From Moongewl:
11/15/02
I saw CATS almost seven hours ago and OH MY GOD. Well, let me begin at the beginning:
My mom ordered the tickets about two weeks ago, and I was extremely angry because she only managed to get tickets in row BBB, which I assumed was behind row ZZ. We got the tickets a few days after that, and found that they said "pit" on them, which was confusing. The only pit we could think of was the orchestra pit, and wouldn't that be where the orchestra was?
So we got there today(around 1 PM) with no real idea of where our seats were. We entered the theatre itself about 1:45 and asked an usher where our seats were. She directed us to the front of the theatre, where it becomes obvious that we are actually in the orchestra pit(who knows where the orchestra actually wound up?), and RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE STAGE. If we were about five feet closer, we would have been sitting on one of the actor's laps. Not a bad place to be, considering.
Before the show started, we examined the set and realized it was tiny. Then the understudies were announced(Jacqueline Stedman as Rumpelteazer, Brian Collier as someone-I'm thinking Tumblebrutus, Tucker Ty as Alonzo, and Ronnie Nelson as Plato/Macavity), and the lights went down-after I realized that the Rum Tum Tugger was being played by "Tan" Stanley, according the the playbill.
The overture was every bit as exciting as before, but I was concentrating on not fainting or wetting my pants from being so close to the stage. The overture came to an end just as I realized I wasn't going to do either and sighed in relief. I did notice that they had kept the electric guitar in the overture(I LOVED that the first time I saw CATS, last May). Then, the prologue, and again, OH MY GOD. There is nothing quite like looking around and suddenly realize that one of the actors is staring at you, which is a major no-no in most theatres. It was Tumblebrutus who made eye contact with me first(or it could have been Pouncival; I couldn't tell them apart). He happened to be staring at the woman next to me, and noticed me staring at him. Funfunfun.
The Naming was hysterical, mainly because they kept stopping and looking back to the imaginary guy who kept asking what a Jellicle cat was. They went into the Invitation smoothly, and I didn't get to make eye contact with anyone for awhile. I know, I know, everyone feel sorry for me...
It was during the Invitation that I realized that Joshua John Edwards had a really weird face shape for a Munkustrap. The best-known Munkus seem to have prominent noses and chins, while he didn't. I noticed that Ryan Jackson(renamed "Yan" by the playbill) also looked weird as Misto, but he was cute anyway
The Gumbie Cat was great too. I LOVED Jenny; she was always smiling. Half her face was taken up by her smile. It looked like this: And I loved it. I think all cats should smile like that every now and then. The tap dance was extremely long, and I really liked it. It was slower and longer that I remembered.
I adored the Rum Tum Tugger. I hadn't liked "Tan" much the last time I'd seen him, but I really liked him a lot this time around...even though he, ahem, stuffed. I really liked one thing especially: when he was dancing next to me, he looked down and WINKED AT ME EEEEEEEE. The lady he asked to dance wouldn't dance, so he sat in her lap. Muahaha. Oh, and he had a rip in his unitard and didn't even realize it. Grizabella was awesome. She had an unusual face and body build for a Grizabella, but her voice was amazing and her acting phenomenal. And she had little stars around her eyes. Cooool.
Bustopher was played by William Hartery. I had heard great things about him, and was pleased to find that they are all true! He was bumbling around the stage and acting very dignified, a combo I found hysterical. I loved that he threw the flower into the audience and it bounced right off some poor unsuspecting woman
Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer...what can I say? Other than Rumpelteazer looked like a prostitute. She was wearing this one-piece type thing with garters and fur around the edges, and the illusion of really long, prostitute type boots. They were really cute together, especially considering Rumpel was played by an understudy and Mungojerrie was spitting constantly. By the end they were panting and I don't think they were just acting like they were tired. Hehehe.
I never realized how long the cats hold those positions in Old Deuteronomy until I saw it from five feet away. Poor guys. One of the actors had a string on their shoe, and they had to hold it in the air for about two minutes, then quickly take it off as they changed positions. Meep.
The Jellicle Ball was great because I GOT TO MAKE EYE CONTACT A LOT EEEEEEE. My most memorable moment was when Misto looked at me during the mating dance, and gave me this look that said "I'm going to get lucky tonight!" and then put the moves on Cassandra. The cast wasn't as good at dancing as the last cast, but they had more chemistry, as evidenced by the fact that someone was always flirting with someone. And frankly, it was great. Moo. Oh, and right after the mating dance, I realized that I could see everyone breathing hard, and some of the girls needed, well...thicker bras. Gawd, I'm perverted.
