for the gift of the show, but it later occurred to me that it might have been a heckler thanking him for finally ending it.

When he had left the stage the finale continued with the final verse from Naming. By this time the costumed cast members had retreated to the set at the back of the stage. The camera panned them and we got another glimpse of Clint, along with a nice shot of Andrew Wright in Bill Bailey gear. Then everyone cleared off the stage and we had a quick look at Jo Gibb and Jason Gardiner again as they slipped away. The only ones left were three costumed Victorias. One of them was presumably Sorrell Thomas; I think the other two were Phyllida Crowley Smith and Sarah Soetaert. They began the Invitation solo side by side and suddenly an adorable little girl (Jessica, I assume) in a Victoria costume designed to look like a cross between the original version and the current one came forward. With a carefully schooled look of innocent wonder she did a few simple steps around the stage before the rest of the cast surged back on and hid her from view. They began to sing the part of the Prologue usually done on the tire, and when they got to the high C I think at least fifty women sang it at once and not all on pitch either. Ouch! Junix led on several Old Ds, all older, distinguished looking gentleman, as the mystical divinity part was sung. For the final chords Alonzo picked up little Jessica and holding her in a sitting position above his head carried her off. Brian Blessed began singing the final verse of Ad-dressing and I guess he must have been having a case of nerves because he was painfully sharp. As everyone sang the final chorus more folks came up onto the stage: Elaine Paige, Bonnie Langford, Gillian Lynne, Trevor Nunn, ALW and CM, and others. Then there were fireworks and confetti, in the theatre anyway. It sounded like there were fireworks going off over the Piazza as well, but I never took my eyes from the screen. There was lots of hugging, crying, kissing, and waving. Then with one more look at the costumed cast up on the set and everyone else below the screen went black.

Hardly able to believe it was over we gathered our belongings and said goodbye to our friends. Feli wanted to go to the stage door and try to catch some of the guys to say goodbye. She and some of the other London fans seemed a bit emotional, and I suppose I can understand that. I felt much the same at the closing of Broadway Cats. We saw and briefly spoke to Clint, Kenny, Andrew, Stori, Jacob (“Thank you for coming to see the show so many times!”) and Junix. I spotted Phyllida standing nearby and tried to point her out to Daddy since she’s his favourite from the video. But he was across the street and I didn’t feel like yelling, “Hey, Dad! Look, it’s Victoria!”

Feli and I also stood at the edge of a group of girls clustered around Sebastian Rose. He had a beer in hand, and from his manner I rather suspect it was not his first. At one point he was talking about short-waisted his pants were, then pulled up his shirt tail to show us. We got a nice look at his furry tummy and the waist band of his Calvin Klein boxers. Not surprisingly we all said, “Whoo!” in unison. Sebastian quickly let his shirt drop again, feigning embarrassment. Not too long after that Feli walked back to our hotel with us and called her mum to come pick her up. I saw her out the door then went to bed. Church tomorrow after all, at St. Pancras again.

Dad and I had one more day of sightseeing before heading over to Germany to visit Vince again. We had a great time in London, even though I think Dad was getting sick of Cats by this time. I can’t say that I will never go back, but without the incentive of seeing Cats it is less likely now. We will have to wait and see.

To all the performers who made the show what it is and ever will be, on behalf of your many fans around the world I give you our undying thanks. I wish you all the best, and maybe, just maybe I’ll see you onstage again some day. :~)

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