Memory...my God, Dee Roscioli was amazing. It's too bad Dee wasn't around for the CATS vid. She gave off this image of a kitten forced to grow up too fast, learning the ways of the world before she wished to, manipulated and lost to the gutters.
One of my favorite moments happened during intermission(well, actually, three, all involving Rumpelteazer). The first was when Rumpelteazer came out, and my mom started calling her, saying, "Here, kitty, kitty..." I couldn't decide whether to laugh at Mom or make her stop, so I went with laughing. Then, I realized I could actually see Rumpel's microphone transmitter through her unitard and THAT was why there were all those boxes right above the guy's tails. The third was when Skimble(who, by the way, was PINK) came out and starting flirting with Rumpelteazer and Mungojerrie got jealous and pinned Rumpel down and started licking her face. You could hear her laughing and I couldn't tell if the whole thing was scripted or not. The Moments of Happiness was really sweet, and I'm not just saying that because yet again, I made eye contact with Tumble, and Rumpel, and possibly Mungo. They looked so entranced, remembering and reliving.
Well, there's not much I can say about Gus other than he spat everywhere too and you could see him kinda wince as the spit hit everyone. His robe/coat thingy was kind of weird looking, because it was basically a net. You shoulda seen him right after everyone applauded, it was so heartwrenchingly painful, him hearing the applause he wanted to so badly.
(I just had to mention this: Nicole Johndrow is the prettiest Jellylorum I have ever seen, all golden and sweet. And a darned fine singer too.)
GLS was really great. It seems like every time I see it I get more into it. I loved Griddlebone reaching up for a kiss and Growltiger kinda backing away. The look on her face was hilarious. At one point, I remember she held up her paw like she wanted to flip him the bird, and at the end of their opera, they both turned to the audience and made this look of disgust. The Siamese costumes bothered me a bit because I was used to unitards that fit the actors perfectly and the Siamese costumes were all loose and wrinkly. Not that I'm complaining...but I am.
Skimbleshanks the pink Railway cat was cute. I remember last time around, Skimble had a faint Scottish accent(brought on by watching the video too much, is my guess), and this time he was very American. He gave off a really strong vibe of a leader, an in-control kind of guy. When they made the train, I remember Demeter kept pushing her wheel with her foot to keep it turning, and she had this kinda irritated look on her face by the time the train was ready to crash. Awww.
Macavity, well, yeah. I thought the henchrat costumes were awesome. They had these little lightning stripes on the chest and you couldn't see the eyes properly. Then Dem sang, and I was really into it, with the Alonzo-shadow thingy going on. I couldn't see Bomb all that well, because she was on the other side of the stage, but she was a really good singer. The fight was unusual, because Macavity carried Demeter around for a looong time before Alonzo finally carried her off. At the very end, the light swept over the car, to the tire, and then jerked back the the tire. Everyone said "Macavity's not there" and for some reason this was very funny. The light was on Demeter as she went over to Alonzo, and the look on her face as she made sure he was okay was so sweet.
I really loved Mr. Mistoffolees. I'd never actually seen the full dance done before, because the first time I went McCree wasn't there. The audience kept clapping at the wrong times. Oooooh I lurve "Yan" so much.
Memory was so poignant, and being right in front of her was the best way to experience it. She went high on the last note, rather than staying on the low note as I've heard it done everywhere else. When Victoria touched her, everyone came running up to touch her. The Rum Tum Tugger actually put his forehead on her hand...it was kinda creepy. Munkustrap stood in front of her when she was going to Old Deut, and it was weirdish, and then you saw him take her hands and lead her to him.
Griz seemed so afraid during Journey, not wanting to let go of Deut. I have never seen anything so sweet, although the tire moving forward scared me. I thought someone was going to be hit by it, but fortunately no one did. This time...
The Ad-dressing of Cats didn't get as much laughter as the first time I saw it. It seemed a lot more serious when you were staring up their noses.
And I GOT TO MAKE EYE CONTACT ONE MORE TIME! It was with Tumble yet again. He liked staring at us. Eeep.